British Theatre Guide Podcast

In December 2016, the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield will stage its first professional pantomime, Cinderella, written by Andrew Pollard and directed by Joyce Branagh. Joyce was preparing to start rehearsals for Cinderella when we spoke to her, but she had also just directed a fifteen-minute version of Wuthering Heights for JB Shorts, a regular evening of short new plays which has just moved to new Manchester venue 53two. Cinderella will be at Lawrence Batley Theatre from 9 to 31 December 2016. (Photo of Joyce Branagh in Boomtown Gals by Lucas Smith)

Freedom Studios is an inter-cultural theatre company based in Bradford, West Yorkshire which is about to open a new play by Tajinder Singh Hayer set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy version of Bradford called North Country at The Wild Woods in the heart of the town where it is set. Alex Chisholm, the play’s director and recently appointed co-Artistic Director of Freedom Studios, spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton about the play and about the philosophy behind Freedom Studios. North Country will be at The Wild Woods in Bradford from 26 October to 5 November 2016. (Rehearsal image of Alex Chisholm by Maria Spadafora)

Performance poet Luke Wright is is currently touring with a solo verse play directed by nabokov’s Joe Murphy called What I Learned From Johnny Bevan. Luke plays Nick, an arts journalist, who is transported by current events back to memories of his days in university in the mid-‘90s when his friend, after whom the play is named, changed his life. In this episode, Luke speaks to BTG editor David Chadderton about the show, politics, New Labour, festivals, acting awards and poetry. Luke tours the UK until December 2016 with What I Learned From Johnny Bevan. For details of where he will appear, see the gigs page on his web site. (Photo credit: Guiseppe Cerone)

Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sweeney Todd—the Demon Barber of Fleet Street is a co-production between Derby Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester directed by Daniel Buckroyd. In this episode, BTG Midlands editor Steve Orme speaks to the two lead actors in the production: Hugh Maynard who plays Sweeney and Sophie-Louise Dann who is Mrs Lovett. Sweeney Todd is at Derby Theatre from Friday 30 September until Saturday 22 October. It then transfers to the Mercury Theatre Colchester from Wednesday 26 October until Saturday 12 November. (Rehearsal image of Hugh Maynard and Sophie-Louise Dann by Robert Day)

Halifax-based Northern Broadsides has paired up with York Theatre Royal for a revival of J B Priestley's When We Are Married, directed by Northern Broadsides artistic director Barrie Rutter. Playing the role of Clara Soppitt, actress Kate Anthony, best-known for playing Pam Hobsworth in Coronation Street, spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton during rehearsals about the production and her part in it as well as some of the differences between acting in theatre and TV and the importance of getting on with your fellow actors while touring. When We Are Married is at York Theatre Royal until 24 September 2016 before touring to Hull Truck Theatre, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Rose Theatre Kingston, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre, New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Liverpool Playhouse and Northern Broadsides’ own Viaduct Theatre in Halifax, where it closes on 4 December. (Rehearsal photo of Kate Anthony by Nobby Clark)

Theatre in Scotland: A Field of Dreams is a compilation of 35 years of reviews from The Scotsman's lead theatre critic Joyce McMillan, edited by former Traverse Theatre artistic director Philip Howard. From the heart of the Edinburgh Festivals of 2016, Joyce shared with BTG editor David Chadderton her extensive knowledge and insightful analysis of Scottish theatre and its development in conjunction with political and social changes in Scotland and across the UK since the 1970s.

Philip Fisher and Richard Jordan discuss Richard’s exciting new multimedia theatrical collaboration with Apple Corporation in Chicago and also Edinburgh trends and the very best that Edinburgh has to offer. Philip Fisher joins the three leading Scottish theatre critics, Joyce McMillan, Mark Fisher and Neil Cooper, to talk in detail about Anything That Gives off Light in the Edinburgh International Festival, Diary of a Madman at the Traverse and World Without Us at Summerhall, as well as identifying a plethora of other shows that are well worth catching.

David Chadderton talks to Nir Paldi, co-artistic director of Theatre Ad Infinitum whose show Bucket List was previewed at Latitude Festival before opening in its final form at the Edinburgh Fringe. (Photo credit: Alex Brenner) Philip Fisher talks with Kate O'Flynn, who is starring in what is likely to be the pick of Edinburgh 2016, John Tiffany's production of The Glass Menagerie in the Edinburgh International Festival, about the play, her stage career and working with Mike Leigh. (Photo Credit: Johan Persson) Philip Fisher interviews Dave Malloy about bringing Ghost Quartet to Summerhall Roundabout and the impending Broadway opening of his musical Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812. (Photo Credit: Ryan Jenson)

Phelim McDermott co-founded acclaimed theatre company Improbable in 1996. His directing credits including Shockheaded Peter with Julian Crouch and The Tiger Lillies, Philip Glass’s The Perfect American with ENO and Teatro Real in Madrid, The Addams Family on Broadway and, most recently, Jim Broadbent in A Christmas Carol on the West End. Phelim spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton about the origins of Improbable's show Animo that combines improvisation and puppetry, which was revived for the 2016 Latitude Festival led by co-artistic director Lee Simpson. He also looked back on 20 years of Improbable and talked about the importance of improvisation to all of his work, even when script-based, and the influence of the ideas of Keith Johnstone and Jeremy Whelan on his techniques.

The Classic Thriller Season has been running at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham since 1988, produced by Colin McIntyre until his death in 2012. The season has been kept up by Tabs Productions, which has continued the format of presenting four plays over a four-week period. Karen Henson and John Goodrum of Tabs talk to Midlands Editor Steve Orme about this year's season, about continuing a long-running tradition and about their contribution to keeping the rep system alive.

