British Theatre Guide podcast

Mark Smith interviews Jenny Harris, creative producer for 509 Arts, about their production Calderland. Forming the centrepiece of the Landlines & Watermarks project, this "people's opera" aims to investigate, question and celebrate Calderdale's relationship with water, in the wake of the 2015 Boxing Day floods which were devastating to large parts of Yorkshire. The production has a cast of over 200 singers drawn from local communities, and a script by award-winning writer Mike Kenny. It's to be performed in the Piece Hall in Halifax, a recently-restored Grade I listed building. Jenny talks during the final weeks of rehearsals about the challenges of mounting such a massive project in a comparatively short time span, the ambition of creating an inclusive and celebratory piece of art from adversity and the roots of 509 Arts, a company focusing on theatre productions with a climate change agenda. "It's not a high art opera... but it's got that sense of drama and scale that an opera might have."

26 Sep 201718min

Mark Smith talks to Gilly Roche, the West Yorkshire Playhouse's New Work Producer, as she launches this year's Furnace Festival celebrating a range of new work in the north. Roche has been part of a recent reorganisation of the support for new artists at the theatre, which offers a year-long forum in which theatre makers can forge links and try out work-in-progress works in an unpressured environment. She talks about the works, both new and well-established, at this year's festival, her career leading to this current post, and the Scratch culture which she and her colleagues are hoping to nurture at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. For more information, see the West Yorkshire Playhouse web site or search social media for the hashtag #furnacefestival. "I use the word audacious... and that is rude, and impudent, and not accepting the traditional norms. These artists are being impudent, and that feels more important now than ever."

21 Sep 201717min

Northern Broadsides theatre company's For Love or Money, directed by and featuring company founder Barrie Rutter, has been adapted from a French play, Turcaret by Alain-Rene Lesage, by regular Broadsides collaborator Blake Morrison. Blake speaks to us about the play, about play translation and about 21 years of collaborations with Rutter and Broadsides. For Love or Money opened at The Viaduct Theatre in Halifax on 15 September 2017. After that, it will tour to West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Rose Theatre Kingston, New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, Liverpool Playhouse and finally York Theatre Royal, where it will close on 2 December.

18 Sep 201720min

Playwright Kevin Fegan talks to BTG editor David Chadderton about his 30-year career as a playwright and, more specifically, about his new plays opening soon: The Ruck opens on the main stage at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield on 15 September 2017, before touring to Theatre Royal Wakefield, Cast in Doncaster and The Civic, Barnsley. The Shed Crew runs at Albion Electric warehouse (tickets from West Yorkshire Playhouse) in Leeds from 21 September to 1 October. Bess the Commoner Queen is at Guildhall Theatre in Derby from 28 September to 1 October. Down The Line is at Barrow Hill Roundhouse from 21 to 23 September.

13 Sep 201727min

Producer Richard Jordan and BTG's Philip Fisher talk about trends in Edinburgh and discuss the best shows to see. Philip Fisher also chairs a critics panel with Joyce McMillan of The Scotsman and freelancer Mark Fisher in which they discuss Alan Ayckbourn's The Divide, Frances Poet's Adam and Ontroerend Goed’s £¥€$ (LIES) and also pick some personal favourites from Edinburgh 2017. (Photos of Erin Doherty in The Divide by Marc Marnie; £¥€$ photo credit Thomas Dhanens)

8 Sep 20171h 5min

This year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival featured a series of events subtitled “a theatrical exploration”, in which well-known Scottish novels were partly staged by a director, scriptwriter and actors produced in association with Edinburgh’s Lyceum Theatre. One the three novels explored in this way was Booker-nominated His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet, who spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton about his involvement with the project on a busy final Saturday at the 2017 Book Festival. Also, Philip Fisher spoke to Milly Thomas who, after this interview was recorded, won a Stage Edinburgh Award for her performance in Dust, a self-penned piece directed by Sara Joyce for this year's Edinburgh Fringe. (Production image of Milly Thomas in Dust by The Other Richard)

4 Sep 201759min

Philip Fisher reports from the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Lara Foot is the Director and CEO of the Baxter Theatre Centre at the University of Cape Town. She talks to Philip about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, her own career and the theatre scene in South Africa over the last thirty years. Award-winning stage and screen star Monica Dolan tells Philip about her first play as a writer, The B*easts, and its Edinburgh Fringe debut. They also discuss her passion for acting and the key moments of her career.

17 Aug 20171h 6min

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything by Luke Barnes is the latest "gig theatre" production from Hull-based theatre company Middle Child. After a run at the Welly Club in Hull in June, the production will be performed at this year's Latitude Festival. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Middle Child artistic director Paul Smith about the show, as well as musing on political theatre, adapting for festivals, attracting new audiences to theatre and becoming a new National Portfolio Organisation for Arts Council funding. All We Ever Wanted Was Everything will be at Latitude Festival in Southwold, Suffolk on Sunday 16 July before appearing at Reading Fringe on 20 July and then in Paines Plough’s Roundabout Theatre at Summerhall for the Edinburgh Fringe from 4 to 27 August 2017.

13 Jul 201722min