Shows
British Theatre Guide podcastAlmond's Ella Grey to open at home in NewcastlePilot Theatre, a York-based touring company that creates theatre for young people is to tour England in February and March 2024 with an adaptation of David Almond’s book A Song for Ella Grey, written by Zoe Cooper and directed by Pilot’s Artistic Director, Esther Richardson. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Esther while the production was still in rehearsal about the play, its North East setting, having a TikTok star in the title role, the process of adapting a challenging novel for the stage and the current state of theatre for young people in the UK. 2024-01-1128 min
British Theatre Guide podcastMichie and Young in new Arnott Summer PortraitTowards the end of its summer season, Pitlochry Festival Theatre will present the world première of a new play by Peter Arnott, Group Portrait in a Summer Landscape, set in a Perthshire country house during the Scottish Independence referendum of 2014, directed by David Greig in a co-production with Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre. The main character Rennie is played by John Michie, best-known as DI Robbie Ross in TV’s Taggart, and his friend Moon is played by fellow Scottish actor Benny Young. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to John and Benny while the produ...2023-07-2832 min
British Theatre Guide podcastFrank Exchanges with David Wood OBEDavid Wood OBE, described by the late great Times theatre critic Irving Wardle as “the national children’s dramatist”, has written more than 70 plays, including adaptations of books by Judith Kerr, Michelle Magorian, Philippa Pearce and Roald Dahl, as well as original plays of his own. From 1959 until 2005, David kept up regular correspondence with Frank Whitbourn, whom he credits as his mentor, which is currently being edited into a book called Frank Exchanges. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to David when he was still working on the manuscript with editor Chris Abbott about the book and ho...2023-04-151h 22
British Theatre Guide podcastDavid Greig resurrects The EgyptiansDavid Greig is a leading Scottish playwright and Artistic Director of Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. In 2016, he adapted The Suppliant Women, the only fully extant play in a trilogy by Aeschylus, and is now adapting the other two plays in the trilogy, even though only fragments of the originals still exist, the first of which, The Egyptians, opens at Gulbenkian Arts Centre in Canterbury, Kent at the end of February 2023. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to David about the fascinating process or reconstructing these ancient works, staging them in a way that gives a...2023-02-1641 min
British Theatre Guide podcastStage Door Jonny, a love letter to the stageJonathan Cake is an actor who has worked extensively on stage, film and television in the UK and the US, but his first love has always been theatre, and many of his friends in the business feel the same. In order to investigate what it is about theatre that keeps drawing them back, he has started a podcast, Stage Door Jonny, where he talks to some of those friends including Sam Mendes, Damian Lewis, David Harewood, Jez Butterworth, Ethan Hawke, and, in the very first episode, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick. BTG Editor David...2023-02-0548 min
British Theatre Guide podcastReturn to the VAULTS: London festival is back in 2023London’s VAULT Festival was founded in 2012 by Andy George and Mat Burtcher in the tunnels under Waterloo Station. The lockdown due to the COVID pandemic came during the 2020 festival and resulted in the cancellation of the 2021 and 2022 festivals, but the programme has now been announced for a big return in January 2023. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to VAULT’s Director and co-founder Andy George about the principles and criteria for the festival programme, it’s humble beginnings ten years ago, survival over three years of COVID and highlights of the 2023 event, plus he comes up wit...2022-12-1635 min
British Theatre Guide podcastBruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2022 winnersSince 2005, Manchester-based property company Bruntwood has worked with the Royal Exchange Theatre to present the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. The 2022 ceremony was held at the Royal Exchange on 14 November. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to the three of the winners—International Award winner Rochelle Fong, North West Original New Voice winner Patrick Hughes and Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting winner Nathan Queeley-Dennis—immediately after the ceremony about their work and how they felt about their awards.2022-11-1528 min
British Theatre Guide podcastNot Too Tame opening for Shakespeare North's MidsummerThe new Shakespeare North Playhouse in Prescot, Merseyside is an Elizabethan-style theatre which opened in July 2022. However, its first production of a play by Shakespeare came later with A Midsummer Night’s Dream produced by Warrington-based associate company Not Too Tame. The production will transfer to Newcastle for a run in the Epic Space at Northern Stage. David Chadderton spoke to Not Too Tame’s Artistic Director Jimmy Fairhurst, who co-directed the production with Matthew Dunster, and a company co-director, Andrew Butler, who appears in the production, about their take on the play, how it fits with the...2022-10-1742 min
British Theatre Guide podcastMIF announces Factory opening for October 2023On 29 September 2022, Manchester International Festival officially announced its plans for the opening of its new permanent performance venue, to be called Factory International, in the St John’s area of Manchester city centre. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to John E McGrath, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of both Manchester International Festival and Factory International, about what the new building would provide for Manchester and the international arts scene, as well as about the opening production, Free Your Mind, a stage adaptation of the film The Matrix directed by Danny Boyle with a script by Sabrina Mahfouz, mu...2022-10-0652 min
British Theatre Guide podcastGitika on Road back to OldhamOldham Coliseum Theatre is opening its 2022 autumn season with a revival of Jim Cartwright’s acclaimed portrait of life in a Lancashire town in Thatcher’s Britain of the 1980s, Road, which premièred at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1986. Returning to the Coliseum after directing the theatre’s first post-COVID production, Love n Stuff, in September 2021 is director Gitika Buttoo, who spoke to BTG Editor David Chadderton about the relevance of the play to today’s world, the stories it tells, her casting decisions and a career that has taken her from Leeds Playhouse to Bolton...2022-09-0722 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdfringe 2022: Peter Straker takes us on a musical theatre adventurePeter Straker’s first big break was in the West End première of the musical Hair in 1968, following which he has had a long and impressive career in both musical and non-musical theatre and as a recording artist, notably collaborating with his close friend Freddie Mercury. His show based on the songs of Jacques Brel was a hit a few years ago at the Edinburgh Fringe, but this year, he is trying something new with Adventures of Straker, featuring songs from various musicals accompanied by musician Gabriele Baldocci. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Pet...2022-08-1223 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdfringe 2022: Mischief returns to EdinburghMischief Theatre, which rose to fame ten years ago with its smash hit comedy The Play That Goes Wrong, is returning to Edinburgh in 2022 with three shows: Charlie Russell Aims to Please, Mischief Movie Night and Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle. Charlie Russell, who writes and performs the show that names her in the title, has been a co-creator and cast member in most of the company’s shows so far. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Charlie about their three Fringe shows as well as about the company’s creative process and phenomenal success. 2022-08-0433 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdfringe 2022: Any questions for QI creator John Lloyd?John Lloyd, the TV and radio producer behind many classic comedy programmes from The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Not the Nine O’Clock News and Spitting Image to Have I Got News For You, The News Quiz and QI, will be asking audiences to put his accumulated knowledge on all subjects to the test at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe in his show Do You Know Who I Am?. BTG Editor David Chadderton asked him about the show, about his career and about the things that continue to fascinate him enough to make producing programmes like Q...2022-07-2828 min
