Podcast Episodes Archives - The Play Podcast

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063 – Dancing at Lughnasa, by Brian Friel

063 – Dancing at Lughnasa, by Brian Friel

May 24, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Brian Friel’s magical memory play Dancing at Lughnasa is set at the time of the harvest festival in rural Ireland in 1936. It’s account of the events of that summer in the house of the five unmarried Mundy sisters is filtered many years later through the memory of Michael, the son of the youngest sister. His memory is undoubtedly unreliable, but it is also funny, poetic and profoundly poignant.

Josie Rourke, who directs the gorgeous new production of the play currently playing at the National Theatre in London, joins us to explore Friel’s spellbinding masterpiece.

062 – Private Lives, by Noël Coward

062 – Private Lives, by Noël Coward

Apr 26, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Noël Coward’s play Private Lives is both a dazzling dramatic comedy and an excoriating portrait of love and marriage among the disaffected elite of the Jazz Age. Coward himself starred in the premiere production in both London and New York in 1930, the critics acclaiming the show’s construction and wit, but predicting that it would not last. As a new production opens at the Donmar theatre in London, I ask Coward’s newest biographer, Oliver Soden, why the play has aged so well.

061 – Sea Creatures, by Cordelia Lynn

061 – Sea Creatures, by Cordelia Lynn

Apr 13, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Cordelia Lynn’s play Sea Creatures is a poetic exploration of loss and grief, its setting betwixt the sea and shore rich in metaphoric resonances. As we record this episode, Sea Creatures is playing at the Hampstead Theatre in London in a spellbinding production directed by James Macdonald.

I am delighted to be joined by playwright Cordelia Lynn to talk about her fascinating new play.

060 – A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

060 – A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

Mar 14, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the towering masterpieces of American theatre, distinguished for its frank depiction of sexual compulsion, its lyrical language, and its poignant portrait of mental fragility, as well as the bitter clash between two of the greatest dramatic characters – the damaged and defiant Blanche Dubois and the unrestrained masculine power that is Stanley Kowalski.

As a new production opens in London’s West End, I’m delighted to be joined by Tennessee Williams expert, Professor Thomas Keith, to help survey this giant of a play.

059 – Paradise Now! , by Margaret Perry

059 – Paradise Now! , by Margaret Perry

Mar 2, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Margaret Perry’s new play Paradise Now! brings together a group of women who join a pyramid selling scheme promoting a range of essential oils that soothe a myriad of life’s stresses. The women hope that they will find cures to the challenges in their own lives, but the road to Paradise is not so sure and smooth.
Following its acclaimed run at the Bush Theatre in London, Margaret joins me to talk about her perceptive, funny and moving play.

058 – Noises Off, by Michael Frayn

058 – Noises Off, by Michael Frayn

Feb 6, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Michael Frayn’s classic comedy Noises Off is a work of theatrical genius. Its parody of a hapless acting troupe putting on a dreadful sex farce is itself delivered with extraordinary invention and precision. It has been called the funniest British comedy ever written, and now arrives in London’s West End in a sparkling 40th anniversary production directed by Lindsay Posner.

Lindsay joins me to share his unique experience of this enduring comic masterpiece.

057 – Arms and the Man, by George Bernard Shaw

057 – Arms and the Man, by George Bernard Shaw

Jan 11, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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G.B. Shaw’s Arms and the Man is both a sparkling romantic comedy and a telling satire of love, war and social pretension. It was Shaw’s first public success as a playwright when it premiered in London in 1894, and is currently enjoying an acclaimed revival at the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond, Surrey.

I’m joined by Shaw expert Ivan Wise, who is a previous editor of The Shavian, the journal of the Shaw Society.

056 – Good, by C.P. Taylor

056 – Good, by C.P. Taylor

Dec 21, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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C.P. Taylor’s powerful, cautionary play Good charts how an ostensibly ‘good’ person can become not just complicit to evil behaviour, but an active participant. Professor John Halder’s creeping moral compromise as he joins the Nazi elite in 1930’s Germany is a disturbing reminder of the dangers of populist political crusades.

The play is currently being revived at the Harold Pinter theatre in London with David Tennant in the role of John Halder, and I’m delighted to be joined by the production’s director, Dominic Cooke, to explore the contemporary resonances of this provocative play.

055 – Spring Awakening, by Frank Wedekind

055 – Spring Awakening, by Frank Wedekind

Nov 21, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Frank Wedekind’s dark, expressionist play Spring Awakening is a cautionary portrait of adolescent angst and rebellion against oppressive social strictures and family pressures. Its frank depiction of sex and violence remains shocking more than 130 years after it was written, and it is the unlikely source of the award-winning modern musical of the same name.

I’m delighted to be joined by Professor Karen Leeder to explore the contemporary controversies and enduring relevance of this extraordinary play.

054 – The Crucible, by Arthur Miller

054 – The Crucible, by Arthur Miller

Nov 1, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible recreates the terror of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 when a religious hysteria gripped the Puritan community. Miller wrote the play in 1953, when America was going through a modern witch hunt prosecuting Communist sympathisers. The play is Miller’s most frequently produced, its portrait of personal betrayal and institutional tyranny being universally recognised in any time or society.

I’m delighted to welcome back to the podcast Miller expert, Dr Stephen Marino, to explore the origins and enduring relevance of Miller’s powerful, cautionary play.

053 – The Caucasian Chalk Circle, by Bertolt Brecht

053 – The Caucasian Chalk Circle, by Bertolt Brecht

Oct 18, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Bertolt Brecht wrote The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1944 while in exile in the United States as a parable about the chaos and costs of war. After his return to East Germany in 1948 he updated the play to set it in the context of post-war Communism. His fable is both a theatrical fairy-tale and a political allegory.

I’m delighted to welcome the director of the first major London revival for 25 years, Christopher Haydon, artistic director of the Rose Theatre to discuss this challenging, complicated, compelling, even crazy play.

052 – The Seagull, by Anton Chekhov

052 – The Seagull, by Anton Chekhov

Sep 26, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull was a disaster on its opening night in St Petersburg in 1896. The unsettling blend of comedy and pathos that confused the first critics and audience were subsequently recognised as seminal in the evolution of modern drama.

I’m delighted to welcome back playwright and professor, Dan Rebellato, to talk about Chekhov and his timeless play.

051 – Closer, by Patrick Marber

051 – Closer, by Patrick Marber

Aug 27, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Patrick Marber’s play Closer depicts a merry-go-round of metropolitan relationships powered by sex and betrayal. Its clever and candid dissection of the destructive power of sexual desire hit a contemporary nerve when it premiered in 1997.
Clare Lizzimore, director of a new production at the Lyric Hammersmith, joins me to explore how the play’s unflinching sexual politics has aged twenty-five years later.

050 – Jerusalem, by Jez Butterworth

050 – Jerusalem, by Jez Butterworth

Jul 18, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Jez Butterworth’s play Jersualem is one of the landmark plays of the 21st century, acclaimed for both its lyrical and elusive text exploring English identity, and for its electrifying theatrical production. The once-in-a lifetime performance is happily being repeated with the current West End revival, and it seems fitting that our 50th episode be devoted to this remarkable play. I’m joined by David Ian Rabey, Emeritus Professor at Aberystwyth University and author of The Theatre and Films of Jez Butterworth.

049 – Jitney, by August Wilson

049 – Jitney, by August Wilson

Jul 5, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Although August Wilson’s play Jitney is set in the office of an unlicensed taxi company in Pittsburgh in 1977, its themes, and the relationships and hopes and dreams of its characters are universal. I’m joined in this episode by actors Wil Johnson and Tony Marshall who are currently starring in the Old Vic’s vibrant new production of the play.

