Inside the world of new audio fiction series, Asking For It
Fresh off of the critically-acclaimed series The Shadows, audio artist Kaitlin Prest has launched a new 7-part audio fiction Asking For It, featuring writer/director Drew Denny.
The darkly funny series centres on Goldie, a queer femme musician who escapes a chaotic childhood to pursue her dreams in the big city. Goldie looks for people who love her in a way that feels like home, but violence seems to follow her in her intimate relationships. She goes from a partner who starves her of love to a partner who nearly drowns her in it.
Asking For It pushes back against the stereotypical portrayals of intimate partner abuse with a nuanced version of the story: sometimes abuse doesn't leave a physical mark, but will still create trauma. The podcast is about breaking this cycle of abuse.
Denny is a writer and director (Momster, Queer Habits) who also performs as a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with the band HIPS (a band in Asking For It and in real life), which created the original music in the show. Prest's work in podcasting, performance and installation has been featured at audio festivals around the world. Her experimental documentary Movies in Your Head won gold for new radio formats at the 2015 Prix Italia awards. The podcast is a collaboration between CBC Podcasts and Prest's LA-based audio art company Mermaid Palace, which also produces podcast The Heart.
Meet the characters
Goldie
(Performed by Drew Denny)
A singer and musician. When she came out as a lesbian atheist vegan, to her Catholic dairy farming family, she picked her own name.
Coach
(Performed by Kaitlin Prest)
Bandleader and multi-instrumentalist of an established band.
KG
(Performed by Christina Gaillard)
Goldie's best friend and bandmate in HIPS.
Taylor
(Performed by Mel Shimkovitz)
A powerful executive at a music label.
Listen to the show
Episode 1:
The cycle begins.
"Everyone feels the same way when we fall in love, right? But what if I'm a puzzle piece so misshapen that when I find my perfect match... it's a disaster. Dangerous even?"
Episode 2:
Abuse that is invisible but still leaves a mark.
"What would you say if I told you a MAN was doing these things to me?"
Episode 3:
Inside the mind of an abuser.
"Why tell a lie when you've found the real thing?"
Episode 4:
Internalized Misogyny and Intergenerational Trauma.
"Dangit! I'm still alive?"
Episode 5:
Intimate partner violence.
"Never in all my years of playing dress-up, of scissoring my Barbies, of pretending to marry my dog, did I ever imagine I would grow up to stare into the eyes of my beloved and say: 'Can you please stop pointing the gun at me?'"
Episode 6:
Mothering your Mother.
The Sisterhood of Cracked Ribs and a Pupil Full of Loaded Gun.
Episode 7:
Seven times
"I heard it takes people like seven times to leave their abuser so I'm hoping you can help me. I can't … I can't do this seven times."
Dr. Dar: "Seven times is the average. It could take more than that."
