British Theatre Guide Podcast

Michael Billington has been theatre critic of The Guardian since 1971 and of Country Life since 1986, but began reviewing for The Times in 1965. He is the author of biographies of Harold Pinter and Peggy Ashcroft, critical studies of Tom Stoppard and Alan Ayckbourn, a celebration of Ken Dodd and a collection of reviews, One Night Stands. At his home in West London, Michael talks to BTG's Philip Fisher about his new book, The 101 Greatest Plays from Antiquity to the Present, and about his 50-year career as a theatre critic. Photo credit: Natasha Billington

Northern Broadsides resident director Conrad Nelson is directing the company's first production in its 23-year history of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale as well as appearing as jealous Sicilian King Leontes and composing the music. In this episode, Conrad speaks about the production and about the challenges of touring a cast of thirteen to venues with very different types of performance space, from proscenium to traverse and in-the-round. The production will open at co-producer Harrogate Theatre from 18 to 26 September 2015 before touring to Oldham Coliseum, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, the New Vic in Newcastle-under-Lyme, The Dukes Theatre in Lancaster and Liverpool Playhouse before ending at the company’s home theatre of The Viaduct in Halifax from 24 to 28 November. For more information, see www.northern-broadsides.co.uk.

BTG's Philip Fisher talks with theatre critics Mark Fisher and Neil Cooper about their picks of this year's Fringe and International Festivals. The productions discussed include 887 by Robert Lepage and The Encounter by Simon McBurney in EIF and, in the Edinburgh Fringe programme, the Jennifer Tremblay Trilogy at Assembly Roxy and Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour at the Traverse. Mark Fisher is an Edinburgh-based freelance journalist and critic specialising in theatre and the arts who writes for The Guardian, Scotland on Sunday and The Scotsman. He is the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide: how to make your show a success and How to Write About Theatre: A Manual for Critics, Students and Bloggers. Neil Cooper is an arts writer and critic based in Edinburgh who currently writes for The Herald, The Quietus, The List and Scottish Art News and has written for Bella Caledonia and Product. He has contributed chapters to The Suspect Culture Book and to Dear Green Sounds: Glasgow's Music Through Time and Bu

In a wide-ranging discussion, BTG's Philip Fisher talks with theatre producer Richard Jordan about this year's Edinburgh Fringe and International Festival highlights, star ratings, reviews web sites, Edinburgh venues old and new and more, including Richard's own Fringe productions.

In the thick of the 2015 Edinburgh festivals, Fergus Linehan talks to BTG's Philip Fisher about his first year as director of the Edinburgh International Festival. For more information on the Festival, see www.eif.co.uk. (Photo credit: Eoin Carey)

This podcast episode features two veterans of the Edinburgh Fringe: actor and writer Pip Utton and comedian and animator Howard Read. Pip Utton's one-man shows have been a popular feature on the Fringe for more than two decades. This year, he is reviving one of his most popular shows, Adolf, but he will also launch a brand new show in which he plays Margaret Thatcher. Adolf will be at The Assembly Rooms on George Street for just one performance on 22 August. Playing Maggie will run at the same venue from 7 to 30 August. For more information about Pip, see www.pip-utton.co.uk. Howard Read has had a number of hit Fringe and touring shows as part of a double-act with his animated sidekick Little Howard, as well as two series on CBBC and a Royal Variety Performance. This year, he is launching a brand new character, a tiny elephant called Annabelle, in a show for a younger audience. Howard Read and Steve Pretty are performing Annabelle's Skirting Board Adventure at Just the Tonic at The Community Project at 11:30A

