British Theatre Guide podcast

In July 2013, Manchester's 24:7 Theatre Festival, dedicated to producing brand new one-hour plays in venues around the city, will celebrate the tenth of its annual events. Actor David Slack, who co-founded the festival in 2004 and is still its producer, reflects on ten years of putting new writing on stage and talks about new developments for this year's event. Following this, five of the writers from this year's festival talk about their plays at the media launch in June 2013 at Manchester's Comedy Store: Alice Brockway (Blunted), Thomas Bloor (Night on the Field of Waterloo), Richard O'Neill (Temper), Micheál Jacob (Daylight Robbery) and Catherine Manford (Billy the Monster and Me). For more information, see www.247theatrefestival.co.uk.

12 Jul 201345min

At the Manchester International Festival, Alexander Vlahos talks about playing Malcolm in Macbeth, a production that sees Kenneth Branagh return to the stage in the title role opposite Alex Kingston as Lady Macbeth, directed by Rob Ashford and performed in a deconsecrated church at a secret location in Manchester. Also, Hadley Fraser talks about playing chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in The Machine by Matt Charman directed by Donmar Warehouse artistic director Josie Rourke who, despite being Salford-born, has never directed in Manchester before. The 2013 Manchester International Festival runs from 4 to 21 July. For information about all MIF productions and other events, see www.mif.co.uk.

5 Jul 201334min

Philip Fisher talks to actor Seth Numrich, currently playing Chance Wayne opposite Kim Cattrall as Alexandra del Lago in Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams at the Old Vic in London following Broadway success in Golden Boy and War Horse.

2 Jul 201318min

BTG London editor Philip Fisher chats with actress Sarah Greene, currently playing a romantic lead opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan at the Noel Coward Theatre. See Philip's review of this production.

28 Jun 201319min

Dukes Theatre artistic director Joe Sumsion talks about his production of a new adaptation of Robin Hood in Williamson Park, Lancaster this summer, a comeback for the Dukes's famous outdoor productions by popular demand after it was announced that the 25th anniversary production two years ago would be its last due to funding issues. Joe talks about their unusual approach to the famous story in a production set in the future, about the challenges and joys of outdoor promenade theatre in the UK and about the up-side of their announcement that these productions were to cease. Following this, production manager John Newman-Holden takes us on a walk around Williamson Park, talking us through the different locations used for the production and the practical challenges of realising the creative team's visions in the open air. Robin Hood runs in Williamson Park, Lancaster from 5 July to 10 August 2013. For more information, see www.dukes-lancaster.org or call the box office on 01524 598500.

21 Jun 201356min

Manchester's Library Theatre Company has created a trilogy of site specific works about Manchester since leaving its home of more than half a century at Manchester Central Library in 2010. The third of these, Manchester Sound: The Massacre, written by Polly Wiseman and directed by Paul Jepson, will take place at a secret location in Manchester city centre between 8 June and 6 July 2013. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Polly and Paul in Manchester a week before the show's opening. For more information on the show, see www.librarytheatre.com.

1 Jun 201318min

Playwright Fin Kennedy was thrust into the heart of the debate about arts funding when he produced a report—called In Battalions, a title taken from a quote from Hamlet—with professional researcher Helen Campbell Pickford into the effects of cuts in public funding to theatres on their production of and development of new writing. In this episode, Fin talks about the origins of the report in a conversation he had with UK Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries Ed Vaisey and about its findings, as well as speculating on how this will continue to affect the theatre sector and on the motivations behind cutting an area of the UK budget so small that it will have a barely-noticeable effect on the UK deficit. Fin Kennedy is an award-winning playwright and theatre blogger whose plays are produced in the UK and US. In the UK, he has written for Soho Theatre, Sheffield Crucible, Southwark Playhouse, Half Moon Theatre, The Red Room, Birmingham Rep and BBC Radio 4. Fin also has many years’ experience teaching playwriting in schools, youth clubs, and universities. Since 2007 he has been writer-in-residence at Mulberry School in East London, for whom he has co-founded a theatre company and written four new plays which premièred at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. He is also a visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths College, a member of the Writers’ Guild Theatre Committee and an occasional contributor to The Guardian and The Stage. For more information, see his blog at www.finkennedy.co.uk.

17 Mai 201327min

Sarah Brigham talks to BTG Midlands Editor Steve Orme about taking the reigns of Derby Theatre as its first artistic director since University of Derby took over the lease of the troubled former Derby Playhouse and succeeded in obtaining Arts Council funding for it in 2012. The first homegrown production from the new Derby Theatre is Lee Hall's Cooking With Elvis, and Steve talks to director Mark Babych and actor Jack Lord about the production. Babych, who was artistic director of the Octagon Theatre in Bolton for ten years, also talks about his recently-announced appointment as artistic director of Hull Truck Theatre, a post he takes up immediately after finishing work on this production.

5 Mai 201335min