From the category archives:

Playwrights

355 post(s)

Award-winning actor Richard McCabe talks about his role in The Audience

6 May 2013

in Actors and Performers, Playwrights, Political theatre

INTERVIEW: RICHARD McCABE The Olivier winning actor talks to Heather Neill about playing Harold Wilson in The Audience, Peter Morgan’s superb new play about the Queen’s audiences with her Prime Ministers (Gielgud Theatre), and which stars Helen Mirren as Her Majesty.

Actor Hattie Morahan discusses A Doll’s House for today at the Young Vic

5 May 2013

in 19th-century Drama, Actors and Performers, Playwrights

INTERVIEW: HATTIE MORAHAN The award-winning actress tells Sophie Reynolds about the Young Vic’s recent production of Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, directed by Carrie Cracknell, in which she starred as Nora.

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.

Edward Petherbridge and Paul Hunter examine My Perfect Mind

29 April 2013

in Actors and Performers, Playwrights, Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama

INTERVIEW: EDWARD PETHERBRIDGE and PAUL HUNTER The two performers of My Perfect Mind, a Told by an Idiot show, written by Kathryn Hunter, Paul Hunter and Edward Petherbridge, and currently at the Young Vic, talk to Heather Neill about the story behind the play, Petherbridge’s stroke and how he remembered the entire role of King Lear despite his illness.

Kristine Landon-Smith and Sudha Bhuchar review 23 years of working together at Tamasha

24 April 2013

in Asian Voices, Directors, Playwrights, Producers

ASIAN VOICES: KRISTINE LANDON-SMITH and SUDHA BHUCHAR The joint artistic directors and co-founders of Tamasha theatre company talk to Suman Bhuchar about working together for the past 23 years, as Landon-Smith leaves the company to take a teaching job in Sydney, Australia. She has directed all the company’s shows, and their latest, The Arrival, has just ended its tour in London.

Ian Talbot directs Imogen Stubbs and Amanda Daniels in new two-hander

16 April 2013

in Directors, New Writing, Playwrights

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: IAN TALBOT The director talks to Aleks Sierz about his production of Dermot Canavan’s two-hander Third Finger, Left Hand (Trafalgar Studios), which stars Imogen Stubbs and Amanda Daniels, and is an autobiographical memory play that explores the lives of two sisters growing up in Preston in the 1970s.

West End Review, April 2013 (pt1): The Audience, The Winslow Boy, Peter and Alice and more

15 April 2013

in Playwrights, Reviews and Roundtables

West End Review: Dominic Cavendish and regular theatrevoice guests Kate Bassett (Independent on Sunday), David Benedict (Variety) and Matt Wolf (International Herald Tribune) convene to discuss Dame Helen Mirren in Peter Morgan’s The Audience (Gielgud), Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy (Old Vic), Before the Party (Almeida) & John Logan’s latest play Peter and Alice, starring Dame Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw, directed by Michael Grandage (Noel Coward Theatre). Recorded at NYU, London.

Playwright Amanda Whittington investigates the life of 1950s hostess Ruth Ellis

10 April 2013

in 1950s Drama, Playwrights, Regional Theatre

2 Comments

INTERVIEW: AMANDA WHITTINGTON The playwright tells Aleks Sierz about her fascination with the case of Ruth Ellis, who in 1955 became the last woman to be hanged in Britain after murdering her lover, and about her drama about her, The Thrill of Love (New Vic), now playing at the St James Theatre in London.

Director and playwright Nine Raine talks about directing Longing

6 April 2013

in Design, Directors, New Writing, Playwrights

INTERVIEW: NINA RAINE The director and playwright talks to Judi Herman about her current production of novelist William Boyd’s first play, Longing (Hampstead), and about her work with actor Tamsin Greig and designer Lizzie Clachan on that play and on Jumpy (Royal Court, 2011).

Playwright Simon Stephens on The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

19 March 2013

in Disability Arts, New Writing, Playwrights, Theatre buildings

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: SIMON STEPHENS The award-winning playwright chats to Aleks Sierz about his superb adaptation of Mark Haddon’s novel, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Apollo Theatre), which has just transferred to the West End after opening at the National Theatre to enthusiastic reviews last year.