British Theatre Guide podcast27th GDIF brings free outdoor performance to LondonLondon’s Greenwich + Docklands International Festival began as a free, outdoor festival in 1996, managed to continue throughout the COVID pandemic and has now announced its 27th programme of events which will run from 26 August to 11 September 2022. GDIF Artistic Director Bradley Hemmings MBE, who also co-directed the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Paralympic Games, spoke to BTG Editor David Chadderton about this year’s festival and about its past developments.2022-07-2327 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdfringe 2022: Jon Culshaw brings Morecambe team to Les DawsonOne of the biggest hits of the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe was a one-man show about comedian Eric Morecambe written by Tim Whitnall and performed by Bob Golding. When comedy impressionist Jon Culshaw (Dead Ringers, Spitting Image) had the idea to pay tribute to comedian Les Dawson, he teamed up with Tim and Bob to create Les Dawson: Flying High, which will make its debut at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe before being extended for a national tour. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to the three of them together during the rehearsal period about their approach to...2022-07-1437 min
British Theatre Guide podcastDavid Sefton at the Gulbenkian: from London to LA to Adelaide to KentDavid Sefton joined Gulbenkian Arts Centre in Canterbury as Artistic Director in 2021, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, after running the Adelaide Festival in Australia. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to David about the 2022-23 season featuring companies such as Pussy Riot, 1927 and Improbable, and also about a career that took him from Liverpool to London’s South Bank, where he created the Meltdown Festival working with guest curators including Scott Walker, John Peel, Elvis Costello and Laurie Anderson, to UCLA Performing Arts in Los Angeles and then to Adelaide before returning to Kent—including a few...2022-07-0933 min
British Theatre Guide podcastSally Rogers revives '80s Stockport in LondonThe Still Room is a new play at Park Theatre in London set in the ‘still room’ of a hotel, where the waiters wait, in the North West of England in 1981. It was written by Sally Rogers, best known on TV as DC Jo Masters in The Bill and with theatre credits at the National Theatre, Royal Court and Out of Joint, based on her own experiences of working in a hotel near Stockport when she was just 16. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Sally during previews about the play and its setting, about teaching a young cast...2022-06-0734 min
British Theatre Guide podcastNew Contact Artistic Director Keisha ThompsonOn 25 March 2022, Manchester arts venue Contact announced that writer, performer and producer Keisha Thompson would take over from Matt Fenton in June to become its first female, first Mancunian and youngest Artistic Director. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Keisha a week before the announcement. She explained about her 17-year history at the venue, the philosophy behind this unique theatre for young people, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022, all the different production skills she has picked up from working at Contact and how much she loves a good spreadsheet. (Photo of Keisha Thompson by...2022-04-0430 min
British Theatre Guide podcastLes Enfants' Chicken Legs comes to roost at HOMELes Enfants' Chicken Legs comes to roost at HOMEBritish theatre company Les Enfants Terribles celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2022 with a new production adapted from Sophie Anderson’s novel The House with Chicken Legs by company founder Oliver Lansley directed by Oli with Creative Director James Seager. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Oli and James during rehearsals, a week before opening night, about the production and their style and influences and looked back over their work during the last 20 years. The House with Chicken Legs runs at HOME Manchester from 29 March to 23 April 2022. The music for the show featured in th...2022-03-2833 min
British Theatre Guide podcastCameron's sold-out play For Black Boys transfers to Royal CourtWriter, director and actor Ryan Calais Cameron is artistic director and co-founder of theatre company Nouveau Riche, and his play For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy is about to open at London’s Royal Court Theatre. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Ryan a couple of weeks before the Royal Court opening and asked him about the play and its origins, about creating a theatre company without knowing how to go about doing so and about making theatre for the people from the community in which he grew up. ...2022-03-2132 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPilot brings Australian refugee story to UKPilot Theatre is based in York in the UK, but for its latest project has collaborated with an Australian playwright on an adaptation of an Australian novel. The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon has received award nominations for both the Carnegie and the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for a story about a young refugee born in an Australian permanent detention centre. The adaptation has been written by S Shakthidharan and will be directed by Pilot’s Artistic Director, Esther Richardson. Esther and Shakthi spoke to BTG Editor David Chadderton about the process of adapting the novel from...2022-02-0226 min
British Theatre Guide podcastNathaniel Parker returns as Henry VIII in RSC's Mantel trilogyHilary Mantel’s Man Booker Prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies were brought to the stage in 2014 by the Royal Shakespeare Company, adapted by Mike Poulton and directed by Jeremy Herrin. The third in the series, The Mirror and the Light, has opened at the Gielgud Theatre, again directed by Herrin but this time adapted by Mantel herself with Ben Miles, who has played the central character of Thomas Cromwell across all three plays. Also returning is Nathaniel Parker as King Henry VIII. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to him on the mo...2021-10-0836 min
British Theatre Guide podcastRavenhill and Price jointly take over London's oldest pub theatreMark Ravenhill has been well known as a British playwright since the 1990s, when he was a leading figure in the group of writers labelled ‘In Yer Face’. Director Hannah Price was founder and Co-Artistic Director of Theatre Uncut and a Resident Artistic Director at the Donmar Warehouse. From 1 October 2021, Mark and Hannah will take over as joint Artistic Directors of the King’s Head Theatre, London’s oldest pub theatre. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to them both about their ideas for helping people working in the industry as we come out of a global p...2021-08-2535 min
British Theatre Guide podcastRestarting the Edinburgh Festivals: Guy Masterson on his 27th FringeAfter the cancellation of the 2020 Edinburgh Festivals due to the coronavirus pandemic, apart from a small number of online shows, the 2021 festivals are going ahead, with some shows happening in front of live audiences and some online. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Fringe performer, writer, director and producer Guy Masterson, in Edinburgh to perform a cut-down version of his one-man Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas for his 27th year on the Fringe, about how different Edinburgh seems this year, as well as the damage caused to theatre by lockdown, even touching on the effects of...2021-08-1920 min
British Theatre Guide podcastBrighton Fringe returns both online and in live venuesAfter a record-breaking year in 2019, with more than 600,000 attendees, Brighton Fringe had to cancel its 2020 festival at fairly short notice due to the first lockdown of the coronavirus pandemic in England. However, the Fringe is back for 2021, slightly later in the year than usual, with a hybrid live and online programme of events. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Brighton Fringe CEO Julian Caddy about the festival and what it will be offering attendees this year, as well as the difficulties they have faced over the last year or so. Brighton Fringe runs...2021-04-2328 min
