British Theatre Guide Podcast

Philip Fisher and Village Voice columnist/critic Michael Feingold discuss trends in New York Theatre, the latter concluding that “we have a lot of signs of hope in the theatre”.

In 2016, Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield produced its first ever professional pantomime, Cinderella, written by one of the UK’s leading pantomime writers, Andrew Pollard, who has been brought back to write this year’s Jack and the Beanstalk. Andrew is taking a year off from playing Dame at Greenwich Theatre to tour in Around the World in 80 Days as Phileas Fogg. However there are still 6 of his panto scripts in production this Christmas around the UK. In this episode, Andrew speaks extensively about his views on what pantos should contain, the qualities required for good panto performers and how to deal with changing requirements, demands and attitudes to keep panto fresh and entertaining for new audiences. Jack and the Beanstalk by Andrew Pollard will run at Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield from 8 December 2017 to 6 January 2018. Andrew’s other pantos this year include Cinderella at Greenwich Theatre from 17 November 2017, another Jack and the Beanstalk at Salisbury Playhouse from 2 December 2

At the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester on 13 November 2017, the winners were announced of the sixth biennial Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. The winners of three Judges’ Prizes of £8,000 each were announced as Tim Foley for his play Electric Rosary, Laurie Nunn for King Brown and Sharon Clark for Plow. The £16,000 top prize went to the play Heartworm by Tim X Atack, who had just worked at the Royal Exchange as sound designer for a production of Jubilee based on the Derek Jarman film. In this episode, you can hear the moment when Tim was announced as the winner followed by our interview with him about the play, his work in general and what winning the prize will mean to him. For more information about the Bruntwood Prize including advice for playwrights, see writeaplay.co.uk. Tim Atack’s company Sleepdogs can be found at sleepdogs.org.

BTG's Mark Smith speaks to acclaimed director Sally Cookson about her forthcoming production of family classic The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The show is set to transform the West Yorkshire Playhouse's main theatre, the Quarry, into an in-the-round stage for the first time in the venue's history. Speaking towards the end of the company's seven-week creative process, Cookson talks about the "dark days" you can have when devising, as well as the process's moments of joy and inspiration. She discusses what it was that triggered her excitement about adapting this well-loved children's book, as well as her shifting role in the rehearsal room as she works with a range of inventive individuals from different performance traditions. "I go into rehearsals not knowing. It is terrifying, devising, nail-biting. But it's thrilling. You offer up a challenge: how are we going to do this? And you get fifteen brilliant ideas." (Photo of Sally Cookson by Anthony Robling)

Mark Smith talks to producer John Tomlinson about SBC Theatre, the company he co-created and which has recently become the UK’s first "Theatre Company of Sanctuary". This status recognises the company's work with, about and for those seeking sanctuary in the UK. John is also Associate Producer at York Theatre Royal, working on in-house shows such as the massive community production Everything Is Possible as well as helping with the programming of other events at the theatre. John discusses the evolution of SBC into a politically engaged company seeking to raise awareness of the often shocking hardships and issues faced by asylum seekers and refugees. Starting with 2016's Tanja, tackling the stories of women held at Yarl's Wood detention centre, John and his collaborators have aimed to reach beyond conventional theatre spaces in raising awareness and starting conversations with a diverse range of people. "It felt like when we had Emily as part of this piece that we had really unlocked what Yarl's Wood is and w

As 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 brink of major but unknown change. HOME’s production of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov in a version by Andrew Upton will run at HOME Manchester from 3 to 25 November 2017.

Mark Smith talks to emerging director Julia Levai and York Theatre Royal Associate Director Juliet Forster about the theatre's TakeOver Festival. The festival pairs Theatre Royal staff with emerging artists aged between 12 and 26 in a mentoring relationship which enables the younger artists to curate and run a week-long festival. As the Artistic Director of this year's festival, Julia Levai has curated a selection of works around the theme of "Walls", as well as devising a show of her own. The pair discuss the state of UK theatre for a director at the beginning of their career, and Julia provides comparisons between British theatre and the scene in her native Budapest. They also consider what the York Theatre Royal does for emerging artists, as well as what TakeOver has done for the York Theatre Royal in effecting tangible organisational change. TakeOver is about "opening the door and giving opportunity and giving a platform for different voices... and really letting people make their own work and do their ow

Adam Penford has taken over as artistic director of Nottingham Playhouse. The 37-year-old had been working as a freelance director and replaces Giles Croft who had been at the helm of the Playhouse for the past 18 years. Penford tells BTG's Midlands editor Steve Orme that he was thrilled to have been given the job. (Photo of Adam Penford is by Creative by Wren)

Director 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 call for a Royal Court of the north. Rita, Sue and Bob Too is produced by Out of Joint, Royal Court Theatre and Octagon Theatre Bolton and co-directed by Max Stafford-Clark & Kate Wasserberg. It opened at Octagon Theatre Bolton on 6 September 2017 before moving on to Harrogate Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, Liverpool Playhouse, Warwick Arts Centre, Oxford Playhouse, Royal Theatre Northampton, Cast Doncaster, York The

Derby Theatre is to produce Neil Bartlett's adaptation of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations directed by artistic director Sarah Brigham. BTG's Midlands editor Steve Orme spoke during rehearsals to Sarah about the production and about her choice of cast, before chatting to Geoffrey Breton who plays Pip and Kate Spencer who plays Estella about their roles. The production runs at Derby Theatre from 29 September to 21 October 2017.

