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The Archive

Recordings under the letter D

Total Number of Recordings under this letter: 31

DAVID GREIG DOUBLE: Cosmonaut's Last Message... (Donmar) and Pyrenees (Menier) are assessed by Heather Neill, Mark Shenton and Charles Spencer. David Benedict hosts.
“What makes Greig interesting is that he's got an attractive sensibility - very human and very quirky.”
Play: Pyrenees
Theatre: Menier Chocolate Factory
Recording Date: 15-Apr-2005
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DEATH OF A SALESMAN Robert Falls' Tony-winning revival, starring Brian Dennehy, finally makes it to London. David Benedict, Jane Edwardes and Charles Spencer dissent on its virtues. Heather Neill hosts.
“I'd always thought of Willy Loman as a little man - but Dennehy is gigantic in personality, and corporeally.”
Play: Death of a Salesman
Theatre: Lyric Shaftesbury
Recording Date: 20-May-2005
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DEBATE: A CRISIS IN NEW WRITING? Round-table featuring Paines Plough director Roxana Silbert, young writers James Graham and Duncan Macmillan, Guardian critic Lyn Gardner, Theatrevoice co-editor Aleks Sierz, and Royal Court young writers programme administrator Claire Birch. Culture Wars critic Andrew Haydon hosts.
“You don't get a Sarah Kane, Mark Ravenhill or Joe Penhall from nowhere: they come out of a bubbling group.”
Recording Date: 24-Nov-2006
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DEBATE: CHILDREN’S THEATRE (1/3) A discussion with John Retallack, David Wood and Annie Wood. Heather Neill hosts. Recorded live.
“I think we have to find a way to bring families, parents and teachers on a journey with us.”
Recording Date: 11-Feb-2005
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DEBATE: CHILDREN’S THEATRE (2/3) John Retallack, David Wood and Annie Wood continue the discussion. Heather Neill hosts. Recorded live.
“We're all doing this because we want to do it, not because we're failures from adult theatre.”
Recording Date: 11-Feb-2005
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DEBATE: CHILDREN’S THEATRE (3/3) Q&A: John Retallack, David Wood and Annie Wood conclude their discussion. Heather Neill hosts. Recorded live.
“There's not a sufficiently engaged philosophy from the National Theatre about young people's work.”
Recording Date: 11-Feb-2005
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DEBATE: DOES THE FRINGE MATTER? (1/2) Mehmet Ergen (Arcola), Lyn Gardner (Guardian), Lisa Goldman (Red Room) and Paul Higgins (Latchmere) discuss. Dominic Cavendish hosts.
“There is a new generation of people out there who are absolutely choosing to work on the fringe.”
Recording Date: 25-Jun-2004
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DEBATE: DOES THE FRINGE MATTER? (2/2) Q&A: Plus contributions from Southwark Playhouse, King's Head and Pentameters theatres. Dominic Cavendish hosts.
“I think the Arts Council - about 20 years ago - decided they weren't going to fund small venues.”
Recording Date: 25-Jun-2004
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DEBATE: IS THE WEST END IN A STATE OF CRISIS? Charles Spencer joins Mark Shenton and David Benedict to assess theatreland's current health. Dominic Cavendish hosts.
“The thing about these cheapo shows is that I think they tend to corrupt taste.”
Recording Date: 11-Oct-2003
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DEBATE: NEW WRITING (1/2) Playwrights Richard Bean, Mark Ravenhill and Simon Stephens take the measure of the new writing scene. Aleks Sierz hosts. Recorded live.
“It might be a good time to ask the taboo question: are British playwrights actually any good?”
Recording Date: 28-May-2004
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DEBATE: NEW WRITING (2/3) Richard Bean, Mark Ravenhill and Simon Stephens consider the impact, or otherwise, of Blair and 9/11. Aleks Sierz hosts. Recorded live.
“There's a permeating sense of cynicism... you can overthrow a government and it only gets worse.”
Recording Date: 28-May-2004
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DEBATE: NEW WRITING (3/3) Q&A: Richard Bean, Simon Stephens and Mark Ravenhill answer questions, including: whatever happened to in-yer-face theatre...? Aleks Sierz hosts. Recorded live.
“There is room for improvement. I think we could be allowing voices to be more diverse than they are...”
Recording Date: 28-May-2004
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DEBATE: POLITICAL THEATRE Lisa Goldman, artistic director of the Red Room, joins Aleks Sierz and Carole Woddis to talk politics. Dominic Cavendish hosts.
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“There is a democratic deficit in society at the moment. I think that we can all agree about that.”
Play: Animal
Theatre: Soho Theatre
Recording Date: 26-Sep-2003
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DEBATE: THE FUTURE OF THE MUSICAL (1/3) A star line-up of industry insiders, Jason Robert Brown, Julius Green, Philip Hedley, Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas, join Mark Shenton. Recorded live.
“When I receive proposals for musicals they seem to be more of a business plan than a creative idea.”
Recording Date: 24-Sep-2004
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DEBATE: THE FUTURE OF THE MUSICAL (2/3) Jason Robert Brown, Julius Green, Philip Hedley, Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas continue their musings. Mark Shenton hosts. Recorded live.
“If people have spent a lot of money what they probably want is something they already know...”
Recording Date: 24-Sep-2004
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DEBATE: THE FUTURE OF THE MUSICAL (3/3) Q&A: Jason Robert Brown, Julius Green, Philip Hedley, Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas join Mark Shenton. Recorded live. Sound quality: variable.
“What the musical theatre needs most specifically is individual voices that have something to say.”
