From the category archives:

New Writing

216 post(s)

Playwright Chris Hannan: new play and career overview (2/2)

13 August 2011

in New Writing, Playwrights

INTERVIEW: CHRIS HANNAN (2/2) The award-winning Scottish playwright discusses his latest play, The God of Soho (Shakespeare’s Globe), which is an extraordinary satire on celebrity and sex partly set in heaven, with Carole Woddis.

Director Max Stafford-Clark revisits Caryl Churchill’s wonderful Top Girls

11 August 2011

in Feminism, New Writing, Playwrights

FOCUS ON TOP GIRLS Author Kate Mosse introduces a pre-show talk, ‘Directing Top Girls: Then and Now’, which features director Max Stafford-Clark discussing his Chichester Festival Theatre revival of Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls (1982), which has now transferred to the West End. The platform includes his assistant director Tim Hoare and most of the cast: Lucy Briers, Laura Elphinstone, Stella Gonet, Suranne Jones, Lisa Kerr, Catherine McCormack and Olivia Poulet.

Playwright Penelope Skinner on The Village Bike

20 July 2011

in Feminism, New Writing, Playwrights

INTERVIEW: PENELOPE SKINNER The playwright talks to Aleks Sierz about her new Royal Court play, The Village Bike, which explores the sex lives of a couple who have just moved into the countryside, and about Eigengrau, which was at the Bush Theatre in 2010.

Theatre Uncut revives the drama of protest

11 July 2011

in Edinburgh Festival and Fringe, London Fringe, New Writing

INTERVIEW: LIBBY BRODIE and HANNAH PRICE The producer and artistic director of Theatre Uncut, an ambitious nationwide project which staged several short plays as a protest against the Coalition government’s spending cut, with the flagship event being at the Southwark Theatre, London, on 16-19 March, talk to Carole Woddis. Playwrights involved include Dennis Kelly, Lucy Kirkwood, Laura Lomas, David Greig, Anders Lustgarten, Mark Ravenhill, Jack Thorne and Clara Brennan.

Dan Barnard and Rachel Briscoe direct Lydia Adetunji’s Fixer

7 July 2011

in Directors, London Fringe, New Writing

INTERVIEW: DAN BARNARD and RACHEL BRISCOE The co-directors of Lydia Adetunji’s new play, Fixer, which is currently on at the Oval House Theatre in south London, take Aleks Sierz on a journey into its dark tale of oil company PRs, inquisitive journalists and militant rebels, set in northern Nigeria. Briscoe is also, with Rebecca Atkinson-Lord, co-director of the venue, and she outlines its future.

West End Review: June 2011 (2/2)

18 June 2011

in New Writing, Reviews and Roundtables, Verbatim Drama

West End Review (II): London Road, by Alecky Blythe and others (National Theatre), One Man, Two Guvnors by Richard Bean, after Goldoni (National Theatre) & Acid Test by Anya Reiss (Royal Court Theatre) reviewed by David Benedict (Variety), Charles Spencer (Daily Telegraph), Matt Wolf (International Herald Tribune), with Mark Shenton (Sunday Express) hosting.

David Slack of Manchester’s 24:7 Festival

23 May 2011

in Actors and Performers, New Writing, Playwrights, Regional Theatre

INTERVIEW: DAVID SLACK The Executive Producer of the 24:7 Theatre Festival, an event that focuses on new writing in Manchester and is now in its eighth year, chats to David Chadderton about the origins, significance and influence of the festival, which runs annually in late July.

Esther Baker describes the Synergy theatre project

20 May 2011

in Directors, New Writing, Playwrights

INTERVIEW: ESTHER BAKER The artistic director of the Synergy theatre project, which works with prisoners, ex-prisoners and young people at risk, tells Aleks Sierz about her work, with a focus on Convictions, the company’s first festival of new writing, which includes Every Coin by Carlon Campbell Robinson and The Archbishop and the Antichrist by Michael Ashton.

Controversial playwright Richard Bean: full career overview

18 May 2011

in Comedy, New Writing, Playwrights

INTERVIEW: RICHARD BEAN The playwright tells Philip Fisher about his latest, One Man, Two Guvnors (National Theatre), an adaptation of Carlo Goldoni’s The Servant of Two Masters, and then gives an overview of his career, from his Royal Court debut, Toast (1999), to his controversial England People Very Nice (2009), taking in his formative days in the world of stand-up comedy.

Alecky Blythe talks about London Road

14 May 2011

in Musicals, New Writing, Verbatim Drama

INTERVIEW: ALECKY BLYTHE (1/2) The creator (with composer Adam Cork, and director Rufus Norris) of the “documentary musical” London Road, dealing with the lives of those caught up in the notorious Ipswich prostitute murders of 2006, talks to Dominic Cavendish about this hit National Theatre show.

