George Spender Archives - The Play Podcast

George Spender

by Douglas Schatz | Mar 3, 2022 | Contributor

George Spender

George Spender, was the Editorial Director at specialist drama publisher, Oberon Books, where he was responsible for publishing many of the leading British playwrights of the past decade, including Laura Wade, Tanika Gupta, Lemn Sissay, Simon Stone, Robert Icke, Barney Norris, Alice Birchall, among hundreds of others. At Oberon George published all of Duncan Macmillan’s plays, including Lungs.

More recently George has worked for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and has launched a new publishing company, Salamander Street, which specialises in new dramatic writing and theatre in education.

Podcast Episode(s)

007 - Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan

Recommended Play(s)

George recommended Mr Burns by Anne Washburn.

007 – Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan

by theplaypodcast | Jun 25, 2020 | Podcast Episodes

Photograph: Helen Maybanks

007 – Lungs, by Duncan Macmillan

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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.

George Spender

Most importantly for our episode, Oberon publish all of Duncan Macmillan’s plays, including Lungs. More recently George has worked for the Edinburgh International Festival and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and has launched a new publishing company, called Salamander Street, which specialises in new dramatic writing and theatre in education.

Recommended Play

George recommended Mr Burns by Anne Washburn.

We have footnotes for this episode …

More observations about the play and the Old Vic In Camera performance with Claire Foy and Matt Smith that was broadcast live from 26th June 2020.

Footnotes for Patrons

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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

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

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.