Play Ground

Send us Fan Mail The Woods is poetry on the stage. Okay, so all plays are poetry on the stage, but this one even more so. Inhabiting an American woodland and also a British kitchen, our protagonist 'The Woman' is continually haunted by 'The Wolf,' an evil figure who may be her son that was, or an abusive partner, or her inner psyche, or the outside world, or probably all of the...

Send us Fan Mail This is the second in McCraney's 'Brother Sister Plays' trilogy, though is the first one he wrote. Drawing on Yoruba cosmology transposed into present day Louisiana, The Brothers Size is a poetic yet brutally grounded story of two brothers trying to reconnect after one returns from a stint in prison. Emotions abound. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to...

Send us Fan Mail This 2000 play is a landmark text in verbatim theatre. Documenting the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Laramie, Wyoming resident Matthew Shepard, The Laramie Project is a collation of almost 2 years of interviews with Laramie residents. All at once it is a portrait of a town, a stark warning, an examination of everyday human hypocrisy, an advocation for gay rights, an exploration...

Send us Fan Mail This 1930s play is about two single women who run a girls' school together, and how their lives are brought crashing down when a student accuses them of lesbianism.  We discuss the play's treatment of queer issues, its place (or not) on today's stage, and the eerily accurate depiction of lockdown life in Act 3. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover?...

Send us Fan Mail Part 2 of an Oresteia double bill, this time we take a look at Robert Icke's totally new adaptation of last episode's classic. We talk altering plot points, phycological complexity, and the time period-fluid setting of Icke's plays. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy Chat to host Nancy @N_Nethe...

Send us Fan Mail First part of an Oresteia double bill, this time we take a look at a straight translation of the original. We talk gender representation, off-stage gore, and the complexities of justice (which is funner than it sounds) Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood Chat to host Sam in per...

Send us Fan Mail Crazy stage directions? Form-breaking? Super long and in depth but somehow still entertaining discussions on female empowerment and the male role in society? YES PLEASE! Discussion includes: Scripts that don't tell you everything, gender-reversed acting, and the benefits of snacks on stage. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twi...

Send us Fan Mail It's time for some children's theatre! In this delightful, dark, funny, fantastic, terrifying tale for all ages, Kneehigh theatre does what they do best with collaborative and innovative re-telling of a classic story. Discussion includes collaboration in art, the power of children's theatre, and the joy of little chicken puppets. Have some feedback? A play you'...

Send us Fan Mail This episode Nancy & Sam discuss the shocking and powerful play drama Yen by Anna Jordan. The audio of the first half got mangled by the internet, so this one jumps in partway through - in this epic half-discussion, however, is covered themes of nature vs. nurture, the harsh choices around family life, and the depiction of intimate acts on the stage. It's certainly a chee...

Send us Fan Mail This episode Nancy & Sam are joined by co-director of Coast to Coast Theatre Company and producer from the Norwich Fringe, Molly Farley, to discuss the intense and thought-provoking drama Gloria by Branden Jacob's Jenkins. Not only is it an absolute belter of a play, but Molly is fantastic as our first guest. Topics include: Workplace trauma, selfish journalists, and the...

Send us Fan Mail Nancy and Sam smash the patriarchy (or at least try to understand just how massive and far-reaching it is) with a look at this form-smashing play. Okay, so we don't smash the patriarchy, and 50 minutes is no time at all to cover everything, but we think this play is fantastic and had a blast diving deep into all the intense and challenging themes it presents. Have some feedba...

Send us Fan Mail In a first for the podcast, we look at a play that involves some heavy audience interaction and can change wildly from night to night depending on what the audience does. How do you script something like this? We're about to find out. (Also, this is sadly probably our last sci-fi themed play for a while as we've exhausted those we know so early on in our run!) Have some...

Send us Fan Mail Another episode of the eternal journey to read and analyse every play ever (or at least a few good ones, as our time on this earth is limited). This time we take a look at something neither of us have read before - a strangely structured magical realist play from 1997, Crazyhorse packs a real punch (even if we still can't fully understand the title...) Have some feedback? A p...

Send us Fan Mail Oh go on then, have a little Christmas treat on us! Nancy & Sam drop their usual policy of finding the best in things for this bonus festive episode - they bring to you their top 10 list of the worst theatre-related things one could receive this Christmas. Want to see the horrendous items for yourself? Have something you think is worse? Visit the official podcast twitter @play...

Send us Fan Mail Another episode of the eternal journey to read and analyse every play ever (or at least a few good ones, as our time on this earth is limited). This time we take a dive into our first of the great Naturalistic plays of the 1800s - featuring sordid affairs, pretend inventions and, of course, one very wild duck. Ibsen proves to us this episode that just because something is a classi...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back for another episode of Play Ground! This week we discuss the experimental diptych of short plays 'Heart's Desire' and 'Blue Kettle' by Caryl Churchill. Formally stranger but with a solid emotional core, Churchill proves again (despite Sam's initial hesitance) why she is our greatest living playwright. Have some feedback? A play you'd...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back, listeners! For our first episode post-launch, we revisit the sci-fi genre (it won't all be sci-fi, we promise) with Anne Washburn's fantastic adaptation of The Twilight Zone. For a change both Nancy AND Sam have seen this play. For not a change, they both love it. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twitter @pl...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome, listeners! For out first episode, we take a look at the incredible sci-fi mind-bending mother-daughter-relationship play X by Alistair McDowall. Whether you've read the play or not, this should give you an insight into how we'll be running things around here, and we reckon you'll have a pretty good time. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cove...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back, listeners! For part 2 of our double launch, we dive deep into the play Edward II by Christopher Marlowe - Nancy has seen the play, Sam has not, but - spoiler alert - they both love it. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood Chat to host Sam in person if you happen to...