048 – Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare

048 – Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare

Jun 16, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Much Ado About Nothing is rightly renowned for the “merry war” of wits between the reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick, but alongside their brilliant partnership, there is also a darker story of misogyny and betrayal that gives the play a more complex and challenging character. Lucy Bailey, director of the joyous production currently running at the Globe Theatre in London joins me to review this romantic rollercoaster.

047 – Middle, by David Eldridge

047 – Middle, by David Eldridge

May 30, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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David Eldridge’s new play Middle, now playing at the National Theatre, follows on from his 2017 play Beginning. It is the second in what will be a “triptych for the theatre”, capturing epochal moments in couples’ relationships. I’m delighted to welcome David back to talk about the important dramatic trilogy he is building.

046 – All My Sons, by Arthur Miller

046 – All My Sons, by Arthur Miller

May 12, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Arthur Miller’s breakthrough play All My Sons is both a searing family tragedy and an exploration of the moral challenges that Miller believed were inherent in the American Dream. Douglas Rintoul has recently directed a wonderful production of this devastating play at the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch.

045 – Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill

045 – Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill

Apr 28, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Caryl Churchill’s play Top Girls was a powerful critique of Thatcherite Britain when it was written in 1982. It’s rightly renowned for its theatrical invention and innovative structure, and remains relevant for its enduring questions about the opportunities, and opportunity costs, for women across the ages. Professor Elaine Aston joins me to survey this modern classic.

044 – Clybourne Park, by Bruce Norris

044 – Clybourne Park, by Bruce Norris

Apr 14, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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It is 1959 and Russ and Bev have sold their 3-bedroom bungalow in the all-white neighbourhood of Clybourne Park in Chicago to a “coloured family”. The sale sparks heated debate between neighbours in Bruce Norris’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Clybourne Park. Oliver Kaderbhai, director of the current revival at the Park Theatre in London, joins me to discuss this provocative and corruscatingly funny play.

043 – Faith Healer, by Brian Friel

043 – Faith Healer, by Brian Friel

Apr 1, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Brian Friel’s play Faith Healer is a literary and theatrical masterpiece, acclaimed for the beauty of its language, its innovative form, and the bathetic yet tragic tale of its eponymous character and those tethered to his misfortunes. My guest, Joe Dowling, directed the seminal producation at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1980 and recently returned there to revive the play more than 40 years later.

042 – Blasted, by Sarah Kane

042 – Blasted, by Sarah Kane

Feb 25, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Sarah Kane’s explosive play Blasted outraged critics on its debut in 1995 with its disturbing depictions of sex and violence. It’s since become a landmark in modern drama for its innovative form and raw honesty. Professor Graham Saunders helps us explore this profoundly challenging play.

041 – Doubt – A Parable, by John Patrick Shanley

041 – Doubt – A Parable, by John Patrick Shanley

Feb 3, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Sister Aloysius Beauvier, principal of St Nicholas Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, has her doubts about the school pastor, Father Flynn, and his relationship with 12-year-old Donald Muller. Her crusade to confirm her suspicions rocks the church community and her own certainties in John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Doubt – A Parable.

Award-winning actress Monica Dolan shares her insights from playing Sister Aloysius in a new production at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

040 – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted by Simon Stephens

040 – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted by Simon Stephens

Jan 13, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Simon Stephens’s magical adaptation of Mark Haddon’s bestselling novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has been a smash hit around the world, loved for its innovative theatrical form and for its unique hero, 15-year old Christopher Boone, who teaches us to see the world differently. As the play embarks on a nationwide UK tour, I’m delighted to talk with Simon.

039 – Best of Enemies, by James Graham

039 – Best of Enemies, by James Graham

Dec 23, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Best of Enemies re-enacts the explosive TV debates between American political pundits Gore Vidal and William F Buckley from 1968, and in so doing turns the lens on the corrosive nature of political discourse in our media today. Playwright James Graham joins us to talk about his fascinating new play.

038 – Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

038 – Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

Dec 1, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Macbeth is a tragedy of love, ambition and betrayal, propelled by relentless energy and shocking violence, and infused by an air of the supernatural. Professor Emma Smith from Hertford College, Oxford, joins us to explore Shakespeare’s notorious ‘Scottish play’.

037 – Blue/Orange, by Joe Penhall

037 – Blue/Orange, by Joe Penhall

Nov 18, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Joe Penhall’s explosive and unsettling play Blue/Orange addresses issues of mental illness, racial prejudice and interpersonal power. I’m delighted to be joined in this episode by the playwright Joe Penhall and by James Dacre, the director of the 20th anniversary production of the play.

036 – Hamlet by William Shakespeare

036 – Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Oct 28, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Arguably the world’s most famous play, The Tragical History of Hamlet has all of the elements of great drama: a revenge thriller, a tragic love story, political intrigue, wondrous poetry, philosophical insight, but most of all a uniquely brilliant but flawed hero. Greg Hersov, director of the new Young Vic production, helps guide us through the almost infinite enchantments and challenges of the play.

035 – Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker

035 – Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Oct 14, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Timberlake Wertenbaker’s award-winning play retells the unlikely story of a group of convicts who put on a production of George Farquhar’s Restoration Comedy The Recruiting Officer in Botany Bay in 1789. It made complete sense to follow-up our episode on The Recruiting Officer with this wonderful play and to invite Director Matt Beresford back to talk us through it.

034 – The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar

034 – The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar

Sep 24, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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George Farquhar’s rollicking Restoration Comedy The Recruiting Officer is ostensibly a portrait of officers engaged in the nefarious art of impressing men into the army in the country town of Shrewsbury, but it is as much a tale of the local ladies themselves recruiting for lovers and husbands. Director Matt Beresford joins us to assess the ‘recruiting officers’ respective strategies and successes.

033 – Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard

033 – Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard

Sep 9, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Tom Stoppard’s ambitious new play Leopoldstadt is a sweeping work of history and ideas which charts the diaspora and decline of an Austrian Jewish family through the convulsive events of the first half of the twentieth century. It addresses profound moral questions of identity, memory and prejudice that are insistently relevant in our time. It is not only a towering intellectual achievement, it is also very personally poignant because it is based partly on Stoppard’s own remarkable family history.

Leopoldstadt opened in the West End in January 2020, only to be closed prematurely by the pandemic a few weeks later. Happily it has returned to the London stage this Autumn, and I am privileged and delighted to talk in this episode with the director of the London productions, playwright Patrick Marber.

032 – Footnotes Volume 3

032 – Footnotes Volume 3

Aug 26, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Footnotes Volume 3 is a recording of the facts and observations that we’ve published on the website to supplement the plays that we’ve covered in episodes 24-31. A smorgasbord of trivia and analysis ranging from Greek Tragedy to the stock characters of Commedia dell’Arte , through the music of Bob Dylan, the filming of Caryl Churchill’s Escaped Alone during lockdown, and the theatrical installations of Samuel Beckett.

A compendium of dramatic intelligence!

031 – Happy Days by Samuel Beckett

031 – Happy Days by Samuel Beckett

Aug 12, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Samuel Beckett’s third great dramatic masterpiece Happy Days is a timeless exploration of existential threat and personal survival. It’s central image of Winnie buried in a mound of scorched earth also speaks to our own time when many have endured enforced confinement in a world struck by collective disaster.

Irish actress and Beckett scholar Lisa Dwan, fresh from her triumphant performance as Winnie at the Riverside Studios in London, joins us to share her unique experience of playing Beckett and this majestic play.

030 – Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill

030 – Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill

Jul 29, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Caryl Churchill’s stunning play Escaped Alone presents an ordinary scene of four women of a certain age chatting over tea in a suburban garden. Of course not all is as tranquil as it appears, for each of the women harbour dark personal anxieties, and from time to time one of them steps away from the garden to share news with us about apocalyptic disasters that have struck the world. Produced at the Royal Court in 2016, Churchill’s vision of a world overcome by collective disaster has proved to be extraordinarily prophetic. Joining me to explore our first Churchill play is Professor Elaine Aston, author of a monograph on Caryl Churchill as well as the editor of the Cambridge Companion to Caryl Churchill.