Soho Theatre: public platform about supporting new writers (1/2)

12 March 2013

in Black Voices, New Writing, Playwrights

SOHO THEATRE PUBLIC PLATFORM: NEW WRITERS (1/2) Soho Theatre artistic director Steve Marmion chairs a panel of writers to discuss developing and supporting new work: Arinze Kene, whose play God’s Property (Talawa) is currently running at this venue, playwright Laura Wade, performance artist Bryony Kimmings and Talawa theatre company director Michael Buffong.

Soho Theatre: public platform about supporting new writers (2/2)

12 March 2013

in Black Voices, New Writing, Playwrights

SOHO THEATRE PUBLIC PLATFORM: NEW WRITERS (2/2) Soho Theatre artistic director Steve Marmion chairs a panel of writers to discuss developing and supporting new work: Arinze Kene, whose play God’s Property (Talawa) is currently running at this venue, playwright Laura Wade, performance artist Bryony Kimmings and Talawa theatre company director Michael Buffong.

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.

Activist playwright Anders Lustgarten challenges the ideology of austerity

2 March 2013

in New Writing, Playwrights, Political theatre

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: ANDERS LUSTGARTEN The playwright and political activist talks to Aleks Sierz about his latest play, If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep (Royal Court), which questions the pervading clichés about austerity and challenges the global financial system. He explores the politics of the drama and previews his plans for the future.

Michael Walling’s Border Crossings investigate sex, money and the internet

25 February 2013

in Directors, International, Playwrights, Political theatre

INTERVIEW: MICHAEL WALLING The artistic director of Border Crossings theatre company talks to Suman Bhuchar about their latest show, Consumed (touring), which features a story about Tong Zheng, who returns to Shanghai with money on his mind after spending 20 years in the USA. But the China he finds is very different from the one he left behind.

Royal Shakespeare Company special: Roxana Silbert on A Life of Galileo

22 February 2013

in Directors, International, Playwrights, Political theatre

DIRECTOR’S TALK: ROXANA SILBERT The director of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s A Life of Galileo in conversation with journalist Paul Allen. They talk about what Galileo means to Roxana, who comes from a family of physicists, about working with Mark Ravenhill, who provided the new translation of Brecht’s play, and about how Brecht’s Galileo relates to the real Galileo. A Life of Galileo is playing as part of The World Elsewhere, a season of three plays exploring what was going on in the rest of the world during Shakespeare’s lifetime.

How to play Money: The Gameshow — and survive the experience

20 February 2013

in Actors and Performers, Directors, Participatory & Interactive, Playwrights, Political theatre

INTERVIEW: CLARE DUFFY, LUCY ELLINSON and BRIAN FERGUSON The writer/director and performers of Money: The Game Show, produced by Unlimited Theatre and currently at the Bush Theatre, speak to Ella Parry-Davies. The show is an interactive piece about the human cost of financial crisis, and features £10 000 in real pound coins on stage, asking the participants to bet and hedge the futures of the characters.

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.

Broadcaster and comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli adapts Moliere’s The Miser

13 February 2013

in Asian Voices, Playwrights, Political theatre

ASIAN VOICES: HARDEEP SINGH KOHLI The co-adapter, with director Jatinder Verma, of Moliere’s The Miser, now renamed as Kanjoos (Tara Arts, currently touring), talks to Suman Bhuchar about this re-imagining of the classic, which is set in the money-mad maelstrom of modern Mumbai.

Focus on China: Fat Bird on experimental performance (1/2)

11 February 2013

in Directors, International, Playwrights, Political theatre

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: YANG QIAN and MARY ANN O’DONNELL (1/2) The two founder members of Fat Bird Theatre Company talk to Mary Mazzilli about what it’s like to make theatre in Shenzhen-Guangdong, the oldest and fastest-growing Special Economic Zone in China. This is the only independent theatre company that promotes experimentation and internationalism; they focus on social changes and are dedicated to transforming Chinese theatre through experimental workshops, guerrilla performances and stage drama.

Focus on China: Fat Bird on experimental performance (2/2)

11 February 2013

in Directors, International, Playwrights, Political theatre

INTERVIEW: YANG QIAN and MARY ANN O’DONNELL (2/2) The two founder members of Fat Bird Theatre Company talk to Mary Mazzilli about what it’s like to make theatre in Shenzhen-Guangdong, the oldest and fastest-growing Special Economic Zone in China. This is the only independent theatre company that promotes experimentation and internationalism; they focus on social changes and are dedicated to transforming Chinese theatre through experimental workshops, guerrilla performances and stage drama.

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