Mark Rosenblatt Archives - The Play Podcast

Mark Rosenblatt

by Douglas Schatz | Jun 25, 2025 | Contributor

Mark Rosenblatt

Mark Rosenblatt has worked for more than 25 years as a freelance theatre director across the UK and internationally, directing productions at Shakespeare’s Globe, the National Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, Northampton, Leeds Playhouse, the Edinburgh Festival, the Young Vic, and in the West End, off-Broadway and Tokyo, to name a few. He was full-time Associate Director at Leeds Playhouse from 2013-16 and an Associate Artist there till 2020, directing nine main house productions. Before that, he was the Associate at the National Theatre Studio from 2011 to 2013.

Mark’s first play, Giant, premiered at the Royal Court in the Autumn of 2024, before transferring to the West End in the Spring of 2025. The play won three Olivier awards for: Best New play; John Lithgow won Best Actor for his towering performance as Roald Dahl; and Eliot Levy was Best Supporting Actor as Dahl’s British publisher Tom Maschler.

Mark is also a screenwriter, writing and directing the award-winning short film GANEF, and co-writing Dominic Dromgoole’s feature film debut MAKING NOISE QUIETLY. He is currently working on a new feature film.

Podcast Episode(s)

097 - Giant by Mark Rosenblatt

Recommended Play(s)

Mark recommended A Good House by Amy Jephta.

097 – Giant by Mark Rosenblatt

by Douglas Schatz | Jun 25, 2025 | Podcast Episodes

10. John Lithgow in Giant at the Harold Pinter Theatre (c) Johan Persson

John Lihgow as Roald Dahl
Giant at the Harold Pinter theatre
May 2025
Photo by Johan Persson

097 – Giant by Mark Rosenblatt

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It is 1983 and the famous children’s author Roald Dahl finds himself embroiled in a public controversy that threatens his reputation, the potential sales of his books around the world, and even his life. His writing of a book review criticizing the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon has crossed the line into explicit antisemitism, and has been greeted with outrage. The scandal comes at a time when the long-estabished stability of Dahl’s life is in turmoil. He has recently divorced his wife of thirty years, the renowned American actress, Patricia Neal, and his new fiancée, Felicity Crossland, has just moved into the family home, Gypsy House, and initiated a program of disruptive renovations.

These are the true facts that serve as the premise for Mark Rosenblatt’s electrifying first play, Giant, which imagines an encounter between Dahl and representatives from both his British and American publishers, who have arrived at Gypsy House to try to persuade Dahl to issue some conciliatory response to critics of the review. Dahl is characteristically disinclined to retreat from his deeply-felt opinions.

The play is full of thorny moral issues that are hugely topical, including the potential conflict between the character of the artist and our appreciation for their art, and most pointedly, it addresses the conflation of opposition to actions by the state of Israel with antisemitism. It is an utterly riveting rollercoaster experience in the theatre – thought provoking and entertaining in the best possible way.

I am hugely delighted to be joined by the author of Giant, Mark Rosenblatt, to explore his extraordinary play.

As we record this episode, Giant is currently playing at the Harold Pinter theatre in London’s West End, having transferred after its acclaimed run at the Royal Court theatre last Autumn. Giant has rightly received rave reviews and awards, including at the Oliviers this year, where it was Best New play, and John Lithgow won Best Actor for his towering performance as Dahl, with Eliot Levy also winning the Olivier for Best Supporting Actor as Dahl’s British publisher Tom Maschler.

Mark Rosenblatt

He is also a screenwriter, writing and directing the award-winning short film GANEF, and co-writing Dominic Dromgoole’s feature film debut MAKING NOISE QUIETLY. He is currently working on a new feature film.

Recommended Play

Mark recommended A Good House by Amy Jephta.

We have footnotes for this episode …

The Footnotes that accompany our episode on Mark Rosenblatt’s award-winning play, ‘Giant’, include a selection of trivial facts about Dahl, as well as observations on the character of Jessie Stone and the balance of our sympathies.

Footnotes for Patrons

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115 – The Dance of Death by August Strindberg

Oct 6, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

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August Strindberg’s The Dance of Death is set in a remote army base on the coast of Sweden, where an army captain and his wife are trapped together in an unhappy marriage. The captain, bitter at his lack of promotion, and his wife, frustrated at having been forced to give up her career as an actress, occupy their empty hours tearing into each other in a brutal dance of mutual cruelty.

Strindberg’s scorching portrait of marital strife was written in 1900, but has had a lasting influence. Arthur Miller dubbed Strindberg, “the mad inventor of modern theatre”, and echoes of his unflinching dissection of marital discord can be seen in the plays of Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neill, and John Osborne.

Sir Richard Eyre adapted and directed a wonderful production of Dance of Death at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames earlier this year, and I am delighted that Sir Richard joins me in this episode to guide us through Strindberg’s blistering onslaught on marriage.

114 – Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare

Sep 22, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

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William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost is described on the title page in the first publication of its text in 1598 as “A Pleasant Conceited Comedie.” I imagine that the epithets were intended to highlight the play’s courtly aesthetic, its frothy merry-go-round of courtship, and above all perhaps, its ostentatiously intricate word play. For it is a play rich in the love and perils of language.

I am joined to assay Shakespeare’s conceited comedy by the Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames, Tom Littler. In the summer of 2026 Tom adapted and directed a magical double bill of Shakespeare, producing Love’s Labour’s Lost and Much Ado About Nothing in repertory, and staging them both ‘en plein air’.

113 – Arcadia by Tom Stoppard

Aug 24, 2026 | Podcast Episodes

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Tom Stoppard’s 1993 play, Arcadia, is viewed by many as his finest play, renowned for the breadth of its intellectual interrogations and its formal invention. The play is a structural masterpiece of ideas, as well as a teasing detective story, joyous comedy, and emotionally rich exploration of love and loss.

As we record this episode a wonderful new production of Arcadia is playing at the Duke of York’s theatre in London’s West End, following its acclaimed run at the Old Vic theatre earlier this year. I am delighted to share the challenge and the pleasure of exploring Stoppard’s dazzling drama with the director of the new production, Carrie Cracknell.