029 – A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney

029 – A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney

Jul 15, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey caused a sensation when it appeared at the Theatre Royal Stratford in 1958 because of its frank portrayal of a working-class, single mother and daughter, as well as its bold representations of a mixed-race relationship and a young homosexual as a central character. Delaney sent her first play to the renowned director Joan Littlewood who helped develop it into an historic production which went on to the West End and Broadway. Professor Nadine Holdsworth helps us to explore the enduring power and relevance of the play.

028 – Girl from the North Country by Conor McPherson, music and lyrics by Bob Dylan

028 – Girl from the North Country by Conor McPherson, music and lyrics by Bob Dylan

Jun 3, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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This is a very special episode, first because we are joined by Conor McPherson who talks about his extraordinary collaboration with Bob Dylan in his play Girl from the North Country, and secondly because we have also been able to include extracts from the original cast recording from the first London production.

027 – Present Laughter by Noël Coward

027 – Present Laughter by Noël Coward

May 20, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Garry Essendine is a star of the London stage with an ego and celebrity lifestyle to match. But as he passes forty his excesses threaten to bring down the entire structure of his professional and personal life. Essendine is the thinly disguised alter-ego of playwright and performer Noel Coward, whose tussle with his own fame is the subject of his classic 3-act, 4-door farce Present Laughter. First performed in 1942 with Coward himself as the lead, the play has since attracted a glittering list of stars who could not resist the flamboyant turn, including most recently Andrew Scott in an Olivier award-winning performance at the Old Vic in 2019. Joining me to reexamine Coward’s ‘light comedy’ in the 21st century is theatrical agent and Coward aficionado, Alan Brodie.

026 – A Servant to Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni (& One Man Two Guvnors by Richard Bean)

026 – A Servant to Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni (& One Man Two Guvnors by Richard Bean)

May 6, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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One Podcast Two Plays! Carlo Goldoni’s Commedia dell’Arte classic A Servant to Two Masters and Richard Bean’s hilarious update One Man Two Guvnors. We explore all of the ingredients of the original play in the tradition of Commedia dell’Arte, as well as how Bean translated these so successfully into his smash hit at the National Theatre. Writer and director Justin Greene joins me to sample this multi-course theatrical banquet. (Commedia afficionados will appreciate the gourmet references!).

025 – Medea, by Euripides

025 – Medea, by Euripides

Apr 22, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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The dramatic tragedy of a wife who murders her own two sons in a desperate act of grief and revenge remains as disturbing and deeply moving as when it was written nearly 2,500 years ago. Medea by Euripides is timeless not only because of our fascination with Medea’s horrific crime, but for the poetry of its language, and its unflinching portrayal of a woman all but powerless in a patriarchal world. The play was recently revived at the National Theatre with a stunning performance by Helen McCrory in the title role, which is now available to view on the National Theatre at Home. I’m joined by renowned classical scholar Edith Hall to explore our enduring fascination with Medea.

024 – Consent, by Nina Raine

024 – Consent, by Nina Raine

Apr 8, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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The main characters in Nina Raine’s play Consent are barristers contesting a brutal rape case. As the case unfolds the lawyers’ marriages come unravelled and they themselves cross the line of honour or even of the law. Consent explores some of the most charged issues of our time: the sources of sexual betrayal and violence, the ambiguities of consent, and the failings of the justice system to account proportionally or sensitively with cases of sexual abuse. I am delighted and honoured to be joined in this episode by the author of Consent, Nina Raine, and by actor Adam James, who appeared in the National Theatre production in the role of Jake.

023 – Footnotes Volume 2

023 – Footnotes Volume 2

Mar 25, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Footnotes Volume 2 is a selection of facts and observations culled from the library of information that we’ve compiled to accompany each of the plays in the past ten episodes. These include fascinating bits of trivia as well as more extended exploration of specific aspects of the plays. A smorgasbord of dramatic intelligence befitting of the best kind of Footnote.

022 – Shook, by Samuel Bailey

022 – Shook, by Samuel Bailey

Mar 11, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Samuel Bailey’s play Shook is set in a young offenders institution, where three young men are taking an unlikely vocational class in parenting skills. The three teenagers are, or are about to be, fathers. Shook won the 2019 Papatango New Writing Prize, and is a funny, sharp, and deeply moving play. I’m delighted to be joined by the play’s author Sam Bailey and by the director of the debut production, Papatango Artistic Director, George Turvey.

021 – The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams

021 – The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams

Feb 24, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Tennessee Williams breakthrough playThe Glass Menagerie is a very personal portrait of Williams’ own flawed family. It first opened on Broadway in March 1945 to rave reviews, it’s box office success catapulting its 34-year old author to fame and fortune. The play is now a standard on educational curricula and theatrical programs, loved for its heart-wrenching portrayal of the hopes and disappointments of its characters, and admired for its theatrical technique and poetic dramatic language.

The play was brilliantly staged in 2013 on Broadway in a production directed by John Tiffany, which was revived in 2017 in London’s West End, and I am absolutely delighted to be joined in this episode by the director himself, John Tiffany, to share his insights into this enduring classic.

The Play Podcast – 020 Bonus: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf – A short addendum on the film

Feb 14, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

Episode 020- Bonus: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee - A short addendum on the film Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: John Mitchinson and Andy Miller Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a...

020 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, by Edward Albee

020 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, by Edward Albee

Feb 11, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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It is 2:00 am, and George and Martha have invited a young couple for after-party drinks to their home on a New England university campus. What follows is arguably the most extended and vitriolic marital argument ever staged. Over four hours of drunken skirmishing George and Martha tear strips off each other and their young guests, in a terrifying mix of games playing and truth telling, fuelled by anger, shame, disappointment, hatred and possibly even love. As the hostilities intensify both couples are forced to face unvarnished and difficult truths about themselves and their relationships. This is American playwright Edward Albee’s classic play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which opened on Broadway in 1962, and was greeted by both moral outrage and critical acclaim. Both types of review contributed to its run-away box-office success, and led to the 1966 Oscar-winning film version with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Joining me to survey the damage of this blistering marital battle are John Mitchinson and Andy MIller, the co-hosts of the award-winning podcast Backlisted, which as its strap line declares “gives new life to old books”.

019 – The Welkin, by Lucy Kirkwood

019 – The Welkin, by Lucy Kirkwood

Jan 28, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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It is 1759 in East Anglia. A child has been murdered and a young woman has been convicted to hang for the crime. She ‘pleads her belly’ and a jury of matrons must determine if she is truly with child and thus may escape the gallows. Lucy Kirkwood’s powerful play The Welkin, is an historical thriller and a tense courtroom drama, as well as a vivid representation of the real burdens that women carry in a patriarchal world of any age.
The Welkin premiered at the National Theatre in January 2020 before its run was cruelly cut short by the first Covid lockdown. I’m delighted to be joined by the author herself to talk about her rich new play.

018 – Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn

018 – Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn

Jan 7, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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It is September 1941. German physicist Werner Heisenberg is visiting his friend and former colleague, Danish physicist Niels Bohr at his home in Copenhagen. Denmark is occupied by the Third Reich, and both men are under surveillance by the Gestapo. What is the purpose of their meeting at this charged time? Did they confer about the potential to build weapons based on the emerging knowledge of nuclear fission? Did Heisenberg wish to warn Bohr about the growing threat to Danish Jews? These questions and more are explored in Michael Frayn’s absorbing play Copenhagen. I’m delighted and honoured to be joined in this episode by the playwright himself.

017 – The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster

017 – The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster

Dec 17, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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John Webster’s 400-year-old play The Duchess of Malfi is a potboiler of courtly love, intrigue and murder. It has endured not just for its bloody plot, but for its poetic language and the indomitable character of its protagonist. The Duchess remains a female paradigm for a patriarchal world. Joining us to explore this classic anew is Professor Emma Smith from Hertford College, Oxford, an expert on early modern drama.