British Theatre Guide podcastComedian Kevin Day joins appeal for support and recognition for the live events industry#WeMakeEvents was launched in April 2020, soon after the first coronavirus lockdown, by PLASA, the Professional Lighting and Sound Association, to highlight the plight of its membership, the majority of whom are freelance workers and therefore not eligible for government furlough payments. The campaign has grown to include other industry bodies and has become a global movement, with major performance venues lighting their buildings in red to highlight the red alert status of the industry. It offers financial assistance, wellbeing support and advice as well as campaigning with governments and the public to raise awareness. The...2021-03-3043 min
British Theatre Guide podcastStaged star hears out leading theatre actors performing favourite speechesHear Me Out is a new theatre podcast produced and presented by Lucy Eaton, the both real and on-screen sister of Simon Evans, creator of BBC lockdown comedy Staged starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen. Hear Me Out features interviews with leading theatre actors in which they discuss and then perform a speech from a play in which they have appeared which holds particularly strong memories for them. The first four episodes are now available, featuring Claire Skinner on Harold Pinter’s Moonlight, Adrian Lester on Cost of Living by Martyna Majok, Denise Gough on People, Places an...2021-03-2347 min
British Theatre Guide podcastUK Theatres at Risk in 2021At the beginning of each year, The Theatres Trust produces a document known as the Theatres At Risk Register, which lists the theatre buildings in the UK which are at the most risk of being lost forever. Just after the 2021 Register was released, BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Theatres Trust Director Jon Morgan about this year’s list, the work of the Trust in general and the extra help it has been giving to theatres during the pandemic. The latest Theatres At Risk Register can be downloaded from The Theatres Trust web site, which al...2021-02-1846 min
British Theatre Guide podcastAn adventurous 70th anniversary season at Pitlochry after a challenging 2020In January 2020, BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Elizabeth Newman, Artistic Director of Pitlochry Festival Theatre in Scotland, about her plans for the coming year. Less than two months later, the country shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic. The season was cancelled and the future of this theatre, amongst many others around the country, looked bleak, but it continued to commission and produce new work, mostly online. A year on, and Pitlochry has announced its 70th anniversary season including its first winter ensemble, this time geared to the conditions in which they will have to work...2021-02-1229 min
British Theatre Guide podcastTalawa tells verbatim tales from black frontline workersLeading black British theatre company Talawa, which will celebrate its 35th birthday in 2021, is releasing a series of short online films titled Tales from the Frontline that examine the experiences of black frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic through monologues compiled from the words of real people through interviews. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Talawa’s Artistic Director, Michael Buffong, who also directed the first of the films, after two of the proposed six films had been released: one from the perspective of a schoolteacher and the other from the words of an NHS recovery worker....2020-12-1124 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPeter Polycarpou takes online audiences back to the music of the Roaring TwentiesPeter Polycarpou, an actor with a long and distinguished history in musical theatre, was about to revive a production that he had written called Falling Stars at London’s Union Theatre when the second coronavirus lockdown was announced. Rather than cancelling entirely, the production, performed by Peter with Sally Ann Triplett and directed by Michael Strassen, was recorded to be made available online. Peter spoke to BTG Editor David Chadderton a few days before the recording was due to be released about the production, as well as about the effects of the lockdown on him and on th...2020-11-2131 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPursued by a Bear takes Nothing on Earth onlinePursued by a Bear, a theatre company based at Trestle Arts Base in St Albans, Hertfordshire, was preparing a tour of a new project, Nothing on Earth written by Anna Reynolds, before the coronavirus lockdown. As the tour couldn’t go ahead as planned, it was used as the inspiration for a series of short web films called Nothing on Earth: Shorts. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Pursued by a Bear’s Artistic Director, Rosamunde Hutt, when half of the six films had been released about the project and the general aims of the comp...2020-09-2843 min
British Theatre Guide podcastTheatre in a time of PandemicAs some theatre performances are starting to open in the UK after more than five months of lockdown due to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the people in charge of UK theatres have had to make some very difficult decisions in order to survive. To get the perspective of theatre management on the current situation, BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Roddy Gauld, Chief Executive of the Octagon Theatre in Bolton, just after the announcement that the theatre will reopen in December and Jon Gilchrist, Executive Director & Deputy Chief Executive of Home Manchester, where theatre performances are to recommence...2020-09-0455 min
British Theatre Guide podcastKneehigh strikes out with post-lockdown plans in 40th anniversary yearCornwall’s Kneehigh theatre company was due to celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced it to postpone any celebrations. After five months of lockdown, the company has released a strategy document, Strike Out!, focussing on its plans for creating art and performance in a post-pandemic world. Just after its release, BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Kneehigh founder and co-Artistic Director Mike Shepherd about what he has been up to during lockdown, the company’s deferred 40th anniversary plans and plans for the immediate future. To read the Strike Out...2020-08-2839 min
British Theatre Guide podcastTold by an Idiot invites families to Get Happy at Greenwich+DocklandsTheatre company Told by an Idiot will be one of the first theatre companies to resume performances to live audiences after the coronavirus lockdown when it takes part in the Greenwich+Docklands International Festival with a revival of its family show Get Happy at outdoor venues. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Told by an Idiot founder Paul Hunter, who is directing the piece, during rehearsals about this and past works by the company, as well as about his comedy influences, some of whom he has worked with, and the company’s way of working when devising it...2020-08-2138 min
British Theatre Guide podcastNew Tara Arts Artistic Director Abdul ShayekTara Arts is a London-based multicultural theatre company which has only had one artistic director, Jatinder Verma MBE, since it was formed in 1977 until he stepped down earlier this year. He will be replaced by Abdul Shayek, a director originally from East London who has spent the last nine years based in Cardiff, initially working with National Theatre Wales and for the last four years running Fio, a theatre company that he formed in 2016. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Abdul just after his appointment had been announced about his plans for Tara, running a...2020-08-1432 min
British Theatre Guide podcastGodspell 50th anniversary concert streaming worldwideStephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak’s musical Godspell, based on the Gospel of St Matthew, is about to celebrate its 50th anniversary. To commemorate this, Thomas Hopkins & Michael Quinn for Ginger Quiff Media in association with Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre are to stream an online concert version of the musical in August 2020 with a cast headed by West End stars Ruthie Henshall, Darren Day, Sam Tutty, Ria Jones and Jenna Russell. Also starring is Jodie Steele, who was touring as Katherine Howard in the hit musical Six until the coronavirus pandemic caused the theatres to c...2020-07-2927 min
