From the category archives:

Political theatre

7 post(s)

The Young Vic’s David Lan on staging Wild Swans

20 April 2012

in Directors, International, Playwrights, Political theatre

INTERVIEW: DAVID LAN The artistic director of the Young Vic talks to Mary Mazzilli about the making of Wild Swans, the first stage adaptation of the 1991 best-selling autobiography by Chinese-born writer Jung Chang. The stage version — part of World Stage season — is written by Alexandra Wood and directed by Sacha Wares.

David Edgar’s masterpiece, Pentecost, revived

28 March 2012

in New Writing, Playwrights, Political theatre

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: DAVID EDGAR The playwright talks to Aleks Sierz about his 1994 RSC play, Pentecost, a panoramic sweep through European history, culture and art that covers the new world order after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, and which is currently being revived in a production at St Leonard’s church, in Shoreditch, East London, directed by Gavin McAlinden.

Elgiva Field explores the dark world of Sofi Oksanen’s Purge

12 March 2012

in Directors, Feminism, International, Political theatre

INTERVIEW: ELGIVA FIELD The Artistic Director of Oblique House theatre company leads Aleks Sierz through the dark deeds and political complexities of Sofi Oksanen’s Purge, the play version of her bestselling novel, and a powerful production which is currently enjoying a successful run at the Arcola Theatre.

Playwright David Eldridge revisits his Essex roots

1 March 2012

in New Writing, Playwrights, Political theatre

INTERVIEW: DAVID ELDRIDGE The playwright talks to Aleks Sierz about his latest hit, In Basildon (Royal Court), a family play which includes a battle over an inheritance, class antagonism and an epic account of working-class migration from the East End of London to south Essex. He also reveals the origins of his 2005 play, Incomplete and Random Acts of Kindness, and encourages playwrights to stand up for themselves.

Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens rewrites Jarry’s King Ubu

7 February 2012

in 19th-century Drama, New Writing, Playwrights, Political theatre

4 Comments

INTERVIEW: SIMON STEPHENS The award-winning playwright talks to Aleks Sierz about his new play, The Trial of Ubu, which is currently at the Hampstead Theatre in a production directed by Katie Mitchell and which features a puppet version of Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi (1896).

Playwright Howard Brenton on a revival of his Bloody Poetry

31 January 2012

in Playwrights, Political theatre, Theatre People

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: HOWARD BRENTON The playwright and screen writer talks to Aleks Sierz about Bloody Poetry, his 1984 play about Shelley, Byron and the loves of these Romantic poets, which is currently being revived by Tom Littler at the Jermyn Street Theatre in the West End.

The Riots – discussed by Nicolas Kent and Gillian Slovo

9 November 2011

in Directors, Political theatre, Verbatim Drama

1 Comment

INTERVIEW: NICOLAS KENT and GILLIAN SLOVO The artistic director of the Tricycle Theatre and writer talk to Dominic Cavendish about The Riots, an attempt to create a rapid-reaction verbatim drama in response to the riots that swept across England in August 2011.