Recording Date: 24-Sep-2004
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DEBATE: THE STATE OF BLACK THEATRE (1/2) Is there a renaissance? Andrea Enisuoh consults Kwame Kwei-Armah, Steven Luckie and Paulette Randall. Recorded live.
“I'm fed up with hearing the words 'culturally diverse'. People should embrace any kind of theatre.”
Recording Date: 23-Oct-2004
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DEBATE: THE STATE OF BLACK THEATRE (2/2) Kwame Kwei-Armah, Steven Luckie and Paulette Randall continue to ponder the boom in black work. Andrea Enisuoh hosts. Recorded live.
“It's not until our population as a whole says 'I'm willing to take a risk' that things will actually change.”
Recording Date: 23-Oct-2004
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DEBATE: TICKET PRICES IN THE WEST END (1/2) The problem analysed by industry insiders Diane Borger, Nica Burns and Caro Newling. David Benedict chairs. Recorded live.
“You've got to make commercial theatre work, but it's nothing like as profit-driven as people think it is.”
Recording Date: 23-Apr-2004
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DEBATE: TICKET PRICES IN THE WEST END (2/2) Q&A: Producer Nica Burns defends the West End against Broadway comparisons. David Benedict chairs. Recorded live.
“You're going to be able to get into The Producers for £10; there aren't price breaks like that on Broadway.”
Recording Date: 23-Apr-2004
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DEBATE: UNFINISHED HISTORIES - WOMEN'S THEATRE (1/2) Sheryl Crown, Gillian Hanna, Jenny Harris and Susie Orbach consider the 1970s explosion and its aftermath. Susan Croft hosts.
“The powers that be are more comfortable with ethnic diversity than they might be with gender.”
Recording Date: 06-Apr-2006
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DEBATE: UNFINISHED HISTORIES - WOMEN'S THEATRE (2/2) Sheryl Crown, Gillian Hanna, Jenny Harris and Susie Orbach discuss; plus Q&A. Susan Croft hosts. Excerpt.
“We haven't changed the structures - nothing will really change until you change structures.”
Recording Date: 06-Apr-2006
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DEBATE: WHAT HAPPENED TO ANGER IN BRITISH THEATRE? Mike Bradwell (Bush), Anthony Clark (Hampstead) and Jonathan Lloyd (Soho) are asked: where's all the rage?
“I think writers need to lift their sights more and be more ambitious both emotionally and politically.”
Recording Date: 11-Jan-2006
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DEBATE: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PERFORMANCE ART? (1/2) Anne Bean, Manick Govinda and Laura Godfrey-Isaacs discuss the question. Critic Judith Palmer hosts. Recorded Live.
“The theatre actor's 'technique' seems so false compared to a performance artist.”
Recording Date: 26-Nov-2004
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DEBATE: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO PERFORMANCE ART? (2/2) Anne Bean, Manick Govinda and Laura Godfrey-Isaacs continue to reflect on the state of UK live art. Judith Palmer hosts. Recorded live.
“It was very utopian and idealistic back then, now it's much more hard-nosed.”
Recording Date: 26-Nov-2004
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DEMOCRACY Jane Edwardes and John Nathan applaud Michael Frayn's complex account of high-level politics and espionage in 1960s West Germany. David Benedict hosts.
“This play does for federal German politics what Copenhagen did for nuclear physics - absolutely fascinating.”
Play: Democracy
Theatre: Wyndhams Theatre
Recording Date: 12-Sep-2003
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Diaghilev special: Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance at the V&A, talks to Carole Woddis about Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, the upcoming V&A exhibition which marks the centenary of the Ballets Russes, including items relating to The Firebird (1910) and The Rite of Spring (1913). She also describes the V&A's Theatre and Performance Collection, located at Blythe House. More info: www.vam.ac.uk.
“Dance was moribund when Diaghilev revitalised it, and by doing so he created a template that influenced the whole theatrical profession.”
Recording Date: 04-Aug-2010
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DINNER Moira Buffini's satirical slice of monied life gets well chewed over by John Nathan and Aleks Sierz. Patrick Marmion hosts.
“The idea that it should be a state-of-the-nation play is totally beside the point.”
Play: Dinner
Theatre: Wyndhams Theatre
Recording Date: 12-Dec-2003
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DIRECTING SPECIAL Director John Caird talks to Philip Fisher about his new book, Theatre Craft: A Director's Practical Companion from A to Z (Faber), a huge volume of practical knowledge about the art of theatre directing, as well as about a career that has taken him not only to great heights with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre, but also around the globe.
“I felt that I needed to be talking to somebody throughout the book so I decided to address 'You the director'.”
Recording Date: 22-Mar-2010
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DON CARLOS David Benedict, Alastair Macaulay & Carole Woddis strongly disagree over the merits of Michael Grandage's Schiller revival, transferring from Sheffield. Matt Wolf arbitrates.
“I'm afraid I found superficial theatricality right through the production.”
Play: Don Carlos
Theatre: Gielgud Theatre
Recording Date: 04-Feb-2005
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DUMB SHOW Joe Penhall's merciless hatchet-job on tabloid journalism is reviewed by Jane Edwardes, Charles Spencer and Matt Wolf. David Benedict hosts.
“'I was absolutely gripped throughout - a great newspaper play' versus 'It seemed shallow to me'.”
Play: Dumb Show
Theatre: Royal Court Downstairs
Recording Date: 17-Sep-2004
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