Interview with fast-rising actress Jessica Raine

30 April 2011

in Actors and Performers, New Writing

INTERVIEW: JESSICA RAINE The fast-rising star – who has made waves in David Hare’s Gethsemane, Simon Stephens’ Harper Regan and Punk Rock and is now making a splash as the glamorous, Marilyn Monroe-esque secretary Cleo in the National Theatre’s revival of Clifford Odets’ Rocket to the Moon – talks to Carole Woddis about her dynamic career.

West End Review: April 2011 (1/2)

25 April 2011

in Musicals, New Writing, Reviews and Roundtables

WEST END REVIEW Mark Shenton (Sunday Express) and his guests David Benedict (Variety), Libby Purvis (Times) and Matt Wolf (International Herald Tribune) assess Betty Blue Eyes (Novello Theatre); The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (Gielgud Theatre); Wastwater (Royal Court); In a Forest, Dark and Deep (Vaudeville Theatre).

Precious Little Talent: hit playwright and producer speak

6 April 2011

in Directors, New Writing, Playwrights

INTERVIEW: ELLA HICKSON and JAMES QUAIFE The playwright and the producer of Precious Little Talent, which was a hit in Edinburgh in 2009 and is currently at the Trafalgar Studios, talk to Carole Woddis about the play, which is about Anglo-American attitudes. Recorded at the Trafalgar Studios.

Vivienne Franzmann and Simon Stephens: Mogadishu

21 March 2011

in New Writing, Playwrights, Reviews and Roundtables

FOCUS ON MOGADISHU Post-show discussion between artistic associate Simon Stephens and debut playwright Vivienne Franzmann about her Mogadishu (Lyric Hammersmith), a contemporary play that examines class and race in a school setting. Extract. Recorded at the Lyric Hammersmith. Expletives not deleted.

West End Review: March 2011

2 March 2011

in American Drama, Musicals, New Writing, Reviews and Roundtables

WEST END REVIEW Mark Shenton (Sunday Express) and his guests David Benedict (Variety), Charles Spencer (Daily Telegraph) and Matt Wolf (International Herald Tribune) assess The Wizard of Oz (London Palladium); The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Donmar); Frankenstein (National Theatre); The Children’s Hour (Comedy Theatre); The Heretic (Royal Court).

Irish playwright Deirdre Kinahan on Moment

1 March 2011

in Irish Drama, New Writing, Playwrights

INTERVIEW: DEIRDRE KINAHAN The Irish playwright and artistic director of Tall Tales theatre company talks to Amardeep Sohi about her latest, Moment (Bush Theatre), a dark but thrilling play about a family coming to terms with a horrific murder, and about her work with Tall Tales. Recorded at the Bush.

Actor Andrew Sheridan discusses his award-winning debut play

28 February 2011

in Awards, New Writing, Playwrights

INTERVIEW: ANDREW SHERIDAN The actor and playwright talks to Aleks Sierz about his powerful playwriting debut, Winterlong (Soho Theatre), which was joint winner of the Bruntwood Playwriting Competition in 2008, and premiered at the Royal Exchange in Manchester. Recorded at the Soho Theatre.

Kali Theatre Company celebrates 21 years of new writing

28 February 2011

in Asian Voices, New Writing, Playwrights

Asian Voices: Janet Steel, artistic director of Kali, talks to Suman Bhuchar about the touring company, which specialises in new writing by women from a South Asian background. She outlines Kali’s 21-year history, as well as current projects, such as Sonia Likhari’s Behna and Bettina Gracias’s Gandhi and Coconuts. Recorded at Kali.

Jeremy Herrin talks about directing The Heretic

21 February 2011

in Directors, New Writing, Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama

INTERVIEW: JEREMY HERRIN The deputy artistic director of the Royal Court talks to Carole Woddis about staging Richard Bean’s climate change drama The Heretic, his career to date and his plans for Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe. Recorded at the Royal Court.

West End Review: February 2011

5 February 2011

in New Writing, Reviews and Roundtables, Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama

WEST END REVIEW Mark Shenton (Sunday Express) and his guests David Benedict (Variety), Charles Spencer (Daily Telegraph) and Matt Wolf (International Herald Tribune) discuss Peter Hall’s Twelfth Night (National), Nina Raine’s Tiger Country (Hampstead), Gina Gionfriddo’s Becky Shaw (Almeida), Greenland (National), and Terence Rattigan’s Less Than Kind (Jermyn Street). Recorded at Dewynters, London.

Neil McPherson celebrates the Finborough fringe theatre

11 January 2011

in Directors, London Fringe, New Writing

INTERVIEW: NEIL McPHERSON The artistic director of the award-winning Finborough Theatre, which has just celebrated its 30th anniversary, gives Aleks Sierz a lesson in the history, economics and aesthetics of this London fringe venue. Recorded at the Finborough’s occasionally noisy offices.

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