British Theatre Guide podcastBeats & Elements brings working class voices and beatboxing to online theatreNo Milk for the Foxes was a one-act play written and performed by Conrad Murray and Paul Cree for Beats & Elements at Camden People’s Theatre in 2015 that looked in on the lives of two young, working-class lads, Marx and Sparx, working as security guards on zero-hours contracts and which used beatboxing and live looping between dialogue scenes. An archive recording of this production has now been made available on YouTube in order, according to Conrad, to introduce some diversity into the huge amount of online theatre that has suddenly become available by throwing some working class vo...2020-06-2635 min
British Theatre Guide podcastAll-star cast broadcasts to the world from HuddersfieldLawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield is producing a star-studded multi-cast audio play, The Understudy, an adaptation by Henry Filloux-Bennett of a novel by David Nicholls about an actor who is failing in most aspects of his life. The cast includes Stephen Fry, Russell Tovey, Emily Atack, Sheila Atim, Layton Williams, Sarah Hadland, Mina Anwar, Jake Ferretti, Sasha Frost, Marie Lawrence, James McNicholas and Lizzie Muncey. Each actor has recorded his or her own dialogue at home in isolation and it has all been assembled by the sound design team of Alexandra Faye Braithwaite with Annie...2020-05-0100 min
British Theatre Guide podcastSlung Low streams civil war from LeedsSlung Low, a theatre company founded in 2000 and currently based in the oldest social club in Britain in Holbeck, Leeds, programmes work in its own performance spaces but also creates large-scale works in non-theatre spaces, often involving large community casts. During the coronavirus lockdown, Slung Low is releasing a short film, The Good Book, written by James Phillips with a cast of three professional actors alongside more than a hundred people from Leeds in the first piece of work to be produced by the new Leeds People’s Theatre, filmed in January in Holbeck and Leeds. ...2020-04-2400 min
British Theatre Guide podcastHOME brings Homemakers into your homesIn common with most of the UK’s theatres and other arts venues, HOME Manchester announced it would close soon after Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s statement on 16 March 2020 appealing to the public to stay away from public places to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. A week later, HOME announced a series of commissions, titled Homemakers, from artists asking them to devise new works in their homes for audiences who will also be at home. The initiative was created by HOME’s Associate Director Jude Christian who spoke to BTG Editor David Chadderton online, both i...2020-03-2720 min
British Theatre Guide podcastSansom brings Barrie's Quality Street to the home of the chocolates, then on tourLaurie Sansom has been Artistic Director at the National Theatre of Scotland and Royal and Derngate in Northampton, but he has more recently taken over at Northern Broadsides in Halifax. His first production there as director is a revival of Quality Street by J M Barrie, the title of which has a special connection with the company’s home town. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to him a couple of weeks into rehearsals about the play and the ‘forgotten’ Barrie canon and about his plans for this well-known touring theatre company, and he also looked back briefly on his...2020-02-1225 min
British Theatre Guide podcastSee six varied plays in six days at PitlochryPitlochry Festival Theatre in Perthshire, Scotland announced its summer rep season for 2020 in December. In 2018, Elizabeth Newman joined the theatre as Artistic Director from the Octagon Theatre in Bolton. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Elizabeth in January about the new season and about how she had developed the theatre’s programme over the last eighteen months, as well as how she had coped with settling in an unfamiliar region after ten years in Bolton. The summer season at Pitlochry Festival Theatre runs from 22 May to 3 October 2020. (Photo: Elizabeth Newman and Da...2020-02-0527 min
British Theatre Guide podcastCrongton Knights ride into CoventryPilot Theatre is to tour the UK with Crongton Knights by Alex Wheatle in an adaptation by Emteaz Hussain co-directed by Pilot’s Artistic Director, Esther Richardson, and Corey Campbell, Artistic Director of Strictly Arts Theatre Company, with music by beatbox champion Conrad Murray. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Esther and Corey during rehearsals for the production at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry about the play’s story and themes, and also about the financial implications of producing new work, creating work for young audiences and getting them to come and see it when schools are stru...2020-01-2927 min
British Theatre Guide podcastBTG podcast reaches 200: hear from our reviewersFor our 200th episode of the British Theatre Guide podcast, we decided to turn the microphone onto some of our longest serving reviewers to find out about how they joined BTG and some of their highlights from their time as reviewers. However this isn’t all about us, as we also asked them about the current state of theatre in their areas, how it has changed during their time reviewing and how they think it will change in the future. As our reviewers are scattered around the country, it gives an interesting picture of theatre around the UK...2020-01-131h 20
British Theatre Guide podcastSupporting Mame in ManchesterHope Mill Theatre in Manchester is continuing its run of revivals of musicals with the Jerry Herman show Mame, starring Tracie Bennett, Tim Flavin and Harriet Thorpe. During the Manchester run, BTG editor David Chadderton sat in the theatre with Harriet—well known to TV audiences for her comedy roles such as Carole The Brittas Empire and Fleur in Absolutely Fabulous, but with stage musical credits including Mamma Mia and Wicked—and spoke about her role as Mame’s bitchy actress friend Vera in the show, about working at Hope Mill and about her background in TV comedy...2019-11-0200 min
British Theatre Guide podcastChekhov's Seagull adaptation rocks Bolton LibraryThe next production from Bolton’s Octagon Theatre is a version of Chekhov’s The Seagull rewritten by Beth Hyland as a gig musical about four aspiring young musicians in a rock band in 2019, performed in a small theatre space in Bolton Library. In this episode, BTG Editor David Chadderton speaks to half of the cast, Tomi Ogbaro and Lauryn Redding, together with director Lotte Wakeham about this première production, plus Lotte gives an update on the reopening of the Octagon Theatre next spring after undergoing a major refurbishment. You can also hear two of th...2019-10-2431 min
British Theatre Guide podcastRich Kids of Tehran (and elsewhere) come to ManchesterIn 2017, Javaad Alipoor’s The Believers Are But Brothers opened at Transform Festival in Leeds before transferring to Summerhall for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a Scotsman Fringe First, and later was adapted for television and shown on BBC4. This was the first play in a trilogy, the second part of which, Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran, premièred at the Traverse Theatre during the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe and is about to open at HOME Manchester. A week before it opened, BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Javaad at HOME abo...2019-10-1740 min
British Theatre Guide podcastThree decades of a male friendship on tour in Under Three MoonsThe latest production from Manchester-based new writing theatre company Box of Tricks is Under Three Moons by Daniel Kanaber, a play about a close male friendship across three decades, described to us by the director as a “platonic love story”. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Danny and director Adam Quayle during the early stages of rehearsals about the play, the development process and how this relationship fits into the current debate about masculinity. Under Three Moons will open at The Lowry in Salford from 24 to 28 September 2019 before touring to Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, Unit...2019-09-0627 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdinburgh 2019: Owen O'Neill is Shaving the DeadOwen O’Neill is an Irish writer, actor and stand-up comedian who has become known particularly on the Edinburgh Fringe for his one-man plays. This year, he has written a two-hander called Shaving the Dead in which he does not perform but it is directed by Fringe regular Guy Masterson, with whom he has previously collaborated on a number of major projects. Between them, Owen and Guy have clocked up 49 visits to the Edinburgh Fringe. In this episode, BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Owen just after the play had opened in Edinburgh, and he ex...2019-08-1221 min
