British Theatre Guide podcast

BTG's London Editor Philip Fisher reports from the New York theatre scene. Firstly, Philip talks to Jeremy Herrin about his work as Artistic Director of Headlong Theatre, his production of Michael Frayn's Noises Off, which he is directing with an American cast for Roundabout, and his wider career. Philip also talks to Red Bull Theater’s Artistic Director Jesse Berger about the company's latest production, The Changeling, and the company’s genesis and mission to present Jacobean theatre and Shakespeare to New Yorkers, reviving plays rarely, if ever, seen in the city. (Photo of Jeremy Herrin: Dan Wooller)

16 Jan 201641min

BTG London editor Philip Fisher, during his annual reviewing trip to the US, talks with Theatermania columnist Michael Feingold about trends in New York theatre both on and off Broadway and discusses shows that should not be missed.

9 Jan 201621min

Donovan Christian Cary has been the resident Dame at the Princes Hall, Aldershot for over a decade. He speaks to BTG Panto Editor Simon Sladen about playing Dame and his pantomime career that has gone from auditioning in a car for the role of Genie to playing the Fairy Superior in 2015's Cinderella.

3 Jan 201625min

Alex Wright is a Yorkshire-based theatre-maker who as a founder member of Belt Up Theatre reached national audiences with a series of immersive, free-form adaptations of well-known works. Since then he has set up The Flanagan Collective, with which he continues to adapt, write and direct a range of pieces. For the past nine months he’s been part of a group—including artists, producers and a pub landlord—which has been responsible for The Fleeting Arms, a ramshackle, open pop-up arts venue run for and with York’s creative community. The Fleeting Arms is due to close its doors as a performance venue on the 31 December 2015 and in its final month the whole building has been dedicated to a new, immersive adaptation of The Great Gatsby, which Alex has directed. In this episode, Alex talks to BTG Yorkshire Editor Mark Smith about staging The Great Gatsby, how he approaches immersive performance and the experience of running a pop-up arts venue in the centre of York. (Gatsby photo credit Ben Porter)

19 Des 201520min

The first Christmas production at HOME Manchester will be the English language stage première of Cornelia Funke’s best-selling children’s fantasy novel Inkheart. In this episode, we speak to Irish actor Will Irvine, who returns to Manchester to play Capricorn, the ultimate "baddy", and to director Walter Meierjohann, who directed an earlier adaptation of this story in Germany in 2006. Inkheart, adapted for the stage by Stephen Sharkey and Walter Meierjohann for HOME Manchester, runs from Friday 4 December 2015 to Saturday 9 January 2016. For more information and to book tickets, see homemcr.org or call the box office on 0161 200 1500.

3 Des 201520min

In this episode, we look at two very different non-pantomime versions of the Snow White story that can be seen this Christmas. Natasha Holmes is artistic director of Yorkshire-based Tell Tale Hearts, a company that creates highly visual participatory theatre for children and families based on ideas from the children themselves. Just before rehearsals began, Natasha talked to us about a version of the popular fairy tale that features Yorkshire miners as well as aerial performance from outdoor theatre specialists Pif-Paf. The production is at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield from 11 to 27 December 2015. Newcastle-based balletLORENT is currently touring its new dance version of Snow White created by the same team as last year's Rapunzel. Choreographer Liv Lorent spoke to us about this collaboration with Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and composer Murray Gold, better-known for his music for the TV series Doctor Who. Snow White from balletLORENT began its tour in October 2015 at Northern Stage in Newcastle. From December 2015 to April 2016, it will visit The Lowry in Salford, Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre, Warwick Arts Centre, Pitlochry Festival Theatre, Sadler’s Wells in London and Oxford Playhouse. (Image credits: Gavin Joynt & Bill Cooper)

23 Nov 201552min

Leeds-based children’s theatre company tutti frutti has teamed up with York Theatre Royal and playwright Emma Reeves, Olivier-nominated for her adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s Hetty Feather, on a new adaptation of the children’s folk tale Snow Child, inspired by Arthur Ransome’s adaptation of this traditional tale entitled The Little Daughter of the Snow. Emma spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton early in the rehearsal period about the play, tutti frutti's collaborative production methods and her career writing adaptations of children's classic literature for stage and TV. Snow Child by Emma Reeves, directed by Wendy Harris for tutti frutti, opens on 3 October 2015 at The Arc in Stockton on Tees and tours the UK and Ireland, with a brief visit to Hong Kong and Singapore, until March 2016, ending at York Theatre Royal. For more information, see tutti-frutti-org.uk. Snow Child illustration by Jessica Knight

1 Okt 201523min

York-based Pilot Theatre is currently in rehearsals for Outsiders, a new re-imagining of Albert Camus’ novel L’Etranger. The play is written by Emteaz Hussain and staged by the Australian director Fraser Corfield. It works around the spare narrative of the original to focus on two marginalised female characters, Marie and Sumaya, exploring the experience of migration and the impact of trauma in the lives of these two women. In this episode, director Fraser Corfield and performers Lou Broadbent and Sara Sadeghi talk to BTG’s Mark Smith about the process of creating this new piece as a cross-cultural collaboration and discuss the relevance of the play in the light of the current political climate around immigration and migration. The production opens at CAST in Doncaster from 24 to 26 September 2015 before touring through autumn to the University of York, Barnsley Civic, Derby Theatre, Liverpool Playhouse, Canada Water in London, Hull Truck, the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield and the Tobacco Factory in Bristol. (Rehearsal shots of actors Sara Sadaghi and Lou Broadbent and director Fraser Corfield in rehearsals for Outsiders credit Sam Johnson.)

25 Sep 201520min