016 – Oleanna, by David Mamet

016 – Oleanna, by David Mamet

Dec 2, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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David Mamet’s play Oleanna about the abuse of patriarchal power caused intense controversy and divided audiences when it was first produced in 1992. It is now being revived at the Theatre Royal Bath. How will we see the sensitive issues it raises differently nearly 30 years on in the light of the #MeToo movement? The acclaimed director of this new production, Lucy Bailey, joins me to explore this explosive work.

Note: this episode contains some strong language.

015 – The Father, by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton

015 – The Father, by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton

Nov 12, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Kenneth Cranham and Claire Skinner c Simon Annand

Florian Zeller’s disturbing and moving play The Father presents a piercing portrait of a family living with dementia. Anyone who has witnessed the cruel effects of the disease will recognise painful truths in the play, and everyone will be unsettled by its inventive dramatic form. The Father premiered in Bath in 2014 before award-winning runs in London and on Broadway. It has now also been made into a feature film with Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman due for UK release in January 2021. I’m delighted and honoured to be joined in this episode by the renowned playwright and screenwriter Sir Christopher Hampton, who translated the original play and co-wrote the film’s screenplay

014 – Rockets and Blue Lights, by Winsome Pinnock

014 – Rockets and Blue Lights, by Winsome Pinnock

Oct 22, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Winsome Pinnock’s powerful new play Rockets and Blue Lights explores the continuing legacy of the slave trade by allowing the lost voices of the past to merge into our current re-examination of history and black identity. The play won the 2019 Alfred Fagon Award and was in preview at the Manchester Royal Exchange earlier in 2020 when the Covid pandemic cruelly closed our theatres. I’m especially honoured during Black History Month to talk with Winsome Pinnock about her wonderful play.

013 – Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller

013 – Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller

Oct 8, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Photo: Wendell Pierce as Willy Loman at the Young Vic (c. Brinkoff Mogenburg)

Arthur Miller’s portrait of an ordinary American family in post-war Brooklyn has become an enduring presence on stages around the world and in educational curricula. The splintering of the Loman family became emblematic of the personal costs and challenges of the American Dream, but Miller’s play has also remained popular and relevant because of its innovative form and emotional power. We’re delighted to be joined by Dr Stephen Marino, founding editor of The Arthur Miller Journal to explore this dramatic classic.

012 – Footnotes 1

012 – Footnotes 1

Sep 3, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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This episode is a recorded ragbag of selected extra Footnotes that we’ve compiled during the research and conversations from our first eleven episodes. You’ll hear trivial titbits of information in the best tradition of footnotes, as well as pithy observations on all of the plays that we’ve covered so far.

011 – Beginning, by David Eldridge

011 – Beginning, by David Eldridge

Aug 18, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Photo: Johan Persson

In David Eldridge’s wonderful two-hander we eavesdrop on a funny, poignant and potentially life-changing date between two people whose lives have not yet turned out as hope or promised. The playwright himself joins us to share with us where the play came from and review how the date unfolds

010 – Albion, by Mike Bartlett

010 – Albion, by Mike Bartlett

Aug 6, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Photo: Marc Brenner

Mike Bartlett’s major new play Albion is a funny and moving portrait of an individual family coping with grief and life’s big challenges, as well as a reflection on issues consuming the nation at the height of the Brexit debate. Joining us to review the reverberations of this rich play are the two leading players in its recent Almeida production: Victoria Hamilton and Nicholas Rowe.

009 – Nigel Slater’s Toast, by Henry Filloux-Bennett

009 – Nigel Slater’s Toast, by Henry Filloux-Bennett

Jul 23, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Nigel Slater’s Toast is an innovative dramatisation of the award-winning memoir of the same name, that described the life-changing events of the author’s childhood through his nostalgic diary of his favourite foods. Henry Filloux-Bennett’s funny and heart-warming play not only brings food to life in the theatre, it tells the inspiring story of a young boy who has the courage to follow his own recipe in life.

The two authors of Nigel Slater’s Toast, Henry Filloux-Bennett and Nigel Slater himself, join us to share the unlikely story of how a catalogue of childhood foods became a hit play.

008 – The Deep Blue Sea, by Terence Rattigan

008 – The Deep Blue Sea, by Terence Rattigan

Jul 9, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Terence Rattigan’s masterpiece The Deep Blue Sea was written off for more than 30 years as a dated melodrama until a landmark production at the Almeida in 1993 led to its reappraisal as a “modern classic”. The National Theatre at Home will broadcast their production starring Helen McCrory in the lead role as from 9th of July, and on the same day we will delve into the play in conversation with Dan Rebellato, the series editor of Rattigan’s plays for specialist drama publisher Nick Hern.

007 – Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan

007 – Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan

Jun 25, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

Photograph: Helen Maybanks

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A young couple navigate the age-old debate of whether or when to embark on having a baby. They are naturally worried about their personal responsibilities, but most topically they are also concerned about the impact that their adding to the global population will have on the world’s climate and future.

Duncan Macmillan’s award-winning play written in 2011, was revived at the Old Vic in 2019 with Claire Foy and Matt Smith conducting the debate. They will shortly reprise their roles via the Old Vic’s innovative in Camera live stream for a limited run from 26th June. Joining us to review the ongoing debate is George Spender, former editorial director at Oberon Books who publish Lungs and the playwright’s other plays.

006 – Betrayal, by Harold Pinter

006 – Betrayal, by Harold Pinter

Jun 11, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Pinter’s modern classic dissects the dynamics of betrayal in marriage, friendship and work. The ambiguities of the adulterous affair that is the core of the play are made all the more unsettling by the innovative chronology of the narrative: the play famously opens with the end of the affair and works backwards to its inception.
Joining us to mine the depths of Pinter’s compressed masterpiece is Mark Taylor-Batty, senior lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Leeds and author of The Theatre of Harold Pinter (Bloomsbury 2014).

005 – The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

005 – The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

May 28, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

Photo © Manuel Harlan

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From the dramatic opening shipwreck on an “isle full of noises, sounds and sweet airs”, Shakespeare’s late masterpiece is a magical play. Join us as actor Tim McMullan shares his personal insights from his acclaimed performance as the magician Prospero at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre at the Globe in 2016, just one of Tim’s many outstanding Shakespearean roles.

004 – The Revlon Girl, by Neil Anthony Docking

004 – The Revlon Girl, by Neil Anthony Docking

May 14, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Eight months after the disaster that killed 144 people in the Welsh mining village of Aberfan in October 1966, a group of bereaved mothers gather in a local hotel for a demonstration of beauty tips by a rep from the Revlon cosmetics company. The Revlon Girl premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 2017, followed by a run at the Park Theatre in London, where it won the Off West-End Award for Best New Play. We’re joined by the play’s author, Neil Anthony Docking, to talk about his heartrending and funny play.

003 – Endgame, by Samuel Beckett

003 – Endgame, by Samuel Beckett

Apr 30, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Following the recent revival at the Old Vic in London starring Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Cumming, we explore the method, meaning and impact of Beckett’s startlingly original play with Beckett expert, Dr Matthew McFrederick, Lecturer in Theatre at the University of Reading.

002 – Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov

002 – Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov

Apr 16, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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To coincide with Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s new adaptation of the Chekhov classic, and its West End run, we talk with his publisher Nick Hern.

001 – A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen

001 – A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen

Apr 2, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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To explore the enduring relevance of this classic play, we are joined by Dan Rebellato, playwright and Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London.

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Index

Index

All Episodes

063 – Dancing at Lughnasa, by Brian Friel

063 – Dancing at Lughnasa, by Brian Friel

May 24, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Brian Friel’s magical memory play Dancing at Lughnasa is set at the time of the harvest festival in rural Ireland in 1936. It’s account of the events of that summer in the house of the five unmarried Mundy sisters is filtered many years later through the memory of Michael, the son of the youngest sister. His memory is undoubtedly unreliable, but it is also funny, poetic and profoundly poignant.