British Theatre Guide podcastJackie Kay's Red Dust Road runs from Edinburgh to ManchesterJackie Kay is the current Makar, the Scottish national poet, whose 2010 memoir, Red Dust Road, is to be adapted for the stage by Tanika Gupta for a co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland and HOME Manchester, which will open at the Edinburgh International Festival in August 2019. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Jackie at HOME Manchester about the subject of her book, her quest to find her birth parents (she was adopted as a baby and brought up in Glasgow), one in Scotland and the other in Nigeria, and what she is hoping for from the...2019-05-1032 min
British Theatre Guide podcastLisa Holdsworth: bringing Andrea Dunbar's story back to BradfordPlaywright Andrea Dunbar from Bradford in Yorkshire, most famous for Rita, Sue and Bob Too, died in 1990 at the age of 29. Her story was retold in Adelle Stripe’s award-winning debut novel Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile, which is about to be brought to the stage by Bradford-based Freedom Studios. The book will be adapted by Yorkshire writer Lisa Holdsworth, who has written extensively for prime time TV, including episodes of Fat Friends, New Tricks, Midsummer Murders and Call the Midwife. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Lisa about her adaptation, about Dunbar and her struggles as...2019-05-0326 min
British Theatre Guide podcastBraham Murray: how the Royal Exchange Theatre was born in ManchesterBraham Murray OBE arrived in Manchester in the 1960s as the youngest artistic director in the country, of the travelling Century Theatre, remaining in the city to co-found the 69 Theatre Company which went on to become the Royal Exchange Theatre, still one of the UK’s leading regional theatres. Murray died in 2018 at the age of 75, but BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to him in 2011 when he had just announced that he would leave the theatre he co-founded 35 years earlier. He spoke about working with Century Theatre's travelling auditorium, forming the 69 Theatre Company at the University Theatre (no...2019-04-2629 min
British Theatre Guide podcastFrom Shore To Shore: migrant stories come to your local Chinese restaurantFrom Shore to Shore is a play written by British playwright Mary Cooper in collaboration with M W Sun based on real migration stories from Chinese communities throughout the UK that will tour nationally to Chinese restaurants and Chinese community centres rather than theatres. For this episode, BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to the play’s director, David Tse, and veteran British Chinese actor Ozzie Yue, who leads the cast, about the play, the process of collecting stories, their own family connections with Chinese migrant stories and also how opportunities have changed for British Chinese actors over th...2019-02-2641 min
British Theatre Guide podcastBox of Tricks sets spark to new play from Manchester actor and writer David JudgeThe latest production from Manchester-based new writing theatre company Box of Tricks is SparkPlug, written and performed by David Judge based on his own experiences being brought up as a mixed race child by a white stepfather in 1980s Manchester. The production is directed by Box of Tricks Joint Artistic Director and co-founder Hannah Tyrrell-Pinder and begins its 9-week tour at HOME in Manchester, where BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to David and Hannah in a dressing room during a break from technical rehearsals. SparkPlug runs at HOME in Manchester from 13 to 23 February 2019 before touring...2019-02-1436 min
British Theatre Guide podcastMuch Ado About Benedick at Northern BroadsidesConrad Nelson’s production of Shakespeare’s comedy Much Ado About Nothing for Northern Broadsides Theatre Company had a cast change on the first day of rehearsals when Reece Dinsdale had to drop out of the key role of Benedick due to a family illness and Robin Simpson took over the role. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Robin during the second week of rehearsals about the additional pressure that may have put on him and also about the production as a whole, playing Shakespeare, performing comedy and even a bit of panto. The Northern Broa...2019-02-0123 min
British Theatre Guide podcastThree years of actors' honesty with Jonathan HardenThe Honest Actors’ Podcast was founded by Belfast-born actor Jonathan Harden in 2015 and is currently launching its third and final series, featuring long, frank discussions with experienced actors about the joys and torments of their chosen career. As he was in the midst of launching new episodes in the days leading up to Christmas 2018, BTG Editor David Chadderton turned the tables on Jonathan, asking him about his life and career as an actor, as well as what he has learned from the last three years of interviews with other actors. The Honest Actors’ Podcast is avai...2018-12-2351 min
British Theatre Guide podcastDirector Lily Sykes on bringing Genet's Maids to Manchester HomeThe first in-house production in HOME Manchester’s autumn and winter season for 2018 is a new production of French writer Jean Genet’s 1947 play The Maids, in an English version by Martin Crimp. The play will be directed in-the-round at HOME by Lily Sykes, an English-born director who has lived and worked in Germany for the last ten years and has recently become a German citizen. In a break during rehearsals, BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Lily about the play, existentialism, polarisation of society, the differences between directing for British and German theatres and a gr...2018-11-0335 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPauline McLynn brings Courage to Red Ladder's fiftieth birthdayRed Ladder, which bills itself as “Britain’s leading radical theatre company”, this year celebrates its fiftieth anniversary, tracing its roots back to the left-wing agitprop theatre of the 1960s. To celebrate, instead of its usual fare of new political writing, it has turned to Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children, which artistic director Rod Dixon has staged as a promenade production in a warehouse in Leeds featuring Pauline McLynn (Mrs Doyle in classic sitcom Father Ted) in the title role. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Rod when the production had been running for near...2018-10-1055 min
British Theatre Guide podcastRashDash on what we may find in their (and our) Future BodiesThe latest production from acclaimed theatre company RashDash, Future Bodies, has been produced in collaboration with Unlimited Theatre and HOME Manchester as a trailblazer event for the 2018 Manchester Science Festival. What does it mean to have and to be a body? As we increasingly fuse our biological brains with technology, at what point do we stop being human? Does it even matter? During rehearsals at HOME, BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to RashDash co-founder Helen Goalen, who is co-directing the production, about the show, how it was created and the ideas behind it. ...2018-09-2623 min
British Theatre Guide podcastJude Christian directs othellomacbeth at HOME ManchesterFor its first production of the autumn 2018 season, HOME in Manchester has again teamed up with Lyric Hammersmith for a pairing of two of Shakespeare’s plays, Othello and Macbeth, assembled into one production by director Jude Christian to highlight, in particular, the stories of the female characters in both plays. A week before the production’s Manchester opening, Jude spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton at HOME about how the production came about and redressing the gender politics in Shakespeare, as well as some thoughts on panto, which she will also be directing later this year at L...2018-09-0727 min
British Theatre Guide podcastStella Duffy: bringing Joan Littlewood's idea of fun to a palace near to youThe Fun Palace was an idea conceived originally by influential theatre maker Joan Littlewood with architect Cedric Price in the early 1960s. Their building-based idea was never built, but writer and actor Stella Duffy OBE came up with the idea to resurrect it in a different way for Littlewood’s centenary in 2014. This has become a fast-growing annual event co-directed by Stella with Sarah-Jane Rawlings and is about to celebrate its fifth anniversary. In this episode, David Chadderton talks to Stella about her realisation of the Fun Palace idea for the twenty-first century on a co...2018-08-1257 min