Mark Smith interviews Jenny Harris, creative producer for 509 Arts, about their production Calderland. Forming the centrepiece of the Landlines & Watermarks project, this "people's opera" aims to investigate, question and celebrate Calderdale's relationship with water, in the wake of the 2015 Boxing Day floods which were devastating to large parts of Yorkshire. The production has a cast of over 200 singers drawn from local communities, and a script by award-winning writer Mike Kenny. It's to be performed in the Piece Hall in Halifax, a recently-restored Grade I listed building. Jenny talks during the final weeks of rehearsals about the challenges of mounting such a massive project in a comparatively short time span, the ambition of creating an inclusive and celebratory piece of art from adversity and the roots of 509 Arts, a company focusing on theatre productions with a climate change agenda. "It's not a high art opera... but it's got that sense of drama and scale that an opera might have."

Mark Smith talks to Gilly Roche, the West Yorkshire Playhouse's New Work Producer, as she launches this year's Furnace Festival celebrating a range of new work in the north. Roche has been part of a recent reorganisation of the support for new artists at the theatre, which offers a year-long forum in which theatre makers can forge links and try out work-in-progress works in an unpressured environment. She talks about the works, both new and well-established, at this year's festival, her career leading to this current post, and the Scratch culture which she and her colleagues are hoping to nurture at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. For more information, see the West Yorkshire Playhouse web site or search social media for the hashtag #furnacefestival. "I use the word audacious... and that is rude, and impudent, and not accepting the traditional norms. These artists are being impudent, and that feels more important now than ever."

Northern Broadsides theatre company's For Love or Money, directed by and featuring company founder Barrie Rutter, has been adapted from a French play, Turcaret by Alain-Rene Lesage, by regular Broadsides collaborator Blake Morrison. Blake speaks to us about the play, about play translation and about 21 years of collaborations with Rutter and Broadsides. For Love or Money opened at The Viaduct Theatre in Halifax on 15 September 2017. After that, it will tour to West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Rose Theatre Kingston, New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, Liverpool Playhouse and finally York Theatre Royal, where it will close on 2 December.

Playwright 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.

Producer Richard Jordan and BTG's Philip Fisher talk about trends in Edinburgh and discuss the best shows to see. Philip Fisher also chairs a critics panel with Joyce McMillan of The Scotsman and freelancer Mark Fisher in which they discuss Alan Ayckbourn's The Divide, Frances Poet's Adam and Ontroerend Goed’s £¥€$ (LIES) and also pick some personal favourites from Edinburgh 2017. (Photos of Erin Doherty in The Divide by Marc Marnie; £¥€$ photo credit Thomas Dhanens)

This 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 performance in Dust, a self-penned piece directed by Sara Joyce for this year's Edinburgh Fringe. (Production image of Milly Thomas in Dust by The Other Richard)

Philip Fisher reports from the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Lara Foot is the Director and CEO of the Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town. She talks to Philip about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, her own career and the theatre scene in South Africa over the last thirty years. Award-winning stage and screen star Monica Dolan tells Philip about her first play as a writer, The B*easts, and its Edinburgh Fringe debut. They also discuss her passion for acting and the key moments of her career.

All 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 Festival in Southwold, Suffolk on Sunday 16 July before appearing at Reading Fringe on 20 July and then in Paines Plough’s Roundabout Theatre at Summerhall for the Edinburgh Fringe from 4 to 27 August 2017.

At 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.

Mark Smith talks to Juliet Forster, Associate Director of York Theatre Royal, and Katie Posner, Associate Director of Pilot Theatre, about their latest large-scale community production, Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes. This new play is written by Bridget Foreman and based on the true stories of militant suffragettes in York, centring on the real-life figure of Annie Seymour Pearson. The role is to be played by award-winning actress Barbara Marten, who also unearthed the stories and presented the project to the theatre. Forster and Posner talk about their work together on a number of large-scale productions, the research behind this latest collaboration, and the links they've been finding between the century-old story of the Suffrage movement and present-day political contexts. A co-production between York Theatre Royal and Pilot Theatre, Everything is Possible runs from 20 June to 1 July at York Theatre Royal. "There's a real feeling of dissatisfaction with political systems, and one response to