British Theatre Guide podcast
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Interviews and more from the world of professional theatre right across the UK.
Episodes
- Pitlochry's 75th anniversary season is Alan Cumming's first
Pitlochry Festival Theatre is launching its 75th anniversary season, the first led by Artistic Director Alan Cumming. The season features a diverse program including musicals, Shakespeare, and new plays. Discussions with theatre personnel…
- Unity celebrates a century of radical theatre in Liverpool
Liverpool's Unity Theatre, the last of its kind from 1930s left-wing drama groups, is celebrating 100 years of radical theatre with events like 'A Radical Reimagining' and 'Stage Left'. Artistic Director Eli Randle discusses the project, t…
- Birmingham Rep returns to Shakespeare with Dream
Joe Murphy and Madeleine Kludje discuss their direction of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Birmingham Rep's first Shakespeare production in ten years. The episode also includes conversations with cast members Evie Ward-Drummond, Isabel Adomakoh…
- Bryony Kimmings on Bog Witch and autobiographical theatre
Bryony Kimmings discusses her solo show Bog Witch, which explores her move to the countryside and environmental awareness. The conversation covers her creative process, influences like Brecht, and audience participation.
- Little Shop of Horrors in Derby and Newcastle
The British Theatre Guide podcast features an interview with director Sarah Brigham about the musical Little Shop of Horrors, presented by Northern Stage and Derby Theatre. Actors Kristian Cunningham (Seymour) and Amena El-Kindy (Audrey) a…
- Henry Goodman in Arthur Miller's The Price
London's Marylebone Theatre is soon to present a revival of Arthur Miller's 1968 play The Price , directed by Jonathan Munby and starring Henry Goodman in the role of 89-year-old Gregory Solomon. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Henry…
- Taking Loach's I, Daniel Blake from screen to stage
The 2016 Palme d'Or and BAFTA-winning film I, Daniel Blake , directed by Ken Loach, written by Paul Laverty and featuring comedian and actor Dave Johns in the title role, was adapted by Johns for a stage production in 2023 directed by Mark…
- English Touring Opera's first Sheffield tour opening
English Touring Opera has been taking live opera productions and educational and community projects around the UK since 1979. The company has been based in London up to last year, when it began a move to Sheffield, and its spring 2026 seas…
- Ockham's Razor directors return with aerial two-hander
Ockham's Razor was founded in 2004 by its current Artistic Directors, Alex Harvey and Charlotte Mooney, who have directed and toured many large-scale circus-based productions over the last two decades. Their latest show, Collaborator , is…
- Allan Stewart: fifty years in pantomime
BTG's Panto Editor Simon Sladen spoke to Allan Stewart, who marks an extraordinary milestone of 50 years in pantomime. Allan reflected on his early start as a teenage club performer, his unexpected first role as Buttons without ever having…
- Big Tiny pantos across the North West
The Big Tiny Productions Ltd, founded in 2019 by Will Cousins and Ben Richards, is producing four shows in the North West for Christmas 2025, three of which are pantos written by Ben and designed by Will. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke…
- Study into effects of COVID on British theatre
The British Theatre Consortium, headed by playwrights Dan Rebellato and David Edgar, has followed up its reports on the state of the British theatre repertoire in 2013 and 2014 with a study into how things have changed in the industry betw…
- Playwright David Ireland: from 'The Troubles' to romantic comedy
David Ireland is an Irish playwright with a reputation for writing hard-hitting drama such as The Fifth Step , Ulster American and Cypress Avenue , but director Max Elton is reviving a very different play by him, Most Favoured , which can…
- Inaugural production of new company honouring Buzz Goodbody
Buzz Goodbody was the first female director at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford where she was instrumental in setting up the venue The Other Place. She died just 50 years ago at the age of 28, and her nephew, Adam Goodbody, has c…
- Watford gets giant Stephen Fry in panto
Steve Marmion is currently in his second season as Chief Executive and Director of Programming for Watford Palace Theatre, but he also ran Soho Theatre in London for eight years and founded PantoCo Ltd. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to…
- Rebecca and Louise present Evita... the sequel?
Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole, as Sh!t Theatre, have been making theatre together for fifteen years. They will be spending the 2025 Christmas season at London's Southbank Centre with their new show Evita Too , set in the presidency…
- 30 years of Border Crossings—and Bruford online BA
Border Crossings , a UK-based theatre company that collaborates with artists from around the world, is celebrating its 30th anniversary, formed in 1995 by Artistic Director Michael Walling. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Michael abou…
- Flat earthers look for the edge of the world in Antarctica
Jessica Norman is a playwright and screenwriter whose play This Little Earth , which was long-listed for the Women's Prize for Playwriting, will debut at London's Arcola Theatre this autumn. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Jessica a c…
- Night Waking on Mull
Rebecca Atkinson-Lord was Director of Theatre at London's Ovalhouse (now Brixton House) until 2016, but has since moved to the island of Mull in the Scottish Hebrides as Chief Executive and Artistic Director of An Tobar and Mull Theatre .…
- Martin Sherman, from the Boardwalk to Bent
Playwright Martin Sherman was born in Philadelphia and raised in New Jersey but has lived in London for more than forty years. His memoir On the Boardwalk is about to be released, covering the first part of his life up to his first major s…
- Marks and Gran ask if Freud could have saved the world from Hitler
Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran 's most famous works are TV sitcoms such as Shine On Harvey Moon , Birds of a Feather , Goodnight Sweetheart and The New Statesman . They have also written for radio and for stage musicals such as Dreamboats…
- Edinburgh 2025: Emily Woof looks back to '60s feminism and John Lennon
Actor and author Emily Woof is best known for her film and TV work such as Mandy in The Full Monty , Shannon in Velvet Goldmine and Nancy in Oliver Twist , but she has also written novels and devised her own theatre pieces. At this year's…
- The Wedding Present musical to open in the band's Leeds birthplace
Indie rock band The Wedding Present was formed in Leeds in 1985, achieving a huge critical success with its debut album, George Best . 40 years and 300 songs later, the band is still going, and Artistic Director of Engine House Theatre and…
- Edinburgh 2025: The 100-year-old clown and The Chase's Vixen on whether ABBA existed
This episode features two very different solo shows, which can both be seen at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe . Thom Tuck is playing the titular 100-year-old clown, whose life story takes audiences though some of the major events of th…
- Classic Thrillers return to Nottingham for 2025
For almost 40 years, the Classic Thriller Season has been held during the summer at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham. It's one of the few rep seasons left in the country. In 2025, the season has been reduced to three weeks instead of four and…
- Scotland's The List celebrates 40 years in print
While the various Edinburgh festivals are running, one of the many publications providing extensive coverage of them is The List magazine, which this year celebrates its 40th anniversary. The List publishes year-round free print publicatio…
- Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting winners 2025
The winners of the biennial Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting , which this year celebrates its 20th anniversary, were announced at a ceremony at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre on Monday 21 July 2025. Immediately after the awards were pr…
- New Mosse family novel—from theatre writing specialist Greg
Greg Mosse was the founder of the Criterion New Writing programme based at the Criterion Theatre in London's West End in 2015 and has written and produced 25 plays and musicals at venues including Chichester Festival Theatre, Portsmouth Gu…
- New play features Jason Isaacs as the head of William Burroughs
Lorenzo Allchurch and Alex Helfrecht, the writer and director of new play Lost Watches , which is to première at Park Theatre in London this summer, met when Alex directed Lorenzo as a child actor ten years ago in the film The White King .…
- Deafinitely's Vagina Monologues on short UK tour
Paula Garfield MBE, Artistic Director and co-founder of Deafinitely Theatre, is taking her adaptation of The Vagina Monologues by V (formerly Eve Ensler) on a short tour. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Paula a couple of weeks before…
- Gatsby in Pitlochry and Derby
Elizabeth Newman, Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, has adapted F Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby , which is now 100 years old, for the stage for the theatre she recently left, Pitlochry Festival Theatre. It will be co-pro…
- Brits Off Broadway takes UK theatre to New York
59E59 Theatres in New York City has presented a regular Brits Off Broadway season of British theatre productions since 2004. This year, the season runs from 22 April to 29 June and features eight productions that were recently performed in…
- Hayman tours as Miller's Willy Loman
Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman is regarded as one of the greatest plays of the 20th century. A new production is touring the UK. BTG Midlands editor Steve Orme spoke to David Hayman, who plays Willy Loman, and director Andy Arnold abo…
- Emma Rice brings Hitchcock thriller to the stage
The next production from Wise Children theatre company will be a new stage adaptation of the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock Cold War thriller North by Northwest , adapted and directed by Emma Rice. The roles of Roger Thornhill and Eve Kendall, play…
- Manchester International Festival programme launch 2025
The programme for the tenth biennial Manchester International Festival for 2025 was announced on 11 March at Aviva Studios. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to John McGrath, Factory International's Chief Executive and Artistic Director, a…
- New Perspectives on Jane Upton's (the) Woman
Playwright Jane Upton has taken her experiences of motherhood and included them in a new play, (the) Woman . Nottinghamshire company New Perspectives is touring the play which will also have a five-week run in London. Midlands editor Steve…
- Pilot brings Mary Wollstonecraft back to East Yorkshire
Mary Wollstonecraft, famous for her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , was born in London in 1759 but spent some of her early life in Beverley near Hull in Yorkshire. Playwright Maureen Lennon and actor Laura Elsworthy will togeth…
- Mama G takes the panto dame from stage to picture book
Mama G is an award-winning year-round storyteller whose work is driven by the magic of pantomime. She has appeared in professional pantomimes across the UK for almost twenty years and this year stars in Aladdin at the Beck Theatre, Hayes.…
- 20 years of Evolution pantos
Leading pantomime company Evolution Productions will this year celebrate its 20th anniversary with ten productions at theatres right across England. BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to the conpany's founders, Paul Hendy and Emily Wood, ab…
- Fierce Festival Birmingham 2024
Fierce Festival is a "youthful and joy-filled festival of international theatre, performance and experiences" which takes place in and around Birmingham every two years. Midlands editor Steve Orme spoke to Fierce's artistic director Clayto…
- JB Shorts celebrates 15 years and 25 selections of new plays in Manchester
In 2009, TV writers Trevor Suthers and John Chambers put together a night of short, brand new plays written by established TV writers which took its name from its original venue, the Joshua Brooks pub on Princess Street in Manchester. Fift…
- Derby Theatre takes a miners' trip to Skegness
Derby Theatre is to present a new play, Welfare , by local playwright Abi Zakarian, that will take audiences to The Derbyshire Miners' Holiday Camp in Skegness, where miners went initially to convalesce and later to holiday, as it was turn…
- Ishiguro comes to the stage at Rose Theatre, Kingston
The next production to open at the Rose Theatre in Kingston, London is a new adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go , adapted for the stage by Suzanne Heathcote and directed by Christopher Haydon, Rose Theatre's Artistic Director.…
- Guy Masterson's 30th and final Edinburgh Fringe as producer
Guy Masterson, one of the most well-known and well-respected theatre producers on the Edinburgh Fringe , this year celebrates his thirtieth consecutive festival season. However, he has announced that this is also to be his last festival vi…
- Just the Tonic celebrates 20 years on the Edinburgh Fringe
2024 marks twenty years since Just the Tonic venues first appeared at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, although founder Darrell Martin had been putting on shows at the festival since 2002 and started the company by running Sunday night comed…
- Morecambe, Cooper and Monkhouse have The Last Laugh in Edinburgh
Writer-director Paul Hendy brings back three comedians through performers Bob Golding, Damian Williams and Simon Cartwright. Every year, the Edinburgh Fringe programme features solo performances about real people, which in the past have in…
- New Wolsey travels 500 miles to Pitlochry with Footloose
Pitlochry Festival Theatre in Scotland and The New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich are co-producing a new production of the stage musical Footloose , based on the '80s film of the same name that starred Kevin Bacon. BTG Editor David Chadderton s…
- GSC celebrates 18th by closing off Guildford High Street
Guildford Shakespeare Company began with an outdoor production of Much Ado About Nothing in Guildford Castle Grounds in 2006. Eighteen years on, the company is celebrating its coming of age with a production of Romeo and Juliet which mostl…
- Twelfth Night in Regent's Park, London
The 2024 summer season at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre in London will open with a new production of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Or What You Will directed by Owen Horsley, an Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company and a…
- Now, I See continues Malaolu's family trilogy at Stratford East
Actor, writer, choreographer and film-maker Lanre Malaolu 's play Samskara had a sell-out run at London's Yard Theatre in 2022 and was subsequently published by Nick Hern Books. Now, I See is the second play of what has become a trilogy wh…