British Theatre Guide podcastTake a bus to a Summer Holiday in BoltonAs it prepares to leave its building in the hands of developers for refurbishment, Bolton’s Octagon Theatre takes its audiences on the road, literally, for its seasonal musical Summer Holiday, based on the Cliff Richard film. The performance begins at the new Bolton Interchange bus station where the audience will meet before travelling by bus with the actors to the theatre, where the rest of the production takes place. A little over a week before opening, BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to two of the actor musicians, Barbara Hockaday and Greg Last, and Ben Oc...2018-05-2924 min
British Theatre Guide podcastTiger Lillies bring Mexico to ManchesterThe Tiger Lillies is an Olivier Award-winning and Grammy-nominated musical trio with more than thirty years of success around the world as a live band, as recording artists and as part of several theatre productions, including the Olivier Award-winning Shockheaded Peter on the West End. Their latest collaboration is with visual director Mark Holthusen and writer Peder Bjurman on a story set along the Mexican border, Corrido de la Sangre, which will be performed as part of the ¡Viva! Spanish and Latin American Festival 2018 at HOME Manchester. In this episode, BTG editor David Chadderton speaks t...2018-04-1800 min
British Theatre Guide podcastJake Murray brings Jesus to Elysium in Manchester and DurhamDirector Jake Murray, who was co-artistic director for Manchester's Royal Exchange Studio space with current Exchange Artistic Director Sarah Frankcom until he left Manchester in 2008, is back in the city with his new Durham-based Elysium Theatre Company. His latest production is of Stephen Adly Guirgis’s Pullitzer Prize-winning play Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train, which has only been produced twice in the UK before. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Jake at HOME Manchester a month before the production opened about the play, the aims of the new company, regional theatre in general and in Manche...2018-04-1130 min
British Theatre Guide podcastTribute to John Blackmore, featuring Mark BabychOn 20 February 2018, regional theatre director, artistic director and chief executive John Blackmore died at the age of 77. He was chief executive at Bolton's Octagon Theatre for 12 years, but he also put together a plan to save Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse theatres, was Artistic Director of Manchester’s Library Theatre in the 1960s, founded the company that became Northern Stage in Newcastle, was one of the founders of Out of Joint, was director or artistic director of Midlands Arts Centre (now mac) in Birmingham, The Dukes in Lancaster, Warwick Arts Centre and the English Shakespeare Company and chie...2018-03-1853 min
British Theatre Guide podcastCommunity drama class comes HOME in Circle Mirror TransformationPullitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation is being revived by director Bijan Sheibani for HOME Manchester in March 2018. Set in a creative drama class in a community centre in Vermont, the cast comprises Amelia Bullmore as Marty, Anthony Ofoegbu as James, Sian Clifford as Theresa, Con O’Neill as Schultz and Yasmin Paige as Lauren. Just over a week before the production opened, BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Sian Clifford and Anthony Ofoegbu during their lunch break from rehearsals about the play, meta-acting, accents, pauses and hula-hooping. Circle Mirror Tran...2018-03-0620 min
British Theatre Guide podcastJoseph Houston on the rapid rise of Manchester's Hope Mill TheatreIn November 2015, a new fringe theatre opened up in Ancoats, Manchester with the ambition of presenting full-scale commercial productions of musicals. Created by musical theatre performers Joseph Houston and William Whelton, Hope Mill Theatre has since won multiple local and national awards, transferred productions to London and been named in The Stage 100, a list of the most influential people in the whole of UK theatre from The Stage newspaper. In the middle of January 2018, during auditions for Spring Awakening, one of three major musical productions so far announced by Hope Mill Theatre for this year...2018-01-3031 min
British Theatre Guide podcastHOME Manchester gives PUSH to Manchester theatre creators PUSH from Manchester’s HOME arts centre is an annual festival each January that brings together Manchester-based performance artists and companies for just over two weeks of performances, readings, workshops, screenings, exhibitions and other events. At the launch on 12 January, BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to one of the programming team for PUSH, Jodie Ratcliffe, as well as some of the artists whose work will be featured in the festival: Ben Mellor of Pen-Chant Emilie Lahouel and Laura Edwards of Meraki Collective about Only Speak When Spoken To Remi Adefeyisan from Truth Be Told abo...2018-01-1627 min
British Theatre Guide podcastVanya comes HOME to Manchester for Revolution centenaryAs part of its A Revolution Betrayed? spring and summer season across its film, art and theatre programmes, commemorating the centenary of the Russian Revolution, HOME Manchester will present a new production of Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya directed by the centre’s Artistic Director for Theatre, Walter Meierjohann. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Walter in a dressing room at HOME just over a week before the production opened about his take on this classic play, Chekhov's comedy, multi-layered structure and political foresight and the relevance to audiences today of a play depicting people on the brin...2017-10-2500 min
British Theatre Guide podcastHear from Rita, Sue and Bob Too: Out of Joint tours Andrea Dunbar revivalDirector Max Stafford-Clarke has revived for his theatre company Out of Joint Andrea Dunbar’s play Rita, Sue and Bob Too, which he directed originally while Artistic Director of the Royal Court in London in 1982, working closely with the 19-year-old playwright. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to lead actors Taj Atwal (Rita), Gemma Dobson (Sue) and James Atherton (Bob) during the production's initial run at the Octagon Theatre Bolton about the play and the issues it raises, the politics of the council estate in the 1980s, Max Stafford-Clark's rehearsal methods, the unsexiness of a sex scene and a...2017-10-0439 min
British Theatre Guide podcastKevin Fegan on The Ruck, The Shed Crew and 30 years as a playwrightPlaywright Kevin Fegan talks to BTG editor David Chadderton about his 30-year career as a playwright and, more specifically, about his new plays opening soon: The Ruck opens on the main stage at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield on 15 September 2017, before touring to Theatre Royal Wakefield, Cast in Doncaster and The Civic, Barnsley. The Shed Crew runs at Albion Electric warehouse (tickets from West Yorkshire Playhouse) in Leeds from 21 September to 1 October. Bess the Commoner Queen is at Guildhall Theatre in Derby from 28 September to 1 October. Down The Line is at Barrow Hill Roundhouse from 21 to 23 September. 2017-09-1327 min
British Theatre Guide podcastGraeme Macrae Burnet at the Book Festival and Milly Thomas at the FringeThis year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival featured a series of events subtitled “a theatrical exploration”, in which well-known Scottish novels were partly staged by a director, scriptwriter and actors produced in association with Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre. One the three novels explored in this way was Booker-nominated His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet, who spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton about his involvement with the project on a busy final Saturday at the 2017 Book Festival. Also, Philip Fisher spoke to Milly Thomas who, after this interview was recorded, won a Stage Edinburgh Award for her...2017-09-0459 min
British Theatre Guide podcastAll We Ever Wanted... Hull's Middle Child at LatitudeAll We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Luke Barnes is the latest "gig theatre" production from Hull-based theatre company Middle Child. After a run at the Welly Club in Hull in June, the production will be performed at this year's Latitude Festival. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Middle Child artistic director Paul Smith about the show, as well as musing on political theatre, adapting for festivals, attracting new audiences to theatre and becoming a new National Portfolio Organisation for Arts Council funding. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything will be at Latitude...2017-07-1322 min
