British Theatre Guide podcast

For our 200th episode of the British Theatre Guide podcast, we decided to turn the microphone onto some of our longest serving reviewers to find out about how they joined BTG and some of their highlights from their time as reviewers. However this isn’t all about us, as we also asked them about the current state of theatre in their areas, how it has changed during their time reviewing and how they think it will change in the future. As our reviewers are scattered around the country, it gives an interesting picture of theatre around the UK. There are contributions from BTG Editor and North West Editor David Chadderton, London Editor Philip Fisher, North East Editor and BTG founder Peter Lathan, National News Editor and South East London reviewer Sandra Giorgetti, Midlands Editor Steve Orme, Yorkshire Editor Mark Smith, Sheffield reviewer Velda Harris and Panto Editor and London reviewer Simon Sladen.

13 Jan 20201h 20min

Derby Theatre is bringing back a show it produced in 2014, Neil Duffield’s adaptation of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. For this episode, BTG Midlands editor Steve Orme chats to Oliver O’Shea who was associate director on the theatre’s last two Christmas productions, former Flying Pickets singer Gareth Williams who plays Scrooge and Aimée Kwan, taking her first professional roles as Belle and Beth. A Christmas Carol will run at Derby Theatre from 29 November until 4 January 2020. (Photo of Oliver O’Shea, Aimée Kwan and Gareth Williams, credit Steve Orme)

8 Nov 20190s

Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester is continuing its run of revivals of musicals with the Jerry Herman show Mame, starring Tracie Bennett, Tim Flavin and Harriet Thorpe. During the Manchester run, BTG editor David Chadderton sat in the theatre with Harriet—well known to TV audiences for her comedy roles such as Carole The Brittas Empire and Fleur in Absolutely Fabulous, but with stage musical credits including Mamma Mia and Wicked—and spoke about her role as Mame’s bitchy actress friend Vera in the show, about working at Hope Mill and about her background in TV comedy and theatre. Mame runs at Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester from 28 September until 9 November 2019. It can also be seen at Royal and Derngate Theatre in Northampton from 7 to 11 January and Salisbury Playhouse from 21 to 25 January 2020. (Production photo of Harriet Thorpe, credit: Pamela Raith)

2 Nov 20190s

The next production from Bolton’s Octagon Theatre is a version of Chekhov’s The Seagull rewritten by Beth Hyland as a gig musical about four aspiring young musicians in a rock band in 2019, performed in a small theatre space in Bolton Library. In this episode, BTG Editor David Chadderton speaks to half of the cast, Tomi Ogbaro and Lauryn Redding, together with director Lotte Wakeham about this première production, plus Lotte gives an update on the reopening of the Octagon Theatre next spring after undergoing a major refurbishment. You can also hear two of the songs from the show: “Remember” and “Muse”. Seagulls by Beth Hyland runs at Bolton Library Theatre from 24 October to 16 November 2019.

24 Okt 201931min

In 2017, Javaad Alipoor’s The Believers Are But Brothers opened at Transform Festival in Leeds before transferring to Summerhall for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it won a Scotsman Fringe First, and later was adapted for television and shown on BBC4. This was the first play in a trilogy, the second part of which, Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran, premièred at the Traverse Theatre during the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe and is about to open at HOME Manchester. A week before it opened, BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Javaad at HOME about his work, his creative process and about the form of political theatre in today’s technological age. Rich Kids: A History of Shopping Malls in Tehran opens at HOME Manchester on Wednesday 23 October and runs until Saturday 2 November 2019.

17 Okt 201940min

In this episode, BTG London Editor Philip Fisher speaks with Henry Shields of Mischief Theatre, the company behind The Play that Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong and The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, on the eve of Groan Ups, the first play in the company’s Vaudeville Theatre residency. They discuss the company’s inception, its ongoing success and future projects on stage and screen, including Magic Goes Wrong, created with world famous magicians Penn and Teller, and The Goes Wrong Show, a new TV series that will be broadcast later this year (2019).

3 Okt 201924min

Nottingham Playhouse’s latest production is a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People. It features Alex Kingston in the lead role of Dr Teresa Stockman. For this episode, BTG Midlands editor Steve Orme spoke to two of the actors in the play, Deka Walmsley and Donna Banya, about working with Alex Kingston, the effect gender-swapping has had on the play and how the theatre has been revitalised since Adam Penford took over as artistic director. (Photo of Deka Walmsley and Donna Banya, credit Steve Orme)

28 Sep 201919min

Birmingham REP has made three major appointments and they’ve all taken up their new positions at a theatre recognised as one of the most important in the country. They’re Artistic Director Sean Foley, Deputy Artistic Director Amit Sharma and Executive Director Rachael Thomas. For this episode, BTG Midlands Editor Steve Orme spoke to the three of them about their aim to enhance the REP’s reputation as a theatre that’s relevant to all of its local communities but with a national and international outlook. (Image of Sean Foley, Rachael Thomas and Amit Sharma by Kris Askey)

12 Sep 201921min