Co-founder Simon Willis, head of content for Wise Buddah, talks about the proposed new Internet radio station dedicated to musical theatre called Stage Door and about the crowd-funding campaign, currently running on Indiegogo, to raise the funds to launch it. The presenters on Stage Door will all be current stars of musical theatre, and two of them spoke to us about their involvement. Canadian actor Alex Gaumond is probably still best-known for playing Galileo in We Will Rock You but is currentl...
Jul 26, 2013•54 min•Ep. 31
In July 2013, Manchester's 24:7 Theatre Festival, dedicated to producing brand new one-hour plays in venues around the city, will celebrate the tenth of its annual events. Actor David Slack, who co-founded the festival in 2004 and is still its producer, reflects on ten years of putting new writing on stage and talks about new developments for this year's event. Following this, five of the writers from this year's festival talk about their plays at the media launch in June 2013 at Manchester's Co...
Jul 12, 2013•46 min•Ep. 30
At the Manchester International Festival, Alexander Vlahos talks about playing Malcolm in Macbeth , a production that sees Kenneth Branagh return to the stage in the title role opposite Alex Kingston as Lady Macbeth, directed by Rob Ashford and performed in a deconsecrated church at a secret location in Manchester. Also, Hadley Fraser talks about playing chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in The Machine by Matt Charman directed by Donmar Warehouse artistic director Josie Rourke who, despite being ...
Jul 05, 2013•35 min•Ep. 29
Philip Fisher talks to actor Seth Numrich, currently playing Chance Wayne opposite Kim Cattrall as Alexandra del Lago in Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams at the Old Vic in London following Broadway success in Golden Boy and War Horse .
Jul 02, 2013•19 min•Ep. 28
BTG London editor Philip Fisher chats with actress Sarah Greene, currently playing a romantic lead opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Noel Coward Theatre. See Philip's review of this production .
Jun 28, 2013•20 min•Ep. 27
Dukes Theatre artistic director Joe Sumsion talks about his production of a new adaptation of Robin Hood in Williamson Park, Lancaster this summer, a comeback for the Dukes's famous outdoor productions by popular demand after it was announced that the 25th anniversary production two years ago would be its last due to funding issues. Joe talks about their unusual approach to the famous story in a production set in the future, about the challenges and joys of outdoor promenade theatre in the UK an...
Jun 21, 2013•57 min•Ep. 26
Manchester'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 ...
Jun 01, 2013•18 min•Ep. 25
Playwright Fin Kennedy was thrust into the heart of the debate about arts funding when he produced a report—called In Battalions , a title taken from a quote from Hamlet —with professional researcher Helen Campbell Pickford into the effects of cuts in public funding to theatres on their production of and development of new writing. In this episode, Fin talks about the origins of the report in a conversation he had with UK Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries Ed Vaisey and...
May 17, 2013•28 min•Ep. 24
Sarah Brigham talks to BTG Midlands Editor Steve Orme about taking the reigns of Derby Theatre as its first artistic director since University of Derby took over the lease of the troubled former Derby Playhouse and succeeded in obtaining Arts Council funding for it in 2012. The first homegrown production from the new Derby Theatre is Lee Hall's Cooking With Elvis , and Steve talks to director Mark Babych and actor Jack Lord about the production. Babych, who was artistic director of the Octagon T...
May 05, 2013•36 min•Ep. 23
Stephen Barlow, artistic director of the Buxton Festival which combines rarely-seen opera with live music and literature, talks about this year's event and about the history of the festival, which has been running in the small Derbyshire town in the Peak District since 1979. For more information, see www.buxtonfestival.co.uk or ring the box office on 0845 127 2190 or 01298 72190.
Apr 24, 2013•17 min•Ep. 22
Playwright Tim Fountain and director Mike Bradwell talk about Queen of the Nile , a production they have worked on together for Hull Truck Theatre. Fountain is best known for his controversial plays such as Sex Addict (Royal Court), Resident Alien (Bush Theatre), Dandy in the Underworld and Julie Burchill Is Away (Soho Theatre). Bradwell founded Hull Truck in 1972, but hasn't directed for it for more than 30 years. He has also been artistic director of The Bush, one of London's leading new writi...
Apr 01, 2013•31 min•Ep. 21
Associate Puppetry Director Tommy Luther talks about the first ever UK tour of the National Theatre hit production of War Horse , based on the novel by Michael Morpurgo, and about his involvement in the production since the early workshops in 2007. Recorded at The Lowry in Salford, where the production will spend Christmas and New Year 2013-4 on its longest run of the tour. For more information about the production, see the War Horse On Stage web site....
