Shows That Shaped Me

Jemima's career started at a young age, appearing in several films in the early '90s, as well as playing George in a TV adaptation of Enid Blyton's Famous Five. More recent screen credits include As If, Hex and Lost in Austen, and she made her Hollywood debut in The Black Dahlia, alongside Scarlett Johansson. On stage, her credits range from Her Naked Skin and One Man, Two Guvnors at the National Theatre, to the West End productions of All My Sons with David Suchet and Zoë Wanamaker, and Blithe Spirit with Angela Lansbury. Next up, she plays Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, which runs at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre until 15 September.

This week's guest is Tony-nominee and Olivier Award-winner Jenna Russell. Russell's professional stage debut came in 1987 as an understudy for Eponine and Fantine in Les Miserables, a show she returned to as Fantine in 1991 and 2000. Her subsequent 30-year theatre career includes West End productions of Follies in 1987, Martin Guerre in 1998, Guys and Dolls opposite Ewan McGregor in 2005 and Sunday in the Park with George in 2006, for which she won the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical and was nominated for a Tony Award for the show's Broadway transfer. Further notable credits include Into the Woods at the Donmar Warehouse and Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, Merrily We Roll Along at the Menier and Harold Pinter Theatre, Urinetown at the St. James and Apollo Theatre and Grey Gardens at Southwark Playhouse. In 2016 she joined the cast of EastEnders, playing Michelle Fowler for two years. She is now starring in Fun Home, which runs at the Young Vic until 1 September.

This week's guest is Steffan Rhodri. Steffan's acting career spans twenty years on stage and screen. His West End theatre credits include Absent Friends, Posh, The Mentalists and This House. On TV he's known for roles in Gavin and Stacey, Apple Tree Yard and Under Milk Wood. He is currently starring in Tracy Letts' Killer Joe, running at Trafalgar Studios until 18 August.

This week’s guest is Olivier Award nominee Clare Foster. Clare’s notable stage credits include the original West End cast of Avenue Q, Maria Friedman’s smash-hit production of Merrily We Roll Along at the Menier and in the West End, Guys and Dolls at Chichester Festival Theatre and Travesties at the Menier and West End, for which she was nominated for an Olivier Award. On screen she has starred in The Crown, Sherlock and Alan Menken’s musical comedy series, Galavant. She is currently starring in the West End transfer of Nina Raine’s Consent at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 11 August.

This week’s guest is artistic director of Curve Leicester, Nikolai Foster. Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, Nikolai grew up in North Yorkshire and trained at Drama Centre London. As a director his credits include Calamity Jane at the Watermill, Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing at the Arts Theatre, Merrily We Roll Along at Theatr Clwyd, Flashdance and Annie in the West End and Hay Fever at Chichester Festival Theatre. In 2015 he took over from Paul Kerryson as artistic director of Curve Leicester where he has helmed hit productions including Grease, The Importance of Being Earnest, Legally Blonde, Sunset Boulevard and Breakfast at Tiffany’s – which transferred into the West End starring Pixie Lott. Most recently he directed the world premiere stage adaptation of the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman.

This week's guest is Olivier Award-nominated actress Laura Pitt-Pulford. A graduate of Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Laura's notable stage roles include Maria in The Sound of Music and Nancy in Oliver!, both at Curve, Leicester. The Light Princess at the National Theatre, Side Show at Southwark Playhouse, Flowers for Mrs Harris at Sheffield Crucible and the UK tour of Nell Gwynne. In 2016 she was nominated for an Olivier Award for her performance in the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. She is currently starring in The Gronholm Method, which runs at the Menier Chocolate Factory until 7 July.

This week's guest is stage and screen actor Alfred Molina. On screen, his credits include Raiders of the Lost Ark, Boogie Nights, Frida and Spider-Man 2. In 1980, he earned an Olivier Award nomination for Best Newcomer in Oklahoma! at the Palace Theatre, and his stage roles since then include Speed the Plow at the National in 1989, Yasmina Reza's Art on Broadway in 1998 and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof in 2004 for which he received a Tony Award nomination. In 2009 he played Mark Rothko in John Logan's Red at the Donmar Warehouse and won a Drama League Award for the production's Broadway transfer. He now returns to the role in the show's West End premiere, which runs at Wyndham's Theatre until 28 July.

This week's guest is the Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens. A mainstay of London's new writing theatre, the Royal Court where he is now associate playwright, Stephens' work with the Sloane Square venue includes Bluebird, Herons, Nuclear War and Birdland. Elsewhere his critically acclaimed plays include Sea Wall, which premiered at the Bush in 2008, Heisenberg, which was seen in the West End last year, and a new adaptation of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera which premiered at the National Theatre in 2016 starring Rory Kinnear and Rosalie Craig. He's perhaps most well-known for penning the stage adaptation of Mark Haddon's bestselling novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time which ran in the West End for over 1,600 performances and on Broadway for almost two years – earning Stephens major accolades on both sides of the Atlantic. Last year his new piece with Frantic Assembly's Scott Graham and Underworld's Karl Hyde, Fatherland, premiered at the Manchester International Festival and it now transfers to the Lyric Hammersmith, running from 25 May to 23 June.

This week’s guest is cabaret star, drag artist and actor Le Gateau Chocolat. With a wealth of experience across contemporary opera, cabaret and theatre, his solo shows have seen him perform in venues from London’s Menier Chocolate Factory to the Adelaide Fringe. He has worked with the Olivier Award–winning circus acts La Clique and La Soiree and alongside acts including Basement Jaxx at the Barbican. On stage, he has recently been seen in Porgy and Bess at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, The Threepenny Opera at the National and Twelfth Night at Shakespeare’s Globe. He is currently starring in Effigies of Wickedness, which runs at the Gate Theatre until 9 June.

