Lindsay Posner Archives - The Play Podcast

Lindsay Posner

by Douglas Schatz | Feb 7, 2023 | Contributor

Lindsay Posner

Lindsay Posner has a remarkable list of theatrical credits as a director, both in the UK and internationally. He has directed Noises Off on two occasions: first at the Old Vic Theatre in 2011, and then most recently at Theatre Royal Bath in 2022, which as we recorded our episode on the play in January 2023 arrived in London’s West End. At the same time, his production of Edward Albee’s classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf was running on the Ustinov stage at the Theatre Royal in Bath.

Lindsay was Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre from 1987-1992, where Main House credits included COLQUHOUN AND McBRYDE, THE TREATMENT, DEATH AND THE MAIDEN, and AMERICAN BAGPIPES.

His other credits include: STONES IN HIS POCKETS (UK Tour), DEAR ARABELLA (Lyric Theatre Belfast), GOD OF CARNAGE (Theatre Royal Bath), ROMEO & JULIET and RICHARD III (Shakespeare’s Rose Theatre, York), THE LIE (Menier Chocolate Factory), THE TRUTH (Menier Chocolate Factory, Wyndham’s), CINDERELLA (Stage Entertainment Moscow), THE END OF LONGING (Playhouse), SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER (Theatre Royal Bath),
COMMUNICATING DOORS (Menier Chocolate Factory), HAYFEVER (Theatre Royal Bath/West End), SPEED THE PLOW (Theatre Royal Bath, West End), OTHER DESERT CITIES (Old Vic Theatre), THE WINSLOW BOY (Roundabout Theatre, New York; Old Vic Theatre),mA LITTLE HOTEL ON THE SIDE (Theatre Royal Bath), THE TURN OF THE SCREW (ACT Productions & Hammer Theatre of Horror; Almeida Theatre), UNCLE VANYA (Vaudeville Theatre; Stanhope Productions),
RELATIVELY SPEAKING (Bath Theatre Royal, West End), RICHARD III (The Old Globe Theatre, San Diego), ABIGAIL’S PARTY (Menier Chocolate Factory / Bath Theatre Royal & West End), NOISES OFF (The Old Vic Theatre & West End),
BUTLEY (The Duchess Theatre), AN IDEAL HUSBAND (The Vaudeville Theatre), HOUSE OF GAMES (Almeida Theatre),
A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE (Duke of York’s Theatre), CAROUSEL (Churchill Theatre, UK Tour and Savoy Theatre),
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Sheffield Crucible and Savoy Theatre), 3 SISTERS ON HOPE STREET (Liverpool Everyman and Hampstead Theatre), TOM AND VIV (Almeida Theatre), FOOL FOR LOVE (Apollo Theatre), THE HYPOCHONDRIAC (Almeida Theatre), THE BIRTHDAY PARTY (Duchess Theatre), ROMANCE (Almeida Theatre), A LIFE IN THE THEATRE (Apollo Theatre), OLEANNA (Garrick Theatre), THE CARETAKER (Bristol Old Vic), SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO (Comedy Theatre), POWER (Cottesloe Theatre at the RNT), TARTUFFE (Lyttleton Theatre at the RNT), TWELFTH NIGHT (RSC, Stratford and the Barbican Theatre), THE RIVALS (RSC, Stratford and the Barbican Theatre), THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (RSC at The Pit), VOLPONE (RSC at The Swan), AFTER DARWIN (Hampstead Theatre), AMERICAN BUFFALO (Young Vic), THE PROVOK’D WIFE (Old Vic), THE LADY FROM THE SEA (Lyric Hammersmith and West ,THE SEAGULL (Gate Theatre, Dublin), THE ROBBERS (Gate Theatre, London), LEONCE AND LENA (Sheffield Crucible Studio), THE DOCTOR OF HONOUR (UK Tour and Donmar Warehouse), MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Regents Park Open Air Theatre)

Podcast Episode(s)

058 - Noises Off, by Michael Frayn

Recommended Play(s)

Lindsay recommended The Truth by Florian Zeller.