Producer Bonnie Mitchell and performer Kylie Walsh talk about Mobile, a production from The Paper Birds that takes place in a small caravan for an audience of up to eight people at a time. Bonnie and Kylie talk about the themes of class and social mobility, the devising process and the special challenges of touring a show for a tiny audience in a caravan. The production, a co-commission from Live Theatre and The Marlowe Theatre, has just finished its first tour. It will be visiting The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury from 8 to 12 October and Theatre Royal Plymouth from 1 to 5 November 2016 before touring again in 2017. For more information, see www.thepaperbirds.com. (Photo of Kylie Walsh credit: Richard Davenport)

BTG London editor Philip Fisher talks to writer Nell Dunn in her Fulham home. Nell Dunn first became a published writer with Up the Junction, a collection of short stories, in 1963, then went on to become a successful novelist (Poor Cow, 1967) and playwright (Steaming, 1981). She co-wrote a screen adaptation of Poor Cow with Ken Loach, who directed the film in 1967, which has been digitally restored for a re-release both in cinemas and for home viewing.

Roxanne Pallett, probably still best-known for her long-running character of Jo in ITV’s Emmerdale, is currently appearing as Tyler in Neil LaBute’s Some Girls at London’s Park Theatre and in 2017 will star as Holly in a new production of The Wedding Singer, a musical based on the popular 1998 film of the same name, for a national tour. Roxanne talks to BTG editor David Chadderton about both productions in a busy year for her, and also speaks quite frankly about how tough it can be for an actor to handle the leaner times when the work isn't coming in. Some Girls by Neil LaBute runs at Park Theatre in London from 14 July to 6 August 2016. The Wedding Singer will open at Curve in Leicester on 9 February 2017 and will tour the UK until September 2017. (Photo: Roxanne Pallett at the 2015 Manchester Theatre Awards at Royal Northern College of Music, credit Simon Pendrigh.)

As the Nottingham Playhouse Sweet Vengeance season is announced, BTG Midlands editor Steve Orme talks to Artistic Director Giles Croft about the season, titled "Sweet Vengeance". Also, actress Vicky McClure and director Matt Aston talk about their revival of Stephen Lowe's Touched and crime writer John Harvey discusses his experiences of creating his first work for the theatre, an adaptation of his 2014 novel Darkness, Darkness featuring his jazz-loving detective Charlie Resnick.

Edinburgh-based Puppet State Theatre Company has become famous for its stage adaptation of Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees, which has toured the world for ten years. The company’s new production is J R R Tolkien’s short story Leaf By Niggle, performed as a solo piece by Richard Medrington, who spoke to us during the first Scottish tour of the show. Leaf By Niggle will be performed at venues around Scotland until July 2016 before a full run at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. The Man Who Planted Trees can be seen in York, Southport and Rossendale in June and July before another tour later in the year. (Photo of Richard Medrington in Leaf By Niggle by Brian Hartley)

York-based Pilot Theatre has collaborated with York Theatre Royal on a new adaptation of a dystopian science fiction story, The Machine Stops by E M Forster. The adaptation is by Bolton-based playwright Neil Duffield, who speaks to us about adapting science fiction for the stage, the remarkable resonances that this 1909 story has with our world of social media and the world-wide web and making a living as a playwright for more than thirty years. The Machine Stops by Neil Duffield with music by John Foxx and Benge, directed by Juliet Forster, will be performed at York Theatre Royal from 13 May to 4 June 2016 followed by a short tour to The Point in Eastleigh on 8 and 9 June and New Theatre Royal, Portsmouth on 10 and 11 June before appearing at Platform Shift + festival in Budapest from 15 to 19 June. (Image of Neil Duffield by Anthony Robling)

Canadian-British playwright Evan Placey's play WiLd is a collaboration with Leeds-based tutti frutti that began as an attempt to look at some of the issues around ADHD, funded by the Wellcome Trust. In this episode, Evan spoke to us from Canada, where his play Scarberia was about to open at the Young People’s Theatre in Toronto, about writing the play, his experiences working with young people with ADHD and about writing in general. WiLd opens at The Carriageworks in Leeds on 30 April 2016 and then tours to various venues in England until the beginning of July before finishing with a couple of dates at the Ennis Street Festival in Ireland. (Poster illustration by Jacky Fleming)

Nottingham Playhouse is part of a consortium of regional theatres across the UK that are putting disabled artists and audiences at the centre of their programming in a six-year project called Ramps on the Moon. Wheelchair user Amy Trigg is to play Laura Wingfield in Nottingham Playhouse’s production of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. In this episode, BTG Midlands Editor Steve Orme speaks to Amy along with Susannah Harker, who will play her mother Amanda in the production. The Glass Menagerie, directed by Giles Croft, runs at Nottingham Playhouse from 11 to 26 March 2016.

A new revival by Derby Theatre and Octagon Theatre Bolton will mark the 60th anniversary of John Osborne’s ground-breaking work Look Back in Anger. BTG Midlands Editor Steve Orme speaks to director Sarah Brigham and actor Patrick Knowles, who will play the role of Jimmy Porter, about the new production. Look Back In Anger will be at Derby Theatre from 7 to 23 March and then at Octagon Theatre in Bolton from 7 to 30 April 2016.

Michael Harrison is Managing Director of Qdos Entertainment and has produced a wide range of musicals with his production company Michael Harrison Productions. In this podcast episode, he speaks to Simon Sladen about Qdos's 2015 pantomime season, his love of Dames and his latest project, Mrs Henderson Presents, which recently transferred to the West End.