British Theatre Guide Podcast

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."

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.

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.

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)

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)

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.

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.

At this year’s Latitude Festival, Clod Ensemble will present a special ‘festival edit’ of its new show On the High Road, which will be directed by Suzy Willson with music composed by Paul Clark, founders of the company in 1995. Suzy and Paul spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton a week before Latitude was due to open about the show, the company's work and methods and plans for future work. Latitude Festival runs at Henham Park in Southwold, Suffolk from Thursday 14 to Sunday 16 July 2017.

Mark Smith talks to Juliet Forster, Associate Director of York Theatre Royal, and Katie Posner, Associate Director of Pilot Theatre, about their latest large-scale community production, Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes. This new play is written by Bridget Foreman and based on the true stories of militant suffragettes in York, centring on the real-life figure of Annie Seymour Pearson. The role is to be played by award-winning actress Barbara Marten, who also unearthed the stories and presented the project to the theatre. Forster and Posner talk about their work together on a number of large-scale productions, the research behind this latest collaboration, and the links they've been finding between the century-old story of the Suffrage movement and present-day political contexts. A co-production between York Theatre Royal and Pilot Theatre, Everything is Possible runs from 20 June to 1 July at York Theatre Royal. "There's a real feeling of dissatisfaction with political systems, and one response to

Mark Smith talks to artist and performance maker Ellie Harrison about her interactive installation work The Unfair. This is part of her ambitious long-running project The Grief Series, which aims to offer playful and open artistic environments for the contemplation of taboo subjects such as loss and grief in many forms. The Unfair examines the anger which might be associated with a range of such experiences, and gives visitors an opportunity to vent their frustrations through fun and games which play humorously upon vintage fairground imagery. There's popcorn, Angry Jenga, and a karaoke booth complete with punchbag so you can box your way through your choice of anger-releasing song. The Unfair runs at Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds, from 9-14 May. Entrance is free. It then runs at the Brighton Festival from 18-21 May. Entrance is pay what you feel.

Timberlake Wertenbaker was commissioned by the Octagon Theatre in Bolton to write Winter Hill, named after a local landmark most famous for its TV mast. BTG editor David Chadderton spoke to Timberlake when she had spent nearly a week in rehearsals for the play in Bolton, and then a couple of weeks later to three of the cast: Cathy Tyson, Souad Faress and Janet Henfry. Winter Hill by Timberlake Wertenbaker will be at the Octagon Theatre in Bolton from 11 May to 3 June 2017. (Photo of the Winter Hill cast in rehearsal by Ray Jefferson, Bolton Camera Club)

In 1992, Barrie Rutter directed and played the title role in Shakespeare’s Richard III for what became the inaugural production of Northern Broadsides. Twenty-five years later, he is directing Mat Fraser as Richard for Hull’s 2017 City of Culture. In this episode, David Chadderton speaks to Barrie about a quarter of a century of Broadsides, his own forthright views on how to direct and perform Shakespeare and on returning to the city where he grew up for this anniversary production. Richard III will run at Hull Truck Theatre from 4 to 27 May 2017. It will then have a short run at the Viaduct Theatre in Halifax from 30 May to 3 June. (Photo of Barrie Rutter at Dean Clough, Halifax by Kay Burnett)

Mark Smith talks to RashDash's Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland about The Darkest Corners, a bold new commission for Transform Festival about fear and feminism on the streets. The award-winning theatremakers also discuss their recent productions We Want You To Watch and Two Man Show and how their work blends the political and the personal. "If we're going to bring this down one brick at a time, we're going to need to do it all together." The Darkest Corners runs at the Transform Festival in a site-specific location in Holbeck from 20 to 22 April.

BTG's Mark Smith talks to Amy Letman about Leeds's international Transform Festival, her career as a producer, and how to get into festival programming. Transform Festival 2017 runs from 19-22 April in venues across Leeds, with a full programme available on the Transform web site.

Highlights of the launch event for the Manchester International Festival 2017, held in Manchester on 9 March 2017. Introduced by new MIF artistic director John McGrath, this episode also features announcements from festival participants including actress Jane Horrocks, playwright Simon Stephens, Underworld’s Karl Hyde, Frantic Assembly’s Scott Graham, artists Yael Bartana and Phil Collins and New Order’s Bernard Sumner, amongst others. MIF 2017 will take place from 29 June to 16 July 2017 at locations all over Manchester. Image from MIF launch: L - R, Karl Hyde, Scott Graham, Simon Stephens, Yael Bartana, John McGrath, Phil Collins, Stephen Mallinder, Nick Vivian, Jane Horrocks, Bernard Sumner, Raymond Yiu, Sue Buckmaster, Joe Duddell, Tom Chapman, Graham Massey Credit Joel Chester Fildes

Midlands editor Steve Orme talks to Lekan Lawal, who is making his main stage directorial debut at Derby Theatre with Harold Pinter's Betrayal, and cast members Ben Addis (Robert), Kemi-Bo Jacobs (Emma) and Philip Correia (Jerry).

Liverpool playwright Lizzy Nunnery's new play Narvik directed by Hannah Tyrell-Pinder for Box of Tricks will open its national tour at the end of January 2017 following a successful run at Liverpool Playhouse in September 2015. Lizzy spoke to BTG editor David Chadderton a couple of weeks before the tour opened about the process of creating the play from stories from her grandfather and other World War II sailors stationed in the Arctic and about her career writing for stage and radio over the last ten years. Narvik opens at HOME Manchester from 31 January to 4 February 2017 before touring to Stahl Theatre in Oundle, Theatre by the Lake in Keswick, Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, Mumford Theatre at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, Mac in Birmingham, Clwyd Theatre Cymru in Mold, York Theatre Royal, The Unity at the Bluecoat in Liverpool, The Met in Bury, The Carriageworks in Leeds and Harrogate Theatre before ending at New Diorama Theatre in London from 21 to 25 March.

Michael Feingold of the Village Voice talks to BTG London editor Philip Fisher about current trends on the New York theatre scene, suggests shows that should not be missed and develops thoughts about the impact of Donald Trump on Broadway and beyond.

Theatre by the Lake in Keswick in the Lake District has had at its helm Executive Director Patric Gilchrist and Artistic Director Ian Forrest since before the current theatre building opened in 1999. Conrad Lynch has taken over as both Artistic Director and Chief Executive after working alongside his predecessors for the last few months. Not long after announcing his first season in his new post, he spoke to us about his future plans for this Cumbrian theatre.

BTG Midlands editor Steve Orme speaks to director Theresa Keogh and artistic director Jack McNamara of Nottingham-based New Perspectives Theatre Company about their new rural touring production of M R James's classic ghost story Oh Whistle and I'll Come To You adapted by David Rudkin and also about recently working with best-selling crime writer John Harvey on Darkness, Darkness with Nottingham Playhouse.