From the category archives:

London Fringe

61 post(s)

Julia Pascal and Ailin Conant: war crimes, guilt and trauma in Nineveh

30 April 2013

in Directors, London Fringe, New Writing, Playwrights

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: JULIA PASCAL and AILIN CONANT The writer and director of Nineveh (Riverside Studios) talk to Judi Herman about Theatre Témoin’s powerful play, born of Conant’s year speaking to ex soldiers about the trauma of guilt, explored by Pascal through the Biblical story of Jonah, the prophet swallowed by a whale in punishment for not taking God’s word to Nineveh.

Fourth Monkey’s Steve Green discusses Project Colony

18 April 2013

in Actors and Performers, Directors, London Fringe, Site Specific

INTERVIEW: STEVE GREEN Ella Parry-Davies meets the artistic director of theatre company and training institution Fourth Monkey, along with performers Lauren Young, Abbey Gorton and Euan Forsyth. The company’s latest production, Project Colony, is an immersive, site-sensitive response to Franz Kafka’s In the Penal Colony in London’s Docklands, devised by a 45-strong cast. The group discuss their devising process and the rewards of working in a site that can become a character in its own right.

Chris Haydon of London’s Gate Theatre tackles Bruce Norris’s Purple Heart

3 April 2013

in American Drama, Directors, London Fringe

INTERVIEW: CHRIS HAYDON The artistic director of the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill chats to Ella Parry-Davies about directing the first revival of Bruce Norris’ 2002 play Purple Heart, which is currently at this venue. Part of the Aftermath season, the play focuses on the impact of the Vietnam War on a suburban family in America’s Mid West, and the invasion of horror into the domestic in the first of the USA’s “TV wars”.

Canadian playwright Arthur Milner discusses his controversial Facts

6 March 2013

in International, London Fringe, Playwrights, Political theatre

INTERVIEW: ARTHUR MILNER The Canadian Jewish playwright and theatre practitioner talks to Judi Herman about his play Facts (Finborough Theatre). Set in the West Bank in Palestine and inspired by a true story, two detectives — one Israeli, one Palestinian — put aside their differences to find the killer of an American archaeologist and discover what he was excavating that cost him his life. Milner also reads from the play and speaks about its tour to the West Bank and Israel in an Arabic translation and about his career.

The Orange Tree’s Sam Walters discovers a forgotten 1920s feminist play

17 February 2013

in Directors, Feminism, London Fringe, Playwrights

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: SAM WALTERS The artistic director of the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond takes Aleks Sierz on a journey of discovery to explore the world of Githa Sowerby’s 1924 play, The Stepmother (currently playing at this venue), and its themes of male domination, female independence and bankruptcy. Best known for Rutherford and Son (1912), Sowerby failed to get a full production of the later play in her lifetime.

Justin Audibert surveys his Gruesome Playground Injuries

2 February 2013

in American Drama, Awards, Directors, London Fringe, New Writing

INTERVIEW: JUSTIN AUDIBERT The Leverhulme Bursary-winning director tells Matt Trueman about the intricate relationship at the heart of Rajiv Joseph’s Gruesome Playground Injuries (2009), which he directs for the Gate Theatre in Notting Hill, and why the play’s greatest asset is its theatricality.

Philip Ridley’s new one is an epic fairy tale that spans 500 years

19 December 2012

in London Fringe, New Writing, Playwrights, Youth Theatre

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: PHILIP RIDLEY The polymath playwright bewitches Aleks Sierz with his description of his amazing new play, Feathers in the Snow (the last show to be staged at the Southwark Playhouse’s current location), and explains the story behind the piece’s creation.

Shunt Associate Tom Lyall discusses his solo show DEFRAG_

5 December 2012

in Actors and Performers, Comedy, Digital theatre, London Fringe

INTERVIEW: TOM LYALL The Shunt Associate Artist tells Matt Trueman about his debut solo show DEFRAG_, part of Camden People’s Theatre’s Futureshock Festival, and the possibility that supercomputers could one day rule over and even replace us.

The importance of play: HalfCut discuss Shelf-Life

7 November 2012

in Actors and Performers, London Fringe, Participatory & Interactive, Site Specific

INTERVIEW: HALFCUT Dan Ball and Joe Iredale, two-thirds (with Astor Agustsson) of experimental theatre company HalfCut, tell Sophie Reynolds about Shelf-Life, their immersive, interactive, promenade piece which takes over all five storeys of Theatre Delicatessen, Marylebone Gardens, and fills the building with sand, balloons, pop-up show homes and unexpected deaths.

Jermyn Street Theatre’s Gene David Kirk and Anthony Biggs on fringe success

21 October 2012

in 20th-century Drama, Directors, London Fringe

INTERVIEW: GENE DAVID KIRK and ANTHONY BIGGS Jermyn Street Theatre’s out-going artistic director talks about how he turned this tiny central London venue into a theatrical powerhouse, the venue’s latest coup – Trevor Nunn’s production of Beckett’s All That Fall – and the programme for the coming six months while associate director Anthony Biggs, appointed his successor, shares the experience of working alongside Nunn and outlines his vision for the theatre’s future too.