058 – Noises Off, by Michael Frayn

by Douglas Schatz | Feb 6, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

Felicity Kendall as Dotty, Alexander Hanson as Lloyd, and Tracy-Ann Oberman as Belinda
in Noises Off, London 2023
Photo by Nobby Clark

058 – Noises Off, by Michael Frayn

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Michael Frayn’s iconic comedy Noises Off is a farce about putting on a farce, in which a touring theatre company stage a dated British sex farce entitled Nothing On. As the hapless actors struggle to remember their lines and hit their queues, Frayn gives us a glimpse backstage of the mechanics of theatre, and of the disintegrating relationships of the cast as they toil through their interminable regional tour. Noises Off is a work of theatrical genius. Its parody of second-rate theatre-making is delivered with extraordinary invention and immaculate timing, while it also highlights the humanity of its characters as they stumble through the chaos of the production and their lives.

The play premiered at the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith in 1982, before transferring to the Savoy Theatre, where it won the Evening Standard award for Best Comedy and ran for 5 years with five successive casts. It was produced on Broadway in 1983, where the famed New York theatre critic Frank Rich called it the funniest play written in his lifetime. To mark its 40th anniversary, the Theatre Royal Bath mounted a revival, that as we record this episode arrives on stage at the Phoenix theatre in London’s West End in an hilarious production directed by Lindsay Posner.

I’m absolutely delighted to be joined today by Lindsay Posner, who has the distinction of having directed Noises Off twice in his distinguished career. What could possibly go wrong?!

PS You may also enjoy our episode with Michael Frayn on his play Copenhagen.

Lindsay Posner

Lindsay Posner has a remarkable list of theatrical credits as a director, both in the UK and internationally. He has directed Noises Off on two occasions: first at the Old Vic Theatre in 2011, and then most recently at Theatre Royal Bath in 2022, which as we recorded our episode arrived at the Phoenix Theatre in London’s West End. At the same time, his production of Edward Albee’s classic Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf was running on the Ustinov stage at the Theatre Royal in Bath.

Lindsay was Associate Director at the Royal Court Theatre from 1987-1992.

We’ve included a list of Lindsay’s other credits on his Guest page: Lindsay Posner.

Recommended Play

Lindsay recommended The Truth by Florian Zeller.

We have footnotes for this episode …

The Footnotes to our episode on Michael Frayn’s comic masterpiece Noises Off include extracts from the fictional programme to Nothing On, the play-within-the-play, and a reprisal of one of the best jokes in the play.

Footnotes for Patrons

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071 – Clyde’s, by Lynn Nottage

Dec 4, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Lynn Nottage’s play Clyde’s is set in a truck-stop diner on the outskirts of Reading, Pennsylvania. This is no ordinary diner though, because the short-order cooks that make the sandwiches that the diner is famous for are all ex-cons. The eponymous proprietor, Clyde, has not offered these characters a second chance out of the softness of her heart, but they discover some unexpected hope for their futures in their communal sufferings and support.

Lynn Nottage has won the Pulitzer Prize for drama twice, and as we record this episode the European premiere of Clyde’s is on stage at the Donmar Warehouse in London. I am delighted to be joined by the show’s director Lynette Linton, who also directed Nottage’s last play Sweat at the same theatre in 2018.

070 – King Lear, by William Shakespeare

Nov 17, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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The poet Percy Shelley called King Lear “the most perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world”. It is a prodigious play in every sense. There are ten major roles, it has multiple significant plot lines, an elemental stormy setting, intense domestic conflict, and acts of war and violence which roll on with a propulsive tragic energy and conjure a challenging philosophical vision.

As we record this episode a new production directed by and starring Sir Kenneth Branagh arrives in London’s West End.

I am very pleased to be joined in this episode by Paul Prescott, who is an academic, writer and theatre practitioner specialising in Shakespearean drama.

069 – A View from the Bridge, by Arthur Miller

Nov 1, 2023 | Podcast Episodes

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Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge tells the tragic story of Eddie Carbone, a longshoreman who works on the docks under Brooklyn Bridge. Eddie lives with his wife Beatrice and 17-year old niece, Catherine, whom they have cared for since she was a child. But Catherine is no longer a child, and her natural desire to pursue her own life will tragically rupture the lives of this family and the close-knit immigrant community of Red Hook.

As we record this episode a new production of A View from the Bridge is touring the UK, and I’m delighted to talk with its director, Holly Race Roughan, about this powerful play.