Josie Rourke, who directs the gorgeous new production of the play currently playing at the National Theatre in London, joins us to explore Friel’s spellbinding masterpiece.

062 – Private Lives, by Noël Coward

062 – Private Lives, by Noël Coward

Apr 26, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Noël Coward’s play Private Lives is both a dazzling dramatic comedy and an excoriating portrait of love and marriage among the disaffected elite of the Jazz Age. Coward himself starred in the premiere production in both London and New York in 1930, the critics acclaiming the show’s construction and wit, but predicting that it would not last. As a new production opens at the Donmar theatre in London, I ask Coward’s newest biographer, Oliver Soden, why the play has aged so well.

061 – Sea Creatures, by Cordelia Lynn

061 – Sea Creatures, by Cordelia Lynn

Apr 13, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Cordelia Lynn’s play Sea Creatures is a poetic exploration of loss and grief, its setting betwixt the sea and shore rich in metaphoric resonances. As we record this episode, Sea Creatures is playing at the Hampstead Theatre in London in a spellbinding production directed by James Macdonald.

I am delighted to be joined by playwright Cordelia Lynn to talk about her fascinating new play.

060 – A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

060 – A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

Mar 14, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the towering masterpieces of American theatre, distinguished for its frank depiction of sexual compulsion, its lyrical language, and its poignant portrait of mental fragility, as well as the bitter clash between two of the greatest dramatic characters – the damaged and defiant Blanche Dubois and the unrestrained masculine power that is Stanley Kowalski.

As a new production opens in London’s West End, I’m delighted to be joined by Tennessee Williams expert, Professor Thomas Keith, to help survey this giant of a play.

059 – Paradise Now! , by Margaret Perry

059 – Paradise Now! , by Margaret Perry

Mar 2, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Margaret Perry’s new play Paradise Now! brings together a group of women who join a pyramid selling scheme promoting a range of essential oils that soothe a myriad of life’s stresses. The women hope that they will find cures to the challenges in their own lives, but the road to Paradise is not so sure and smooth.
Following its acclaimed run at the Bush Theatre in London, Margaret joins me to talk about her perceptive, funny and moving play.

058 – Noises Off, by Michael Frayn

058 – Noises Off, by Michael Frayn

Feb 6, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Michael Frayn’s classic comedy Noises Off is a work of theatrical genius. Its parody of a hapless acting troupe putting on a dreadful sex farce is itself delivered with extraordinary invention and precision. It has been called the funniest British comedy ever written, and now arrives in London’s West End in a sparkling 40th anniversary production directed by Lindsay Posner.

Lindsay joins me to share his unique experience of this enduring comic masterpiece.

057 – Arms and the Man, by George Bernard Shaw

057 – Arms and the Man, by George Bernard Shaw

Jan 11, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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G.B. Shaw’s Arms and the Man is both a sparkling romantic comedy and a telling satire of love, war and social pretension. It was Shaw’s first public success as a playwright when it premiered in London in 1894, and is currently enjoying an acclaimed revival at the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond, Surrey.

I’m joined by Shaw expert Ivan Wise, who is a previous editor of The Shavian, the journal of the Shaw Society.

056 – Good, by C.P. Taylor

056 – Good, by C.P. Taylor

Dec 21, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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C.P. Taylor’s powerful, cautionary play Good charts how an ostensibly ‘good’ person can become not just complicit to evil behaviour, but an active participant. Professor John Halder’s creeping moral compromise as he joins the Nazi elite in 1930’s Germany is a disturbing reminder of the dangers of populist political crusades.

The play is currently being revived at the Harold Pinter theatre in London with David Tennant in the role of John Halder, and I’m delighted to be joined by the production’s director, Dominic Cooke, to explore the contemporary resonances of this provocative play.

055 – Spring Awakening, by Frank Wedekind

055 – Spring Awakening, by Frank Wedekind

Nov 21, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Frank Wedekind’s dark, expressionist play Spring Awakening is a cautionary portrait of adolescent angst and rebellion against oppressive social strictures and family pressures. Its frank depiction of sex and violence remains shocking more than 130 years after it was written, and it is the unlikely source of the award-winning modern musical of the same name.

I’m delighted to be joined by Professor Karen Leeder to explore the contemporary controversies and enduring relevance of this extraordinary play.

054 – The Crucible, by Arthur Miller

054 – The Crucible, by Arthur Miller

Nov 1, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible recreates the terror of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 when a religious hysteria gripped the Puritan community. Miller wrote the play in 1953, when America was going through a modern witch hunt prosecuting Communist sympathisers. The play is Miller’s most frequently produced, its portrait of personal betrayal and institutional tyranny being universally recognised in any time or society.

I’m delighted to welcome back to the podcast Miller expert, Dr Stephen Marino, to explore the origins and enduring relevance of Miller’s powerful, cautionary play.

053 – The Caucasian Chalk Circle, by Bertolt Brecht

053 – The Caucasian Chalk Circle, by Bertolt Brecht

Oct 18, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Bertolt Brecht wrote The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1944 while in exile in the United States as a parable about the chaos and costs of war. After his return to East Germany in 1948 he updated the play to set it in the context of post-war Communism. His fable is both a theatrical fairy-tale and a political allegory.

I’m delighted to welcome the director of the first major London revival for 25 years, Christopher Haydon, artistic director of the Rose Theatre to discuss this challenging, complicated, compelling, even crazy play.

052 – The Seagull, by Anton Chekhov

052 – The Seagull, by Anton Chekhov

Sep 26, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull was a disaster on its opening night in St Petersburg in 1896. The unsettling blend of comedy and pathos that confused the first critics and audience were subsequently recognised as seminal in the evolution of modern drama.

I’m delighted to welcome back playwright and professor, Dan Rebellato, to talk about Chekhov and his timeless play.

051 – Closer, by Patrick Marber

051 – Closer, by Patrick Marber

Aug 27, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Patrick Marber’s play Closer depicts a merry-go-round of metropolitan relationships powered by sex and betrayal. Its clever and candid dissection of the destructive power of sexual desire hit a contemporary nerve when it premiered in 1997.
Clare Lizzimore, director of a new production at the Lyric Hammersmith, joins me to explore how the play’s unflinching sexual politics has aged twenty-five years later.

050 – Jerusalem, by Jez Butterworth

050 – Jerusalem, by Jez Butterworth

Jul 18, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Jez Butterworth’s play Jersualem is one of the landmark plays of the 21st century, acclaimed for both its lyrical and elusive text exploring English identity, and for its electrifying theatrical production. The once-in-a lifetime performance is happily being repeated with the current West End revival, and it seems fitting that our 50th episode be devoted to this remarkable play. I’m joined by David Ian Rabey, Emeritus Professor at Aberystwyth University and author of The Theatre and Films of Jez Butterworth.

049 – Jitney, by August Wilson

049 – Jitney, by August Wilson

Jul 5, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Although August Wilson’s play Jitney is set in the office of an unlicensed taxi company in Pittsburgh in 1977, its themes, and the relationships and hopes and dreams of its characters are universal. I’m joined in this episode by actors Wil Johnson and Tony Marshall who are currently starring in the Old Vic’s vibrant new production of the play.

048 – Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare

048 – Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare

Jun 16, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Much Ado About Nothing is rightly renowned for the “merry war” of wits between the reluctant lovers Beatrice and Benedick, but alongside their brilliant partnership, there is also a darker story of misogyny and betrayal that gives the play a more complex and challenging character. Lucy Bailey, director of the joyous production currently running at the Globe Theatre in London joins me to review this romantic rollercoaster.

