Category: Interviews
Interview: Jack Thorne
Jack Thorne is a little frustrated. At only 34, as the award-winning writer of edgy teen drama Skins, co-writer with Shane Meadows of This Is England ’86 and creator of the criminally short-lived dark fantasy series The Fades, he has accomplished an impressive amount. But when it comes to writing for the stage, he’s chafing at what … Continue Reading Interview: Jack Thorne
Murderous Music
“What have you been reading?” Award-winning American playwright Julia Jordan laughs. We’re discussing her latest project, new rock musical Murder Ballad – for which she wrote the book and lyrics, with music from indie singer-songwriter Juliana Nash – and I’ve observed that violence seem to be a preoccupation of her work. From … Continue Reading Murderous Music
Interview: Siobhan Daly
One on side of the Lion and Unicorn’s black-box theatre space, a group of actors rehearsing Titania’s first meeting with Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream are enthusiastically trying out different braying laughs for the unfortunate Mechanical-cum-ass. Performing around them, the love-struck Lysander, Demetrius, Helena and Hermia cling to each other in … Continue Reading Interview: Siobhan Daly
Interview: Roger Mortimer-Smith
The trust between psychoanalyst Dr Beckmann and his client Jenny is shattered when he finds her breaking into his office in the middle of the night. What she discovers will change their lives forever, and begin a descent into memory, murder and madness from which there is no going back. … Continue Reading Interview: Roger Mortimer-Smith
Interview: Nirjay Mahindru and Iqbal Khan
Indian girl Loretta arrives in Victorian England to look after two children. She wants to earn enough money to pay for a ticket home, but fate intervenes. A century later, Loretta’s great-great-grandson Kalil leaves his East African home to start a new life in the UK. But like his ancestor, … Continue Reading Interview: Nirjay Mahindru and Iqbal Khan
Daddy Long Legs
To modern ears, there’s something creepy about a story in which a benefactor adopts a pseudonym to influence the life of a girl he becomes infatuated with, and who takes to calling him ‘Daddy’ in her letters. But this new musical – directed and adapted by John Caird from the … Continue Reading Daddy Long Legs
Interview: Sarah Pitard
While Oscar Wilde is best known for his works for adults, novels like The Picture of Dorian Gray and plays such as The Importance of Being Earnest, he also wrote numerous children’s stories during his lifetime. These fairytales, which he first composed for his two sons, have been staple bedtime … Continue Reading Interview: Sarah Pitard
Bad Theater Fest: a million miles from Broadway
Just off New York’s Times Square, with Hurricane Sandy permitting, an intriguing new festival is entering its second and final week. It’s only minutes from Broadway, but conceptually Bad Theater Fest is a million miles away from the multimillion-dollar glow of its slick neighbours. Don’t be put off by the name. Here, ‘bad’ … Continue Reading Bad Theater Fest: a million miles from Broadway
Interview: Alison Pollard-Mansergh
The farcical antics of incompetent hotel owner Basil, his perpetually exasperated wife Sybil and eternally bewildered Spanish waiter Manuel have enshrined 1970s BBC sitcom Fawlty Towers as a comedy classic. Inspired by the TV show, Faulty Towers The Dining Experience is taking up an open-ended residency in London’s West End. From 26 October, intrepid … Continue Reading Interview: Alison Pollard-Mansergh
Interview: Mike Elliston
Mike Elliston’s new play, TRAILER/Trash, is the latest step in a long and varied career. Since winning a Fringe First at the 1983 Edinburgh Festival for his short play Bread ‘n’ Butter Guns, he has written for numerous TV productions (including a brief stint on infamous soap opera Crossroads) and been a freelance … Continue Reading Interview: Mike Elliston
Interview: Douglas Hodge
Award-winning British actor Douglas Hodge clearly has a nose for a good part. But his own nose was never going to be enough for his latest role: the lead in a Broadway revival of French playwright Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac. Hodge is the latest in a long line of … Continue Reading Interview: Douglas Hodge
Interview: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
British playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People will be brand new for American audiences when it opens this week at New York’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, directed by Tony Award winner Doug Hughes and starring Boyd Gaines and Richard Thomas. For Lenkiewicz, however, it has meant … Continue Reading Interview: Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Interview: Daniel Brennan
Set against critic-led awards showering praise on established players in UK theatre, the Off Cut Festival – on at London’s Riverside Studios from 25 September to 12 October – is refreshingly different. Now in its fourth year, Off Cut places audiences at its heart. Across three weeks, audience votes will … Continue Reading Interview: Daniel Brennan
Interview: Gregory Doran
Newly appointed RSC artistic director Gregory Doran talks to Tom Wicker about his Africa-set production of ‘Julius Caesar’ Gregory Doran is keeping his cards close to his chest when it comes to his plans for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Although he takes over from Michael Boyd as artistic director from … Continue Reading Interview: Gregory Doran
Interview: Bella Hird of Molton Studios
Tom Wicker speaks to Molton Studios’ Bella Hird about supporting new production Two-Headed and the challenges facing younger theatre companies today. Salt Lake City-based writer Julie Jensen’s Two-Headed tells the story of Lavinia and Hettie – two women facing the challenges of polygamy, betrayal and intolerance in the male-dominated Mormon … Continue Reading Interview: Bella Hird of Molton Studios
Interview: Tim Hoare
Theatre excels at transforming interior spaces into imaginative landscapes. Pop-up companies are breathing new life into derelict or abandoned buildings, staging Shakespeare in basements and blurring the line between film and live performance with secret cinema screenings. But walk past these places and you might never know what was going … Continue Reading Interview: Tim Hoare