British Theatre Guide podcastClod Ensemble's On the High Road - Festival Edit at LatitudeAt this year’s Latitude Festival, Clod Ensemble will present a special ‘festival edit’ of its new show On the High Road, which will be directed by Suzy Willson with music composed by Paul Clark, founders of the company in 1995. Suzy and Paul spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton a week before Latitude was due to open about the show, the company's work and methods and plans for future work. Latitude Festival runs at Henham Park in Southwold, Suffolk from Thursday 14 to Sunday 16 July 2017.2017-07-0924 min
British Theatre Guide podcastWertenbaker's Winter Hill in BoltonTimberlake Wertenbaker was commissioned by the Octagon Theatre in Bolton to write Winter Hill, named after a local landmark most famous for its TV mast. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Timberlake when she had spent nearly a week in rehearsals for the play in Bolton, and then a couple of weeks later to three of the cast: Cathy Tyson, Souad Faress and Janet Henfry. Winter Hill by Timberlake Wertenbaker will be at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton from 11 May to 3 June 2017. (Photo of the Winter Hill cast in rehearsal by Ray Jefferson...2017-05-0243 min
British Theatre Guide podcastBarrie Rutter on Richard III and 25 years of Northern BroadsidesIn 1992, Barrie Rutter directed and played the title role in Shakespeare’s Richard III for what became the inaugural production of Northern Broadsides. Twenty-five years later, he is directing Mat Fraser as Richard for Hull’s 2017 City of Culture. In this episode, David Chadderton speaks to Barrie about a quarter of a century of Broadsides, his own forthright views on how to direct and perform Shakespeare and on returning to the city where he grew up for this anniversary production. Richard III will run at Hull Truck Theatre from 4 to 27 May 2017. It will then have a sh...2017-04-2624 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPlaywright Lizzy Nunnery on Narvik for Box of TricksLiverpool playwright Lizzy Nunnery's new play Narvik directed by Hannah Tyrell-Pinder for Box of Tricks will open its national tour at the end of January 2017 following a successful run at Liverpool Playhouse in September 2015. Lizzy spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton a couple of weeks before the tour opened about the process of creating the play from stories from her grandfather and other World War II sailors stationed in the Arctic and about her career writing for stage and radio over the last ten years. Narvik opens at HOME Manchester from 31 January to 4 February 2017 before...2017-01-2320 min
British Theatre Guide podcastAlex Chisholm on North Country from Freedom StudiosFreedom Studios is an inter-cultural theatre company based in Bradford, West Yorkshire which is about to open a new play by Tajinder Singh Hayer set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy version of Bradford called North Country at The Wild Woods in the heart of the town where it is set. Alex Chisholm, the play’s director and recently appointed co-Artistic Director of Freedom Studios, spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton about the play and about the philosophy behind Freedom Studios. North Country will be at The Wild Woods in Bradford from 26 October to 5 November 2016. (Re...2016-10-1625 min
British Theatre Guide podcastLuke Wright's What I Learned From Johnny BevanPerformance poet Luke Wright is is currently touring with a solo verse play directed by nabokov’s Joe Murphy called What I Learned From Johnny Bevan. Luke plays Nick, an arts journalist, who is transported by current events back to memories of his days in university in the mid-‘90s when his friend, after whom the play is named, changed his life. In this episode, Luke speaks to BTG editor David Chadderton about the show, politics, New Labour, festivals, acting awards and poetry. Luke tours the UK until December 2016 with What I Learned From...2016-10-0429 min
British Theatre Guide podcastKate Anthony on playing Priestley with Northern BroadsidesHalifax-based Northern Broadsides has paired up with York Theatre Royal for a revival of J B Priestley's When We Are Married, directed by Northern Broadsides artistic director Barrie Rutter. Playing the role of Clara Soppitt, actress Kate Anthony, best-known for playing Pam Hobsworth in Coronation Street, spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton during rehearsals about the production and her part in it as well as some of the differences between acting in theatre and TV and the importance of getting on with your fellow actors while touring. When We Are Married is at York Theatre...2016-09-1819 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdinburgh 2016: Joyce McMillan on 35 years of Theatre in ScotlandTheatre in Scotland: A Field of Dreams is a compilation of 35 years of reviews from The Scotsman's lead theatre critic Joyce McMillan, edited by former Traverse Theatre artistic director Philip Howard. From the heart of the Edinburgh Festivals of 2016, Joyce shared with BTG editor David Chadderton her extensive knowledge and insightful analysis of Scottish theatre and its development in conjunction with political and social changes in Scotland and across the UK since the 1970s.2016-09-0750 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdinburgh 2016: Bucket List, Glass Menagerie, Ghost QuartetDavid Chadderton talks to Nir Paldi, co-artistic director of Theatre Ad Infinitum whose show Bucket List was previewed at Latitude Festival before opening in its final form at the Edinburgh Fringe. (Photo credit: Alex Brenner) Philip Fisher talks with Kate O'Flynn, who is starring in what is likely to be the pick of Edinburgh 2016, John Tiffany's production of The Glass Menagerie in the Edinburgh International Festival, about the play, her stage career and working with Mike Leigh. (Photo Credit: Johan Persson) Philip Fisher interviews Dave Malloy about bringing Ghost Quartet to...2016-08-3052 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPhelim McDermott talks Improbable and AnimoPhelim McDermott co-founded acclaimed theatre company Improbable in 1996. His directing credits including Shockheaded Peter with Julian Crouch and The Tiger Lillies, Philip Glass’s The Perfect American with ENO and Teatro Real in Madrid, The Addams Family on Broadway and, most recently, Jim Broadbent in A Christmas Carol on the West End. Phelim spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton about the origins of Improbable's show Animo that combines improvisation and puppetry, which was revived for the 2016 Latitude Festival led by co-artistic director Lee Simpson. He also looked back on 20 years of Improbable and ta...2016-08-1132 min
British Theatre Guide podcastRoxanne Pallett on Some Girls and The Wedding SingerRoxanne Pallett, probably still best-known for her long-running character of Jo in ITV’s Emmerdale, is currently appearing as Tyler in Neil LaBute’s Some Girls at London’s Park Theatre and in 2017 will star as Holly in a new production of The Wedding Singer, a musical based on the popular 1998 film of the same name, for a national tour. Roxanne talks to BTG editor David Chadderton about both productions in a busy year for her, and also speaks quite frankly about how tough it can be for an actor to handle the leaner times when the work i...2016-07-0719 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPlaywright Emma Reeves on Snow Child for tutti frutti and York Theatre RoyalLeeds-based children’s theatre company tutti frutti has teamed up with York Theatre Royal and playwright Emma Reeves, Olivier-nominated for her adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s Hetty Feather, on a new adaptation of the children’s folk tale Snow Child, inspired by Arthur Ransome’s adaptation of this traditional tale entitled The Little Daughter of the Snow. Emma spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton early in the rehearsal period about the play, tutti frutti's collaborative production methods and her career writing adaptations of children's classic literature for stage and TV. Snow Child by Emma Reeves, directed...2015-10-0123 min
British Theatre Guide podcastBarrie Rutter and Catherine Kinsella on performing King Lear with Northern BroadsidesSir Jonathan Miller has returned to Halifax-based Northern Broadsides Theatre Company to director company founder Barrie Rutter in the title role of Shakespeare’s King Lear. BTG editor David Chadderton speaks to Barrie Rutter about his new OBE, playing Lear, working with Jonathan Miller and touring large-cast productions and to Catherine Kinsella about playing Cordelia, winning a Manchester Theatre Award and making a career as an actor in the north of England. The production will open at the company’s base at the Viaduct Theatre in Halifax on 27 February 2015 before touring to Hull Truck Theatre, Thea...2015-02-2236 min