047 – Middle, by David Eldridge

047 – Middle, by David Eldridge

May 30, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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David Eldridge’s new play Middle, now playing at the National Theatre, follows on from his 2017 play Beginning. It is the second in what will be a “triptych for the theatre”, capturing epochal moments in couples’ relationships. I’m delighted to welcome David back to talk about the important dramatic trilogy he is building.

046 – All My Sons, by Arthur Miller

046 – All My Sons, by Arthur Miller

May 12, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Arthur Miller’s breakthrough play All My Sons is both a searing family tragedy and an exploration of the moral challenges that Miller believed were inherent in the American Dream. Douglas Rintoul has recently directed a wonderful production of this devastating play at the Queen’s Theatre in Hornchurch.

045 – Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill

045 – Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill

Apr 28, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Caryl Churchill’s play Top Girls was a powerful critique of Thatcherite Britain when it was written in 1982. It’s rightly renowned for its theatrical invention and innovative structure, and remains relevant for its enduring questions about the opportunities, and opportunity costs, for women across the ages. Professor Elaine Aston joins me to survey this modern classic.

044 – Clybourne Park, by Bruce Norris

044 – Clybourne Park, by Bruce Norris

Apr 14, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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It is 1959 and Russ and Bev have sold their 3-bedroom bungalow in the all-white neighbourhood of Clybourne Park in Chicago to a “coloured family”. The sale sparks heated debate between neighbours in Bruce Norris’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Clybourne Park. Oliver Kaderbhai, director of the current revival at the Park Theatre in London, joins me to discuss this provocative and corruscatingly funny play.

043 – Faith Healer, by Brian Friel

043 – Faith Healer, by Brian Friel

Apr 1, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Brian Friel’s play Faith Healer is a literary and theatrical masterpiece, acclaimed for the beauty of its language, its innovative form, and the bathetic yet tragic tale of its eponymous character and those tethered to his misfortunes. My guest, Joe Dowling, directed the seminal producation at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1980 and recently returned there to revive the play more than 40 years later.

042 – Blasted, by Sarah Kane

042 – Blasted, by Sarah Kane

Feb 25, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Sarah Kane’s explosive play Blasted outraged critics on its debut in 1995 with its disturbing depictions of sex and violence. It’s since become a landmark in modern drama for its innovative form and raw honesty. Professor Graham Saunders helps us explore this profoundly challenging play.

041 – Doubt – A Parable, by John Patrick Shanley

041 – Doubt – A Parable, by John Patrick Shanley

Feb 3, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Sister Aloysius Beauvier, principal of St Nicholas Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, has her doubts about the school pastor, Father Flynn, and his relationship with 12-year-old Donald Muller. Her crusade to confirm her suspicions rocks the church community and her own certainties in John Patrick Shanley’s Pulitzer Prize winning play Doubt – A Parable.

Award-winning actress Monica Dolan shares her insights from playing Sister Aloysius in a new production at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

040 – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted by Simon Stephens

040 – The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, adapted by Simon Stephens

Jan 13, 2022 | Podcast Episodes

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Simon Stephens’s magical adaptation of Mark Haddon’s bestselling novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has been a smash hit around the world, loved for its innovative theatrical form and for its unique hero, 15-year old Christopher Boone, who teaches us to see the world differently. As the play embarks on a nationwide UK tour, I’m delighted to talk with Simon.

039 – Best of Enemies, by James Graham

039 – Best of Enemies, by James Graham

Dec 23, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Best of Enemies re-enacts the explosive TV debates between American political pundits Gore Vidal and William F Buckley from 1968, and in so doing turns the lens on the corrosive nature of political discourse in our media today. Playwright James Graham joins us to talk about his fascinating new play.

038 – Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

038 – Macbeth, by William Shakespeare

Dec 1, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Macbeth is a tragedy of love, ambition and betrayal, propelled by relentless energy and shocking violence, and infused by an air of the supernatural. Professor Emma Smith from Hertford College, Oxford, joins us to explore Shakespeare’s notorious ‘Scottish play’.

037 – Blue/Orange, by Joe Penhall

037 – Blue/Orange, by Joe Penhall

Nov 18, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Joe Penhall’s explosive and unsettling play Blue/Orange addresses issues of mental illness, racial prejudice and interpersonal power. I’m delighted to be joined in this episode by the playwright Joe Penhall and by James Dacre, the director of the 20th anniversary production of the play.

036 – Hamlet by William Shakespeare

036 – Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Oct 28, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Arguably the world’s most famous play, The Tragical History of Hamlet has all of the elements of great drama: a revenge thriller, a tragic love story, political intrigue, wondrous poetry, philosophical insight, but most of all a uniquely brilliant but flawed hero. Greg Hersov, director of the new Young Vic production, helps guide us through the almost infinite enchantments and challenges of the play.

035 – Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker

035 – Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker

Oct 14, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Timberlake Wertenbaker’s award-winning play retells the unlikely story of a group of convicts who put on a production of George Farquhar’s Restoration Comedy The Recruiting Officer in Botany Bay in 1789. It made complete sense to follow-up our episode on The Recruiting Officer with this wonderful play and to invite Director Matt Beresford back to talk us through it.

034 – The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar

034 – The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar

Sep 24, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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George Farquhar’s rollicking Restoration Comedy The Recruiting Officer is ostensibly a portrait of officers engaged in the nefarious art of impressing men into the army in the country town of Shrewsbury, but it is as much a tale of the local ladies themselves recruiting for lovers and husbands. Director Matt Beresford joins us to assess the ‘recruiting officers’ respective strategies and successes.

033 – Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard

033 – Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard

Sep 9, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Tom Stoppard’s ambitious new play Leopoldstadt is a sweeping work of history and ideas which charts the diaspora and decline of an Austrian Jewish family through the convulsive events of the first half of the twentieth century. It addresses profound moral questions of identity, memory and prejudice that are insistently relevant in our time. It is not only a towering intellectual achievement, it is also very personally poignant because it is based partly on Stoppard’s own remarkable family history.

Leopoldstadt opened in the West End in January 2020, only to be closed prematurely by the pandemic a few weeks later. Happily it has returned to the London stage this Autumn, and I am privileged and delighted to talk in this episode with the director of the London productions, playwright Patrick Marber.

032 – Footnotes Volume 3

032 – Footnotes Volume 3

Aug 26, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Footnotes Volume 3 is a recording of the facts and observations that we’ve published on the website to supplement the plays that we’ve covered in episodes 24-31. A smorgasbord of trivia and analysis ranging from Greek Tragedy to the stock characters of Commedia dell’Arte , through the music of Bob Dylan, the filming of Caryl Churchill’s Escaped Alone during lockdown, and the theatrical installations of Samuel Beckett.

A compendium of dramatic intelligence!

031 – Happy Days by Samuel Beckett

031 – Happy Days by Samuel Beckett

Aug 12, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Samuel Beckett’s third great dramatic masterpiece Happy Days is a timeless exploration of existential threat and personal survival. It’s central image of Winnie buried in a mound of scorched earth also speaks to our own time when many have endured enforced confinement in a world struck by collective disaster.

Irish actress and Beckett scholar Lisa Dwan, fresh from her triumphant performance as Winnie at the Riverside Studios in London, joins us to share her unique experience of playing Beckett and this majestic play.

030 – Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill

030 – Escaped Alone by Caryl Churchill

Jul 29, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Caryl Churchill’s stunning play Escaped Alone presents an ordinary scene of four women of a certain age chatting over tea in a suburban garden. Of course not all is as tranquil as it appears, for each of the women harbour dark personal anxieties, and from time to time one of them steps away from the garden to share news with us about apocalyptic disasters that have struck the world. Produced at the Royal Court in 2016, Churchill’s vision of a world overcome by collective disaster has proved to be extraordinarily prophetic. Joining me to explore our first Churchill play is Professor Elaine Aston, author of a monograph on Caryl Churchill as well as the editor of the Cambridge Companion to Caryl Churchill.