In his new play Edith in the Dark, playwright Philip Meeks has combined the unusual life and some of the lesser-known adult ghost stories of Edith Nesbit, celebrated author of children's classics such as The Railway Children, Five Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet. It will be at Momentum Playhouse at St Stephens in Edinburgh from 7 to 30 August with previews on 5 and 6. Les Enfants Terribles co-founder James Seager tells us all about the successful company's latest production, Marvellous Imaginary Menagerie, which will return to Edinburgh at Pleasance Beyond from 5 to 31 August. Guy Masterson, probably the best-known and most successful Edinburgh Fringe producer, director and actor, will perform Dylan Thomas The Man, The Myth with Thomas's granddaughter Hannah Ellis from 6 to 22 August and a cut-down version of his one-man Under Milk Wood, sub-titled Semi-Skimmed, from 23 to 31 August, both at Assembly Roxy. He tells us about both productions and shatters a few myths about the great Welsh post. F

Manchester's 24:7 Theatre Festival was founded in 2004 as a showcase for new plays, as well as for up-and-coming acting and directing talent. It has since become a key event on the Manchester arts calendar. A week before this year's 24:7, we spoke to co-founder David Slack together with the festival's general manager Annika Edge in Manchester about an eventful year for the organisation since the 2014 event. The 2015 24:7 Theatre Festival Big Festival Weekend will take place at the Martin Harris Centre for Music and Drama and the surrounding areas from 24 to 26 July 2015. For more information about all of the events and how to book for them, see www.247theatrefestival.co.uk.

The Studio at The Lowry in Salford supports and presents new work and new companies and artists in various ways. At a showcase on 21 April 2015, 11 artists and companies gave presentations about themselves and their work to potential supporters, sponsors and venue partners, and British Theatre Guide was able to speak to a few of them. The Letter Room is a devising theatre company from Newcastle. Its third show, Five Feet In Front, will première at The Lowry in June 2015. Kill The Beast's second show, He Had Hairy Hands, is currently on tour and due to return to The Lowry in May 2015, and the company is currently working on its third show with the working title of The Crystal Continuum. Lowry Associate Artist Monkeywood Theatre is a Manchester new writing company that has been creating new work since 2003. Its next show, By Far The Greatest Team, will be premièred at The Lowry in September. Laura Lindow is a writer-performer who has been commissioned by The Lowry together with two rural touring schemes to crea

In April 2015, Manchester-based Box of Tricks Theatre Company will begin a tour of Plastic Figurines, a new play by Ella Carmen Greenhill, at the Liverpool Playhouse Studio. In this episode, Ella and director Adam Quayle, during rehearsals in Manchester, speak about the writing of the play and its roots in Ella's real-life relationship with her brother, who is on the autistic spectrum. You can also hear about Ella's other work and about the philosophy of Manchester-based new writing company Box of Tricks. Plastic Figurines will open at Liverpool Playhouse Studio on 8 April 2015. It will then tour to London, Hemel Hempstead, Bury, Hull, Halifax, Southport, Ellesmere Port, Wigan, Barnsley, Harrogate, Salford, Derby, Shrewsbury and Mold. For more information, see boxoftrickstheatre.co.uk.

In November 2014, David Thacker announced that he would step down as artistic director of the Octagon Theatre in Bolton at the end of his current tenure in July 2015 after six years at the venue. Four months later, the theatre announced that its associate director and head of new writing, Elizabeth Newman, will take over from him. We spoke to Elizabeth at the Octagon about her new appointment, her ideas for the future of the venue, her campaigning on theatre issues—including speaking in Parliament—and her training and background as a director. Elizabeth Newman takes over as artistic director of the Octagon from July 2015. Her production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives runs in the main house from 26 March to 18 April 2015. For more information about the Octagon, see octagonbolton.co.uk.

Sir 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, Theatre Royal Bath, Everyman Theatre Cheltenham, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough, Liverpool Playhouse, The Lowry in Salford, York International Shakespeare Festival, Rose Theatre Kingston and finally New Vic Theatre in Stoke, where it will end on 13 June 2015. For more information about the company, see www.northern-broadsides.co.uk.

Douglas McGrath, who wrote the book, speaks to BTG London editor Philip Fisher about Beautiful – the Carole King Musical. They talk about the genesis of the project, the pleasure of interviewing the four leading characters and developing their lives into a musical and the work itself and its stars both on Broadway and in London. Beautiful - The Carole King Musical began previews at London's Aldwych Theatre on 10 February 2015. Press night will be on 24 February, and the show is currently booking until 13 June 2015. For more information, see the Beautiful in London web site. Image of Katie Brayben as Carole King, credit Uli Weber.

