British Theatre Guide podcast

In 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 Sh...

Mark Smith talks to RashDash's Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland about The Darkest Corners , a bold new commission for Transform Festival about fear and feminism on the streets. The award-winning theatremakers also discuss their recent productions We Want You To Watch and Two Man Show and how their work blends the political and the personal. "If we're going to bring this down one brick at a time, we...

BTG's Mark Smith talks to Amy Letman about Leeds's international Transform Festival, her career as a producer, and how to get into festival programming. Transform Festival 2017 runs from 19-22 April in venues across Leeds, with a full programme available on the Transform web site .

Highlights of the launch event for the Manchester International Festival 2017, held in Manchester on 9 March 2017. Introduced by new MIF artistic director John McGrath, this episode also features announcements from festival participants including actress Jane Horrocks, playwright Simon Stephens, Underworld's Karl Hyde, Frantic Assembly's Scott Graham, artists Yael Bartana and Phil Collins and New...

Midlands editor Steve Orme talks to Lekan Lawal, who is making his main stage directorial debut at Derby Theatre with Harold Pinter's Betrayal , and cast members Ben Addis (Robert), Kemi-Bo Jacobs (Emma) and Philip Correia (Jerry).

Liverpool 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...

Michael Feingold of the Village Voice talks to BTG London editor Philip Fisher about current trends on the New York theatre scene, suggests shows that should not be missed and develops thoughts about the impact of Donald Trump on Broadway and beyond.

Theatre by the Lake in Keswick in the Lake District has had at its helm Executive Director Patric Gilchrist and Artistic Director Ian Forrest since before the current theatre building opened in 1999. Conrad Lynch has taken over as both Artistic Director and Chief Executive after working alongside his predecessors for the last few months. Not long after announcing his first season in his new post,...

BTG Midlands editor Steve Orme speaks to director Theresa Keogh and artistic director Jack McNamara of Nottingham-based New Perspectives Theatre Company about their new rural touring production of M R James's classic ghost story Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You adapted by David Rudkin and also about recently working with best-selling crime writer John Harvey  on Darkness, Darkness with Nottingham P...

In December 2016, the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield will stage its first professional pantomime, Cinderella , written by Andrew Pollard and directed by Joyce Branagh . Joyce was preparing to start rehearsals for Cinderella when we spoke to her, but she had also just directed a fifteen-minute version of Wuthering Heights for JB Shorts , a regular evening of short new plays which has just...

Freedom 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 D...

Performance 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 Ch...

Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd—the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a co-production between Derby Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester directed by Daniel Buckroyd. In this episode, BTG Midlands editor Steve Orme speaks to the two lead actors in the production: Hugh Maynard who plays Sweeney and Sophie-Louise Dann who is Mrs Lovett. Sweeney Todd is at Derby Theatre from Friday 30 Septembe...

Halifax-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...

Theatre 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 conjunctio...

Philip Fisher and Richard Jordan discuss Richard's exciting new multimedia theatrical collaboration with Apple Corporation in Chicago and also Edinburgh trends and the very best that Edinburgh has to offer. Philip Fisher joins the three leading Scottish theatre critics, Joyce McMillan, Mark Fisher and Neil Cooper, to talk in detail about Anything That Gives off Light in the Edinburgh International...

David 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...

Phelim 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 origin...

The Classic Thriller Season has been running at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham since 1988, produced by Colin McIntyre until his death in 2012. The season has been kept up by Tabs Productions, which has continued the format of presenting four plays over a four-week period. Karen Henson and John Goodrum of Tabs talk to Midlands Editor Steve Orme about this year's season, about continuing a long-run...

Producer Bonnie Mitchell and performer Kylie Walsh talk about Mobile , a production from The Paper Birds that takes place in a small caravan for an audience of up to eight people at a time. Bonnie and Kylie talk about the themes of class and social mobility, the devising process and the special challenges of touring a show for a tiny audience in a caravan. The production, a co-commission from Live...

BTG London editor Philip Fisher talks to writer Nell Dunn in her Fulham home. Nell Dunn first became a published writer with Up the Junction , a collection of short stories, in 1963, then went on to become a successful novelist ( Poor Cow , 1967) and playwright ( Steaming , 1981). She co-wrote a screen adaptation of Poor Cow with Ken Loach, who directed the film in 1967, which has been digitally r...

Roxanne 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 pro...

As the Nottingham Playhouse Sweet Vengeance season is announced, BTG Midlands editor Steve Orme talks to Artistic Director Giles Croft about the season, titled "Sweet Vengeance". Also, actress Vicky McClure and director Matt Aston talk about their revival of Stephen Lowe's Touched and crime writer John Harvey discusses his experiences of creating his first work for the theatre, an adaptation of hi...

Edinburgh-based Puppet State Theatre Company has become famous for its stage adaptation of Jean Giono's The Man Who Planted Trees , which has toured the world for ten years. The company's new production is J R R Tolkien's short story Leaf By Niggle , performed as a solo piece by Richard Medrington, who spoke to us during the first Scottish tour of the show. Leaf By Niggle will be performed at venu...

York-based Pilot Theatre has collaborated with York Theatre Royal on a new adaptation of a dystopian science fiction story, The Machine Stops by E M Forster. The adaptation is by Bolton-based playwright Neil Duffield, who speaks to us about adapting science fiction for the stage, the remarkable resonances that this 1909 story has with our world of social media and the world-wide web and making a l...