029 – A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney

029 – A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney

Jul 15, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey caused a sensation when it appeared at the Theatre Royal Stratford in 1958 because of its frank portrayal of a working-class, single mother and daughter, as well as its bold representations of a mixed-race relationship and a young homosexual as a central character. Delaney sent her first play to the renowned director Joan Littlewood who helped develop it into an historic production which went on to the West End and Broadway. Professor Nadine Holdsworth helps us to explore the enduring power and relevance of the play.

028 – Girl from the North Country by Conor McPherson, music and lyrics by Bob Dylan

028 – Girl from the North Country by Conor McPherson, music and lyrics by Bob Dylan

Jun 3, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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This is a very special episode, first because we are joined by Conor McPherson who talks about his extraordinary collaboration with Bob Dylan in his play Girl from the North Country, and secondly because we have also been able to include extracts from the original cast recording from the first London production.

027 – Present Laughter by Noël Coward

027 – Present Laughter by Noël Coward

May 20, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Garry Essendine is a star of the London stage with an ego and celebrity lifestyle to match. But as he passes forty his excesses threaten to bring down the entire structure of his professional and personal life. Essendine is the thinly disguised alter-ego of playwright and performer Noel Coward, whose tussle with his own fame is the subject of his classic 3-act, 4-door farce Present Laughter. First performed in 1942 with Coward himself as the lead, the play has since attracted a glittering list of stars who could not resist the flamboyant turn, including most recently Andrew Scott in an Olivier award-winning performance at the Old Vic in 2019. Joining me to reexamine Coward’s ‘light comedy’ in the 21st century is theatrical agent and Coward aficionado, Alan Brodie.

026 – A Servant to Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni (& One Man Two Guvnors by Richard Bean)

026 – A Servant to Two Masters, by Carlo Goldoni (& One Man Two Guvnors by Richard Bean)

May 6, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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One Podcast Two Plays! Carlo Goldoni’s Commedia dell’Arte classic A Servant to Two Masters and Richard Bean’s hilarious update One Man Two Guvnors. We explore all of the ingredients of the original play in the tradition of Commedia dell’Arte, as well as how Bean translated these so successfully into his smash hit at the National Theatre. Writer and director Justin Greene joins me to sample this multi-course theatrical banquet. (Commedia afficionados will appreciate the gourmet references!).

025 – Medea, by Euripides

025 – Medea, by Euripides

Apr 22, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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The dramatic tragedy of a wife who murders her own two sons in a desperate act of grief and revenge remains as disturbing and deeply moving as when it was written nearly 2,500 years ago. Medea by Euripides is timeless not only because of our fascination with Medea’s horrific crime, but for the poetry of its language, and its unflinching portrayal of a woman all but powerless in a patriarchal world. The play was recently revived at the National Theatre with a stunning performance by Helen McCrory in the title role, which is now available to view on the National Theatre at Home. I’m joined by renowned classical scholar Edith Hall to explore our enduring fascination with Medea.

024 – Consent, by Nina Raine

024 – Consent, by Nina Raine

Apr 8, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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The main characters in Nina Raine’s play Consent are barristers contesting a brutal rape case. As the case unfolds the lawyers’ marriages come unravelled and they themselves cross the line of honour or even of the law. Consent explores some of the most charged issues of our time: the sources of sexual betrayal and violence, the ambiguities of consent, and the failings of the justice system to account proportionally or sensitively with cases of sexual abuse. I am delighted and honoured to be joined in this episode by the author of Consent, Nina Raine, and by actor Adam James, who appeared in the National Theatre production in the role of Jake.

023 – Footnotes Volume 2

023 – Footnotes Volume 2

Mar 25, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Footnotes Volume 2 is a selection of facts and observations culled from the library of information that we’ve compiled to accompany each of the plays in the past ten episodes. These include fascinating bits of trivia as well as more extended exploration of specific aspects of the plays. A smorgasbord of dramatic intelligence befitting of the best kind of Footnote.

022 – Shook, by Samuel Bailey

022 – Shook, by Samuel Bailey

Mar 11, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Samuel Bailey’s play Shook is set in a young offenders institution, where three young men are taking an unlikely vocational class in parenting skills. The three teenagers are, or are about to be, fathers. Shook won the 2019 Papatango New Writing Prize, and is a funny, sharp, and deeply moving play. I’m delighted to be joined by the play’s author Sam Bailey and by the director of the debut production, Papatango Artistic Director, George Turvey.

021 – The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams

021 – The Glass Menagerie, by Tennessee Williams

Feb 24, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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Tennessee Williams breakthrough playThe Glass Menagerie is a very personal portrait of Williams’ own flawed family. It first opened on Broadway in March 1945 to rave reviews, it’s box office success catapulting its 34-year old author to fame and fortune. The play is now a standard on educational curricula and theatrical programs, loved for its heart-wrenching portrayal of the hopes and disappointments of its characters, and admired for its theatrical technique and poetic dramatic language.

The play was brilliantly staged in 2013 on Broadway in a production directed by John Tiffany, which was revived in 2017 in London’s West End, and I am absolutely delighted to be joined in this episode by the director himself, John Tiffany, to share his insights into this enduring classic.

The Play Podcast – 020 Bonus: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf – A short addendum on the film

Feb 14, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

Episode 020- Bonus: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee - A short addendum on the film Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: John Mitchinson and Andy Miller Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a...

020 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, by Edward Albee

020 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, by Edward Albee

Feb 11, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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It is 2:00 am, and George and Martha have invited a young couple for after-party drinks to their home on a New England university campus. What follows is arguably the most extended and vitriolic marital argument ever staged. Over four hours of drunken skirmishing George and Martha tear strips off each other and their young guests, in a terrifying mix of games playing and truth telling, fuelled by anger, shame, disappointment, hatred and possibly even love. As the hostilities intensify both couples are forced to face unvarnished and difficult truths about themselves and their relationships. This is American playwright Edward Albee’s classic play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, which opened on Broadway in 1962, and was greeted by both moral outrage and critical acclaim. Both types of review contributed to its run-away box-office success, and led to the 1966 Oscar-winning film version with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

Joining me to survey the damage of this blistering marital battle are John Mitchinson and Andy MIller, the co-hosts of the award-winning podcast Backlisted, which as its strap line declares “gives new life to old books”.

019 – The Welkin, by Lucy Kirkwood

019 – The Welkin, by Lucy Kirkwood

Jan 28, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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It is 1759 in East Anglia. A child has been murdered and a young woman has been convicted to hang for the crime. She ‘pleads her belly’ and a jury of matrons must determine if she is truly with child and thus may escape the gallows. Lucy Kirkwood’s powerful play The Welkin, is an historical thriller and a tense courtroom drama, as well as a vivid representation of the real burdens that women carry in a patriarchal world of any age.
The Welkin premiered at the National Theatre in January 2020 before its run was cruelly cut short by the first Covid lockdown. I’m delighted to be joined by the author herself to talk about her rich new play.

018 – Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn

018 – Copenhagen, by Michael Frayn

Jan 7, 2021 | Podcast Episodes

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It is September 1941. German physicist Werner Heisenberg is visiting his friend and former colleague, Danish physicist Niels Bohr at his home in Copenhagen. Denmark is occupied by the Third Reich, and both men are under surveillance by the Gestapo. What is the purpose of their meeting at this charged time? Did they confer about the potential to build weapons based on the emerging knowledge of nuclear fission? Did Heisenberg wish to warn Bohr about the growing threat to Danish Jews? These questions and more are explored in Michael Frayn’s absorbing play Copenhagen. I’m delighted and honoured to be joined in this episode by the playwright himself.

017 – The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster

017 – The Duchess of Malfi, by John Webster

Dec 17, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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John Webster’s 400-year-old play The Duchess of Malfi is a potboiler of courtly love, intrigue and murder. It has endured not just for its bloody plot, but for its poetic language and the indomitable character of its protagonist. The Duchess remains a female paradigm for a patriarchal world. Joining us to explore this classic anew is Professor Emma Smith from Hertford College, Oxford, an expert on early modern drama.