Comedian and actor Jonny Donohoe talks about the Edinburgh Fringe and New York success of Every Brilliant Thing by Duncan Macmillan, as well as his experiences of working interactively with audiences and playing opposite Sarah Jessica Parker. After a successful run on the Edinburgh Fringe in Paines Plough's portable Roundabout Theatre at Summerhall, the production transferred to Barrow Street Theatre in New York from 5 December 2014 until 29 March 2015. Following its run in New York, Every Brilliant Thing will embark on an extensive UK Tour.

2014 sees Leon Craig celebrate his 13th pantomime Dame and first Beauty and the Beast at Oxtord Playhouse. He speaks to Simon Sladen about breaking into the industry, his favourite pantomime titles and reveals some of his experiences from daming up and down the country. Keith Jack and Olly Pike star as Prince Charming and his valet Dandini in the Capitol Theatre, Horsham's pantomime Cinderella. One of panto's best-established double acts, the two roles are rarely thought of in such a way. Simon Sladen speaks to Jack and Pike about their characters and careers encompassing Any Dream Will Do, CBBC and a combined total of nine pantomimes.

Home Manchester will hold its ninth annual Re:Play Festival, which celebrates the best productions from the Manchester fringe scene from the previous year, in January 2015 at its temporary theatre space in an office block at Number One First Street. At the launch for Re:Play, we hear from Re:Play 2015 producer Rebecca Jenner and some of the contributors to the festival: co-writer of War Stories, Rob Johnston, writer and performer of An Evening of Filth and Despair, Jenny May Morgan, and writer of Two Spirits, Chris Hoyle. Re:Play runs from Monday 12 to Saturday 24 January 2015 on the second floor of Number One First Street, Manchester M15 4FN. For more information, including a schedule of which productions run on which days, see homemcr.org.

Simon Aylin has ticked off almost every role both front and backstage in panto. Now best known as a writer and director, he speaks to Simon Sladen about the season ahead and his first time as a pantomime producer. Simon's pantomimes this year include Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Beck Theatre, Hayes featuring Linda Robson, Dick Whittington at the Wyvern Theatre, Swindon with Nigel Havers, Aladdin at the White Rock Theatre, Hastings starring Louie Spence, as well as Peter Pan at the Chelmsford Civic Theatre and Sleeping Beauty at the Stahl Theatre, Oundle. To keep up to date with Simon's panto season, follow him on Twitter at @noyourethebest.

Philip Fisher talks to American actor/director David Cromer about the striking new production of an American classic Our Town at the Almeida Theatre in London in which he stars. They also talk about his career and aspirations. Our Town runs at the Almeida Theatre in London from 10 October to 29 November 2014. For more information, see www.almeida.co.uk. Image credit: Marc Brenner.

Oily Cart Theatre Company was founded in 1981 to specialise in creating theatre for the under-5s, considered a challenging audience by most theatre groups. A few years later, it started to create theatre for children and young people with multiple and profound learning difficulties or on the autism spectrum, which is now a major strand of its work. Oily Cart co-founder Tim Webb talks about the company's philosophy and methods and also specifically about the company’s Christmas show, There Was An Old Woman. There Was An Old Woman runs at the Royal Festival Hall in London from 13 December 2014 to 4 January 2015 before touring to Warwick Art Centre, Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Gulbenkian Theatre Canterbury and Chichester Festival Theatre. For more information about the company, see oilycart.org.uk.

Theatre director Michael Rudman talks to BTG London Editor Philip Fisher about a long career in theatre, running the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, Hampstead Theatre in London and the Lyttelton at the National Theatre on the South Bank. He also discusses his productions of Death of a Salesman in the West End and on Broadway and his long association with Felicity Kendal. Michael Rudman's memoirs are published by Capercaillie Books as I Joke Too Much: The Theatre Directors Tale, and were reviewed by Philip Fisher in August 2014.