Producers Ben Monks and Will Young unveil their first Tristan Bates season

7 September 2012

in London Fringe, Musicals, New Writing, Producers

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: BEN MONKS and WILL YOUNG The Creative Producers of the Tristan Bates Theatre at the Actors’ Centre in central London introduce Aleks Sierz to their first season, which features the European premiere of an American musical and new plays, and also explain the economics and aspirations of fringe venues in the capital.

Teatro Vivo’s interactive and site-specific Odyssey travels across south London

6 September 2012

in Directors, Greek Drama, London Fringe, Participatory & Interactive, Site Specific

2 Comments

INTERVIEW: SOPHIE AUSTIN The artistic director of Teatro Vivo tells Sophie Reynolds about the company’s latest production – an interactive, promenade performance of The Odyssey, which asks its audience to join the characters on a quest to find the long-lost Odysseus, starting at the Albany Theatre in Lewisham.

New writing special: Steven Atkinson and the HighTide Festival

29 August 2012

in Directors, London Fringe, New Writing, Playwrights

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: STEVEN ATKINSON The artistic director of the HighTide Festival in Halesworth, Suffolk, talks to Aleks Sierz about this annual new writing event, his mission of finding and developing new talent, and about two plays in particular: Ella Hickson’s Boys (which was also seen at the Soho) and Vickie Donoghue’s Mudlarks (which is coming to the Bush).

Director Lucy Bailey on her rejuvenated Uncle Vanya

30 April 2012

in Directors, London Fringe, Russian Drama

INTERVIEW: LUCY BAILEY The director talks to Heather Neill about her revival of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya, in a new version by Mike Poulton, which has enjoyed such a successful, sell-out season at The Print Room, the Bayswater studio theatre which she co-runs with Anda Winters, that it gets an extended further three-week run in June and July.

Director Ned Bennett revives Philip Ridley’s masterpiece

11 April 2012

in Directors, London Fringe, New Writing

INTERVIEW: NED BENNETT The director talks to Aleks Sierz about his current revival of Philip Ridley’s visionary 2005 play, Mercury Fur, in a powerful production for the new Greenhouse Theatre Company at the Old Red Lion fringe venue in London.

Cartoon de Salvo celebrates 15 years of experiment

10 April 2012

in Actors and Performers, Directors, London Fringe, Physical and Visual theatre

INTERVIEW: BRIAN LOGAN, ALEX MURDOCH and NEIL HAIGH Three members of Cartoon de Salvo speak to Diana Damian about the two shows marking their 15th birthday, Made Up at Soho Theatre, a show improvised from scratch, and The Irish Giant at Southwark Playhouse, based on the true story of Charles Byrne, as well as recollecting the company’s cultural history and commitment to rural touring.

A new season of adventurous events at the Camden People’s Theatre

22 February 2012

in Directors, Live Art, London Fringe, Participatory & Interactive, Physical and Visual theatre

INTERVIEW: BRIAN LOGAN and JENNY PATON The new co-directors of the Camden People’s Theatre introduce Aleks Sierz to the wonderful world of experimental theatre which goes beyond boundaries with news of the venue’s annual Sprint Festival, and details of some other upcoming productions.

Co-authors of the powerful new play Fog speak out

11 January 2012

in London Fringe, New Writing, Playwrights

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: TASH FAIRBANKS and TOBY WHARTON The co-authors of Fog, which is currently playing at the Finborough Theatre, tell Aleks Sierz about their unique cross-generational collaboration, which produced a powerful and disturbing drama, in which Wharton also plays the lead.

David Micklem on the BAC’s Christmas Cook-Up season

7 December 2011

in Directors, London Fringe, Physical and Visual theatre

INTERVIEW: DAVID MICKLEM The Co-Artistic Director of BAC (Battersea Arts Centre), speaks to Diana Damian about this year’s Christmas Cook-Up, the venue’s plans for 2012 and some of the arts centre’s new digital projects.

Chills and thrills at the London Horror Festival

8 November 2011

in Directors, London Fringe, Physical and Visual theatre

INTERVIEW: STEWART PRINGLE The co-director of the London Horror Festival (which runs at the Courtyard Theatre until 27 November) tells Diana Damian about the seasonal theme of ghosts stories, the relationship between horror and theatre, and the scope of this year’s festival as well as his future ambitions.

Lois Keidan and Gavin Butt explore Performance Matters

28 October 2011

in Directors, Live Art, London Fringe, Participatory & Interactive, Physical and Visual theatre

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: LOIS KEIDAN and GAVIN BUTT The Director of the Live Art Development Agency and the Reader in Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths, University of London, talk to Diana Damian about Trashing Performance (25-30 October), an international programme of live art events and discussions, co-directed by Butt.

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