Mar 23, 2013•13 min•Ep. 20
Announcements of the theatre events in the 2013 programme for the Manchester International Festival from Festival director Alex Poots and some of the artists involved. Featured on the podcast are actor Maxine Peake, director Josie Rourke, Belgian director Inne Goris, actor Kenneth Branagh and director Rob Ashford.
Mar 02, 2013•22 min•Ep. 19
Playwright Amanda Whittington talks about her career and her writing process and about three new plays she has opening in the next twelve months: The Thrill of Love opens at the New Vic , Newcastle-under-Lyme from 22 February to 9 March before moving to the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough from 13 to 23 March and the St James Theatre in London from 27 March to 4 May. The Dugout from Splice Productions will be at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol in May. My Judy Garland Life will open at Nottin...
Feb 28, 2013•17 min•Ep. 18
Indhu Rubasingham talks about her first season and upcoming plans as artistic director of London's Tricycle Theatre , which she took over in May 2012 from Nicolas Kent, who had run the Kilburn venue for 28 years.
Feb 21, 2013•18 min•Ep. 17
Manchester's Library Theatre Company , currently without a permanent performance home since moving out of Central Library and not due to move into its joint new home with Cornerhouse cinema until 2014, is taking advantage of its temporary residency at The Lowry 's Quays Theatre with a major new revival of Brecht's Mother Courage and her Children , translated by Tony Kushner. Lead actress Eve Polycarpou, composer and musical director Greg Palmer and director Chris Honer talk about the production....
Feb 08, 2013•25 min•Ep. 16
Midlands editor Steve Orme talks to actress Tara Fitzgerald, known to TV viewers as Dr Eve Lockhart in Waking the Dead and The Body Farm and for the US TV series Game of Thrones , about her Royal Shakespeare Company debut playing Hermione in The Winter's Tale .
Feb 06, 2013•17 min•Ep. 15
Andrew Quick of Imitating the Dog talks about the company's methods and interests, and gives some details about the forthcoming tours of its two new productions: The Zero Hour and 6 Degrees Below the Horizon . The tour dates are: Wednesday 30th - Thursday 31st January: Live at LICA , Lancaster ( The Zero Hour ) Wednesday 6th - Thursday 7th February: Lawrence Batley Theatre , Huddersfield, UK ( 6 Degrees Below the Horizon ) Friday 8th - Saturday 9th February: Warwick Arts Centre ( The Zero Hour )...
Jan 23, 2013•20 min•Ep. 14
Ben Roddy is an experienced pantomime performer and, in his 15th season, he takes on the role of Dame for the first time. Simon Sladen speaks to him about his theatrical career and playing Nurse Nellie in this year's Sleeping Beauty at the Marlowe Theatre , Canterbury.
Jan 13, 2013•16 min•Ep. 12
David 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.
Jan 11, 2013•13 min•Ep. 13
Philip Fisher talks to The Village Voice 's chief theatre critic Michael Feingold on New Year's Eve 2012 about the past year's theatre in New York.
Jan 08, 2013•22 min•Ep. 11
Susannah Flood stars in Nina Raine’s Tribes —originally produced at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 2010—at Barrow Street Theatre, New York and talks about the difficulties of playing a character losing her hearing and learning sign language in three weeks.
Jan 06, 2013•22 min•Ep. 10
2012 marks Simon Fielding's sixth pantomime for the Towngate Theatre, Basildon. A pantomime producer, performer, director and choreographer, Fielding speaks to Simon Sladen about his pantomime career.
Jan 05, 2013•12 min•Ep. 9
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 develop...
Dec 21, 2012•18 min•Ep. 8
On 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.
Dec 05, 2012•18 min•Ep. 7
Kevin Shaw, artistic director of the Coliseum Theatre in Oldham, talks about the long tradition of acclaimed panto at the theatre and the well-known panto performers who honed their craft there. As director and co-writer (with regular dame Fine Time Fontayne) of the pantos for the last few years, Shaw talks about the writing and production process and the origins of some of the stories and routines that they use.
Dec 01, 2012•19 min•Ep. 6
Philip Fisher interviews James Graham ahead of the transfer of his Evening Standard nominated political drama This House to the Olivier Theatre. In addition to discussing British politics in the second half of the 1970s, the conversation also looks into what it takes for a young writer to make it to the National, the joys of working at the Finborough and James Graham's career to date.
Nov 28, 2012•18 min•Ep. 5
Bolton Octagon artistic director David Thacker pays tribute to the theatre's founder Robin Pemberton-Billing, who died on 18 November 2012 at the age of 83. Also included are some memories of working at the theatre in its early days from actor Robert Powell, recorded in July 2011.
Nov 27, 2012•22 min•Ep. 4
Jodie 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 ...
Nov 12, 2012•10 min•Ep. 3
At 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...
Nov 09, 2012•11 min•Ep. 2