This week's guest is Olivier Award-winner Nancy Carroll. After graduating from LAMDA in 1998, her first job saw her star alongside Cate Blanchett and Rupert Everett in the big screen adaptation of Wilde's An Ideal Husband. In 2010 she won an Olivier Award for her performance in After the Dance at the National Theatre, and more recent stage credits include Young Marx at the Bridge Theatre, Woyzeck at the Old Vic and The Duck House at the Vaudeville Theatre. In 2015 she starred as Audrey Mildmay in David Hare's The Moderate Soprano at the Hampstead Theatre, a role she has returned to for the West End transfer, currently running at the Duke of York's Theatre until 30 June.

This week's guest is Tony and Olivier Award nominee Kate Fleetwood. Growing up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Kate began her career as a child actor with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 2010 she played Lady Macbeth in Chichester Festival Theatre's production of the Scottish play, gaining a Tony Award nomination for the show's Broadway transfer. 2015 saw her play Tracy Lord in High Society at the Old Vic and the title role in Medea at the Almeida. At the National Theatre she has played Goneril in King Lear in 2014, was nominated for an Olivier Award for London Road in 2015, and now returns to star in Joe Hill-Gibbins' production of Rodney Ackland's Absolute Hell until 16 June.

This week’s guest is the WhatsOnStage Award-winning Actor Trevor Dion Nicholas. Born and raised in West Virginia, USA, he made his professional stage debut in a touring production of Big River. His subsequent stage credits include Super Fly: The Musical, Ragtime, Into The Woods and The Wiz. In 2016 he crossed the pond to make his West End debut as the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin - for which he won the WhatsOnStage Award for Best Supporting Actor. He is also the voice of the Announcer in the West End production of Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre. Away from theatre Trevor is the songwriter and lead vocalist of the alternative Indie Soul band Neighborhood Goliath.

This week’s guest is actress Gina Beck. Gina’s big break came in 2008 when she joined the cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera as Christine Daee. Her subsequent theatre credits include the West End productions of Wicked, Les Miserables and Show Boat. Gina’s current role finds her back in the West End as Miss Honey in Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin’s critically acclaimed musical adaptation of Matilda.

This week's guest is the artistic director of the Bush Theatre, Madani Younis. A year after joining the Bush Theatre in 2012 he programmed the theatre's most successful season to date, which saw the theatre play to 99% capacity.  In 2016 he led a major redevelopment of the theatre which was completed last year and includes a second studio space for the venue. As a director at the Bush his productions have included The Royale, Perseverance Drive and Chalet Lines.

In this week's episode we speak with Drew McOnie, one of the most in-demand director-choreographers in British theatre. McOnie’s choreography credits include Bugsy Malone, Hairspray, Jesus Christ Superstar and In the Heights – for which he won the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Choreography. As both director and choreographer, his credits include The Wild Party at The Other Palace, On the Town at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and Strictly Ballroom, which opened at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in 2016 and transfers to the West End this month. In October he makes his Broadway debut at the helm of Jack Thorne’s new musical take on King Kong.

In 2010 Dawn Walton founded Eclipse Theatre Company, the UK’s foremost black-led national production company. Recent touring productions include One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show, Sizwe Banzi is Dead and A Raisin in the Sun. Last year, Eclipse announced the first UK tour to come out of Revolution Mix, its ground-breaking movement placing the black narrative at the heart of British Theatre. Testament’s Black Men Walking has received critical acclaim around the country and now runs at the Royal Court in London until 7 April.

After graduating from Rose Bruford in 2001 Rosalie Craig joined the RSC and made her professional debut in Adrian Mitchell’s adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. Her stage career since then has featured leading roles in both plays and musicals including the National Theatre productions of London Road, As You Like It, and Tori Amos’s The Light Princess at the National Theatre, for which she won the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Musical Performance in 2013. She is currently starring in Jez Butterworth’s critically acclaimed smash hit The Ferryman at the Gielgud until 19 May, and will return to the same theatre in September to star in Marianne Elliot’s highly anticipated production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company, alongside Broadway legend Patti LuPone. The new version of the show will see Craig’s character Bobbi played as a woman for the first time.

Three-time SAG Award winner Lesley Nicol has no shortage of incredible parts to her name, including the starring role of Beryl Patmore in Downton Abbey. She also appeared in the West End production of Mamma Mia! from 2000 to 2002, and the original stage production of East is East in 1996. She now comes to the Donmar Warehouse, where she appears in the new revival of Peter Gill's The York Realist. The show, set in 1960s Yorkshire, will transfer to Sheffield Crucible from 27 March.

In 2005 this week's guest opened a theatre on the site of an abandoned warehouse. 13 years later, the Menier Chocolate Factory is one of the most revered producing theatres in the world. With critically acclaimed plays including Caryl Churchill's A Number and Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party, sitting snuggly alongside smash hit musicals like Sunday in the Park with George, Little Shop of Horrors, Assasins and The Colour Purple, David Babani's knack for programming the best in UK theatre seems to know no ends. This month alone he opens a new production of Kiss Of The Spider Woman at the Menier, oversees the Broadway transfer of Tom Stoppard's Travesties and is executive producer on the West End premiere of Ruthless the Musical.

This week's guest is one of the most prolific British playwrights of the last ten years. Since the premiere of his critically acclaimed This House at the National Theatre in 2012, James Graham's further successes include Privacy and The Vote at the Donmar Warehouse and Finding Neverland, a collaboration with Gary Barlow on Broadway. In 2017, three of his plays were performed in the West End, with the revival of This House joined by Ink and Labour of Love. Next up is yet another West End transfer, with his new play Quiz – about the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire coughing scandal – transferring from Chichester Festival Theatre to the Noel Coward in March.