British Theatre Guide podcast

Mischief Theatre, which rose to fame ten years ago with its smash hit comedy The Play That Goes Wrong, is returning to Edinburgh in 2022 with three shows: Charlie Russell Aims to Please, Mischief Movie Night and Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle. Charlie Russell, who writes and performs the show that names her in the title, has been a co-creator and cast member in most of the company’s shows so far. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Charlie about their three Fringe shows as well as about the company’s creative process and phenomenal success. Charlie Russell Aims to Please runs at Pleasance Below, Pleasance Courtyard at 3:15PM from 3 to 27 August. Mischief Movie Night is at Pentland Theatre, Pleasance at EICC at 6:30PM from 3 to 28 August. Mind Mangler: Member of the Tragic Circle is at Pleasance Beyond, Pleasance Courtyard from 3 to 28 August. The new piece by Henry Shields, Good Luck, Studio, will be at Mercury Theatre in Colchester, Salisbury Playhouse and Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford between September and November 2022. For more details and tickets for the three Edinburgh shows, go to www.edfringe.com, www.pleasance.co.uk or mischiefedfringe.com, or for more information about the company and its work in general, see www.mischiefcomedy.com. Rehearsal photo of Charlie Russell by Danny Kaan.

4 Aug 202233min

John Lloyd, the TV and radio producer behind many classic comedy programmes from The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Not the Nine O’Clock News and Spitting Image to Have I Got News For You, The News Quiz and QI, will be asking audiences to put his accumulated knowledge on all subjects to the test at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe in his show Do You Know Who I Am?. BTG Editor David Chadderton asked him about the show, about his career and about the things that continue to fascinate him enough to make producing programmes like QI more like an addiction than a job. John Lloyd: Do You Know Who I Am? will be at The Stand’s New Town Theatre on George Street, Edinburgh from 5 to 15 August 2022 at 3:40PM every day. For more details and tickets, go to edfringe.com or www.thestand.co.uk.

28 Juli 202228min

London’s Greenwich + Docklands International Festival began as a free, outdoor festival in 1996, managed to continue throughout the COVID pandemic and has now announced its 27th programme of events which will run from 26 August to 11 September 2022. GDIF Artistic Director Bradley Hemmings MBE, who also co-directed the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Paralympic Games, spoke to BTG Editor David Chadderton about this year’s festival and about its past developments.

23 Juli 202227min

One of the biggest hits of the 2009 Edinburgh Festival Fringe was a one-man show about comedian Eric Morecambe written by Tim Whitnall and performed by Bob Golding. When comedy impressionist Jon Culshaw (Dead Ringers, Spitting Image) had the idea to pay tribute to comedian Les Dawson, he teamed up with Tim and Bob to create Les Dawson: Flying High, which will make its debut at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe before being extended for a national tour. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to the three of them together during the rehearsal period about their approach to telling the story, some of the elements they had to include and the affection that they and many others still have for a few comedians of Les Dawson’s generation. Les Dawson: Flying High, written by Tim Whitnall, directed by Bob Golding and starring Jon Culshaw, will run at the Gordon Aikman Theatre, Assembly George Square in Edinburgh from 3 to 28 August 2022 followed by a tour of the UK. (Photo of Jon Culshaw as Les Dawson by Steve Ullathorne)

14 Juli 202237min

David Sefton joined Gulbenkian Arts Centre in Canterbury as Artistic Director in 2021, in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, after running the Adelaide Festival in Australia. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to David about the 2022-23 season featuring companies such as Pussy Riot, 1927 and Improbable, and also about a career that took him from Liverpool to London’s South Bank, where he created the Meltdown Festival working with guest curators including Scott Walker, John Peel, Elvis Costello and Laurie Anderson, to UCLA Performing Arts in Los Angeles and then to Adelaide before returning to Kent—including a few stops on the way that he says aren’t even on his CV any more. For more information about Gulbenkian Arts Centre and its programme or to buy tickets, see www.thegulbenkian.co.uk or find it on Twitter or Instagram at @thegulbenkian.

9 Juli 202233min

The Still Room is a new play at Park Theatre in London set in the ‘still room’ of a hotel, where the waiters wait, in the North West of England in 1981. It was written by Sally Rogers, best known on TV as DC Jo Masters in The Bill and with theatre credits at the National Theatre, Royal Court and Out of Joint, based on her own experiences of working in a hotel near Stockport when she was just 16. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Sally during previews about the play and its setting, about teaching a young cast about life in the ‘80s and about various aspects of Sally’s career, including being directed by John Malkovich (and making him cry) and being a member of Max Stafford Clark’s Out of Joint theatre company in the 1990s, which, she says, made her a much better actor. Of course The Bill is mentioned, and her colleague from that long-running TV series Chris Simmons (DC Mickey Webb) who is performing in her play, plus there is an element of two people reminiscing about growing up near Manchester in the 1980s. The Still Room opened for previews at Park Theatre in London on 1 June and runs until 25 June 2022. You can find Sally on Twitter at @SallyARogers.

7 Juni 202234min

On 25 March 2022, Manchester arts venue Contact announced that writer, performer and producer Keisha Thompson would take over from Matt Fenton in June to become its first female, first Mancunian and youngest Artistic Director. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Keisha a week before the announcement. She explained about her 17-year history at the venue, the philosophy behind this unique theatre for young people, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2022, all the different production skills she has picked up from working at Contact and how much she loves a good spreadsheet. (Photo of Keisha Thompson by Audrey Albert)

4 Apr 202230min

British theatre company Les Enfants Terribles celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2022 with a new production adapted from Sophie Anderson’s novel The House with Chicken Legs by company founder Oliver Lansley directed by Oli with Creative Director James Seager. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Oli and James during rehearsals, a week before opening night, about the production and their style and influences and looked back over their work during the last 20 years. The House with Chicken Legs runs at HOME Manchester from 29 March to 23 April 2022. The music for the show featured in this episode is by Alexander Wolfe. (Photo of James Seager and Oliver Lansley by Rah Petherbridge Photography)

28 Mars 202233min