British Theatre Guide podcastMike Tweddle on the Best of BE Festival tour 2014Birmingham’s BE Festival of European arts will be touring the best of 2014’s event for the fourth year, taking three performances from Hungary, Austria and Belgium to venues throughout the UK and Madrid. In this episode, BTG's David Chadderton speaks to Mike Tweddle, who is one of the festival’s directors with Miguel Oyarzun and Isla Aguilar. The 2014 tour visits runs from 8 October to 8 November, visiting the Pit at the Barbican in London, The Door at Birmingham Rep, Bath Spa Live, Circomedia in Bristol, Home Manchester’s temporary base at Number One First Street, Slung Low...2014-10-1524 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPete Brooks of Imitating the Dog on Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms (File Name: Pete_Brooks_Imitating_the_Dog_A_Farewell_to_Arms.mp3)Imitating the Dog, a company known for its integration of video and other technology into its theatre work, has managed to secure the rights for the first ever UK stage adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s 1929 novel A Farewell to Arms for a short tour of the UK and Italy. The novel has been adapted for the stage and is directed jointly by Imitating the Dog founder members Pete Brooks and Andrew Quick. In this episode, David Chadderton speaks to Pete Brooks a week before the show’s opening about the production, acquiring the rights from the...2014-10-0631 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdinburgh 2014: producer Richard Jordan, Hannah Price of Theatre Uncut and Guy MastersonProducer Richard Jordan and BTG's Philip Fisher discuss trends in Edinburgh and recommend shows that should not be missed, including The James Plays in the International Festival. Founder and Co-Artistic Director Hannah Price tells Philip Fisher about the phenomenon of Theatre Uncut, which sets out to address political issues through drama, its genesis and future. Actor, director and one of the most established and respected theatre producers on the Edinburgh Fringe Guy Masterson, now in his 21st year at the world's largest arts festival, talks to David Chadderton about this year's Fringe programme, how he...2014-08-251h 10
British Theatre Guide podcastEdinburgh 2014: Baby Wants Candy and James Grieve of Paines PloughDavid Chadderton talks to Zach Reino, Jessica McKenna and Nick Semar of American comedy group Baby Wants Candy, one of the longest-running companies to offer a brand new, fully-improvised musical at each show. The Completely Improvised Full Band Musical runs at Assembly Roxy until 25 August 2014, plus the same group's All Star Improv Explosion Show runs at Underbelly Bristo Square until the same date. For more information, see babywantscandy.com Also, Philip Fisher talks with James Grieve, co-artistic director of new writing company Paines Plough, about the company’s history, its new touring pop-up thea...2014-08-1745 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdinburgh 2014: Horse + Bamboo's Red Riding Hood and Blofeld and Baxter Memories of Test Match SpecialLancashire-based Horse + Bamboo, a company that has specialised in mask and puppet theatre since it was founded in 1978, brings its version of classic fairy tale Red Riding Hood to the Scottish Storytelling Centre for the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe. Performers Jonny Quick and Nix Wood talk to BTG editor David Chadderton about the production and their involvement with the company. The production runs at 1PM until 17 August 2014. For more information about this and the company, see www.horseandbamboo.org. Also in this episode, Philip Fisher talks to legendary cricket broadcasters Henry Blofeld and Peter Baxter...2014-08-0936 min
British Theatre Guide podcastWalter Meierjohann and Dave Moutrey on creation of new Home Manchester arts centreHome Manchester is a new purpose-built arts centre that will bring together Manchester’s Cornerhouse cinema and Library Theatre Company into one organisation with shared facilities, due to open in spring 2015. BTG editor David Chadderton speaks to Walter Meierjohann, who takes over from Library Theatre Company artistic director Chris Honer, and chief executive Dave Moutrey about the new building. For more information about Home, see the official web site homemcr.org.2013-12-2330 min
British Theatre Guide podcastEdfringe 2013: Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Orla O'Loughlin and Howard ReadPhoebe Waller-Bridge talks to Philip Fisher about her solo show Fleabag at Underbelly as well writing, performing in the West End and elsewhere and the Edinburgh experience. The Traverse's Artistic Director Orla O'Loughlin takes a break from rehearsals to discuss with Philip Fisher the theatre's work and what the Festival Fringe means to her. Animator and stand-up comedian Howard Read talks to David Chadderton about his two shows in this year's Fringe: for families his most successful animated character returns in Little Howard's Big Show, and for adults he presents his new show Hide and...2013-08-1751 min
British Theatre Guide podcastWriter Polly Wiseman and director Paul Jepson on Manchester Sound: The Massacre for Library TheatreManchester's Library Theatre Company has created a trilogy of site specific works about Manchester since leaving its home of more than half a century at Manchester Central Library in 2010. The third of these, Manchester Sound: The Massacre, written by Polly Wiseman and directed by Paul Jepson, will take place at a secret location in Manchester city centre between 8 June and 6 July 2013. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Polly and Paul in Manchester a week before the show's opening. For more information on the show, see www.librarytheatre.com.2013-06-0118 min
British Theatre Guide podcastBarrie Rutter of Northern Broadsides on the forthcoming tour of Rutherford and SonDavid Chadderton talks to Barrie Rutter, artistic director of Northern Broadsides Theatre Company in Halifax, about the forthcoming national tour of Rutherford and Son by Githa Sowerby directed by Jonathan Miller in which Rutter plays the title role.2013-01-1112 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPlaywright Richard Vergette on American Justice at the Arts Theatre in London (File Name: Richard_Vergette_American_Justice_Arts_Theatre.mp3)Richard Vergette's play American Justice, set in an American prison against the backdrop of the Obama administration, began life as an hourlong piece called As We Forgive Them as part of Manchester's annual new writing event 24:7 Theatre Festival. Under its new title and with a cast of three—Peter Tate, Ryan Gage and David Schaal—the play opens for a limited run at the Arts Theatre in London's West End in January 2013. Vergette talks to David Chadderton about the background to the play's development and the issues that it tries to highlight. For more...2012-12-2117 min
British Theatre Guide podcastDavid Chadderton talks to the principal cast members of The Lion King tour in ManchesteOn the day of its opening at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, David Chadderton speaks to some of the principal cast members of Disney's The Lion King, currently on its first ever UK tour. We speak to Carole Stennett who plays Nala, Nicholas Nkuna who plays Simba, Stephen Carlile who plays Scar and Gugwama Dlamini who plays Rafiki.2012-12-0517 min
British Theatre Guide podcastJodie Prenger on returning to Blackpool in One Man Two GuvnorsJodie Prenger, who won the part of Nancy in Oliver! in TV reality show I'd Do Anything, is currently starring as Dolly in Richard Bean's One Man, Two Guvnors, the multi-award-winning comedy from the National Theatre based on Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters directed by Nicholas Hytner, at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London. Jodie will join the current tour of the production for a couple of its northern dates. David Chadderton talks to her about bringing the production to her home town of Blackpool.2012-11-1210 min
British Theatre Guide podcastPorl Cooper of The Lowry StudioAt the Empty Space Peter Brook Awards on 6 November 2012, the Peter Brook / Mobius Award was presented to The Lowry in Salford for its support of new work and new practitioners in its Studio. The citation on the award stated that it was awarded for, "determined efforts to support early development of new companies offering continual showcasing to improve their growth and sharpen their abilities". David Chadderton talks to Porl Cooper, programmer for the Studio, about his and The Lowry's reaction to winning the award.2012-11-0910 min