016 – Oleanna, by David Mamet

016 – Oleanna, by David Mamet

Dec 2, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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David Mamet’s play Oleanna about the abuse of patriarchal power caused intense controversy and divided audiences when it was first produced in 1992. It is now being revived at the Theatre Royal Bath. How will we see the sensitive issues it raises differently nearly 30 years on in the light of the #MeToo movement? The acclaimed director of this new production, Lucy Bailey, joins me to explore this explosive work.

Note: this episode contains some strong language.

015 – The Father, by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton

015 – The Father, by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton

Nov 12, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Kenneth Cranham and Claire Skinner c Simon Annand

Florian Zeller’s disturbing and moving play The Father presents a piercing portrait of a family living with dementia. Anyone who has witnessed the cruel effects of the disease will recognise painful truths in the play, and everyone will be unsettled by its inventive dramatic form. The Father premiered in Bath in 2014 before award-winning runs in London and on Broadway. It has now also been made into a feature film with Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Coleman due for UK release in January 2021. I’m delighted and honoured to be joined in this episode by the renowned playwright and screenwriter Sir Christopher Hampton, who translated the original play and co-wrote the film’s screenplay

014 – Rockets and Blue Lights, by Winsome Pinnock

014 – Rockets and Blue Lights, by Winsome Pinnock

Oct 22, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Winsome Pinnock’s powerful new play Rockets and Blue Lights explores the continuing legacy of the slave trade by allowing the lost voices of the past to merge into our current re-examination of history and black identity. The play won the 2019 Alfred Fagon Award and was in preview at the Manchester Royal Exchange earlier in 2020 when the Covid pandemic cruelly closed our theatres. I’m especially honoured during Black History Month to talk with Winsome Pinnock about her wonderful play.

013 – Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller

013 – Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller

Oct 8, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Photo: Wendell Pierce as Willy Loman at the Young Vic (c. Brinkoff Mogenburg)

Arthur Miller’s portrait of an ordinary American family in post-war Brooklyn has become an enduring presence on stages around the world and in educational curricula. The splintering of the Loman family became emblematic of the personal costs and challenges of the American Dream, but Miller’s play has also remained popular and relevant because of its innovative form and emotional power. We’re delighted to be joined by Dr Stephen Marino, founding editor of The Arthur Miller Journal to explore this dramatic classic.

012 – Footnotes 1

012 – Footnotes 1

Sep 3, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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This episode is a recorded ragbag of selected extra Footnotes that we’ve compiled during the research and conversations from our first eleven episodes. You’ll hear trivial titbits of information in the best tradition of footnotes, as well as pithy observations on all of the plays that we’ve covered so far.

011 – Beginning, by David Eldridge

011 – Beginning, by David Eldridge

Aug 18, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Photo: Johan Persson

In David Eldridge’s wonderful two-hander we eavesdrop on a funny, poignant and potentially life-changing date between two people whose lives have not yet turned out as hope or promised. The playwright himself joins us to share with us where the play came from and review how the date unfolds

010 – Albion, by Mike Bartlett

010 – Albion, by Mike Bartlett

Aug 6, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Photo: Marc Brenner

Mike Bartlett’s major new play Albion is a funny and moving portrait of an individual family coping with grief and life’s big challenges, as well as a reflection on issues consuming the nation at the height of the Brexit debate. Joining us to review the reverberations of this rich play are the two leading players in its recent Almeida production: Victoria Hamilton and Nicholas Rowe.

009 – Nigel Slater’s Toast, by Henry Filloux-Bennett

009 – Nigel Slater’s Toast, by Henry Filloux-Bennett

Jul 23, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Nigel Slater’s Toast is an innovative dramatisation of the award-winning memoir of the same name, that described the life-changing events of the author’s childhood through his nostalgic diary of his favourite foods. Henry Filloux-Bennett’s funny and heart-warming play not only brings food to life in the theatre, it tells the inspiring story of a young boy who has the courage to follow his own recipe in life.

The two authors of Nigel Slater’s Toast, Henry Filloux-Bennett and Nigel Slater himself, join us to share the unlikely story of how a catalogue of childhood foods became a hit play.

008 – The Deep Blue Sea, by Terence Rattigan

008 – The Deep Blue Sea, by Terence Rattigan

Jul 9, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Terence Rattigan’s masterpiece The Deep Blue Sea was written off for more than 30 years as a dated melodrama until a landmark production at the Almeida in 1993 led to its reappraisal as a “modern classic”. The National Theatre at Home will broadcast their production starring Helen McCrory in the lead role as from 9th of July, and on the same day we will delve into the play in conversation with Dan Rebellato, the series editor of Rattigan’s plays for specialist drama publisher Nick Hern.

007 – Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan

007 – Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan

Jun 25, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

Photograph: Helen Maybanks

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A young couple navigate the age-old debate of whether or when to embark on having a baby. They are naturally worried about their personal responsibilities, but most topically they are also concerned about the impact that their adding to the global population will have on the world’s climate and future.

Duncan Macmillan’s award-winning play written in 2011, was revived at the Old Vic in 2019 with Claire Foy and Matt Smith conducting the debate. They will shortly reprise their roles via the Old Vic’s innovative in Camera live stream for a limited run from 26th June. Joining us to review the ongoing debate is George Spender, former editorial director at Oberon Books who publish Lungs and the playwright’s other plays.

006 – Betrayal, by Harold Pinter

006 – Betrayal, by Harold Pinter

Jun 11, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Pinter’s modern classic dissects the dynamics of betrayal in marriage, friendship and work. The ambiguities of the adulterous affair that is the core of the play are made all the more unsettling by the innovative chronology of the narrative: the play famously opens with the end of the affair and works backwards to its inception.
Joining us to mine the depths of Pinter’s compressed masterpiece is Mark Taylor-Batty, senior lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Leeds and author of The Theatre of Harold Pinter (Bloomsbury 2014).

005 – The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

005 – The Tempest, by William Shakespeare

May 28, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

Photo © Manuel Harlan

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From the dramatic opening shipwreck on an “isle full of noises, sounds and sweet airs”, Shakespeare’s late masterpiece is a magical play. Join us as actor Tim McMullan shares his personal insights from his acclaimed performance as the magician Prospero at the Sam Wanamaker Theatre at the Globe in 2016, just one of Tim’s many outstanding Shakespearean roles.

004 – The Revlon Girl, by Neil Anthony Docking

004 – The Revlon Girl, by Neil Anthony Docking

May 14, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Eight months after the disaster that killed 144 people in the Welsh mining village of Aberfan in October 1966, a group of bereaved mothers gather in a local hotel for a demonstration of beauty tips by a rep from the Revlon cosmetics company. The Revlon Girl premiered at the Edinburgh Festival in 2017, followed by a run at the Park Theatre in London, where it won the Off West-End Award for Best New Play. We’re joined by the play’s author, Neil Anthony Docking, to talk about his heartrending and funny play.

003 – Endgame, by Samuel Beckett

003 – Endgame, by Samuel Beckett

Apr 30, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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Following the recent revival at the Old Vic in London starring Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Cumming, we explore the method, meaning and impact of Beckett’s startlingly original play with Beckett expert, Dr Matthew McFrederick, Lecturer in Theatre at the University of Reading.

002 – Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov

002 – Uncle Vanya, by Anton Chekhov

Apr 16, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

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To coincide with Irish playwright Conor McPherson’s new adaptation of the Chekhov classic, and its West End run, we talk with his publisher Nick Hern.

001 – A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen

001 – A Doll’s House, by Henrik Ibsen

Apr 2, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

Photo © Marc Brenner

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To explore the enduring relevance of this classic play, we are joined by Dan Rebellato, playwright and Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London.