Stage Blether

In this final episode on Beltane Fire Festival I talk to Angus Farquhar and Margaret Bennett, participants in the first revivals in the 1980s. We talk about ritual, space, politics, Scottishness and folkoric traditions. I also chat with Callum Donald, performer and former event co-ordinator with Beltane Fire Society and finish up with a song from Daniel Tysen.

In this third episode on the Beltane Fire Festival I speak to Dr Neil Rhind about poetry, faeries, situationism, severed heads and tiny coffins. I also talk to Will, a performer with the festival, about his experiences as Green Man.

This episode of Stage Blether continues our four part series on the annual Beltane Fire Festival held in Edinburgh at the end of April. We speak to Alex, a performer who describes her experiences both in preparation and on the night itself, and with Kate, Rob and Rob, who talk more broadly about nature and conservation in relation to Beltane. The episode concludes with a reading of three poems by Neil Rhind in celebration of different aspects of the festival.

The first of a four-part series featuring interviews, stories, poems and songs from members of the Beltane Fire Society (BFS). Beltane Fire Festival, held annually at the end of April, celebrates the end of winter and the beginning of summer. Normally this involves a huge event on Edinburgh's Calton Hill with hundreds of performers and thousands of spectators. Such an event is not possible under the current Covid-19 restrictions and so members of BFS are involved in online or socially distanced activities to help celebrate in whatever way possible. Over the next four episodes, Stage Blether is hosting members of BFS as they recount their experiences of the festival. This episode features a poem describing Beltane Fire Festival, a conversation between three of its volunteer organisers and a song written in Gaelic in honour of two of its members.

In a departure from my usual subjects, this episode analyses two video games - "The Last of Us" and "The Last of Us 2", both by Naughty Dog. The analysis discusses post-apocalyptic literature, 'ordinary violence' and revenge tragedy. Contains spoilers of both games.

This episode of Stage Blether offers a brief history of the phenomenon of the 'emergency'. It is recorded at the beginning of UK responses to the global pandemic caused by the Covid 19 virus, and also speaks to the peculiarities of the states of emergency and emergency measures that are being implemented in response to this pandemic.

This episode discusses my forthcoming book "Precarious Spectatorship: Theatre and image in an age of emergencies" (Manchester University Press, 2019). Many of the ideas in this book were first trialled on the Stage Blether podcast, so my heartfelt thanks to anybody and everybody who has listened over the last few years. Topics discussed include Islamic State, States of Emergency, the Refugee Crisis and storytelling.

This episode reviews Robert Icke's Dutch Language production of "Oedipus" at the Kings Theatre in Edinburgh, part of the Edinburgh International Festival. The general conversation is about the ways in which this production relocates Oedipus in a world of post-truth, and the ways in which Sophocles' text still presents challenges to contemporary audiences.

Episode 3: Haunted Houses by Sam Haddow

Episode 6: Carnival! by Sam Haddow

Episode 7: Fighting with Images by Sam Haddow

Episode 8: The Name of Terrorism by Sam Haddow

Episode 10: Wonder by Sam Haddow

Episode 12: Terrorism Part 2: Death and the Machine by Sam Haddow

Episode 9 Impossible Communities by Sam Haddow

This episode reviews the production "Wendy and Peter Pan" at the Lyceum in Edinburgh, talking about theories of childhood, temporalities and grief.

This is a strange episode, documenting my immediate response to Alice Birch's adaptation of Margeurite Duras' play "La Maladie de la Mort", playing as part of the International Festival at the Edinburgh Fringe. This play upset me more than any theatre that I have seen for a long time, and I wanted to document this response without finesse. Don't expect coherence.

This episode offers reviews of Chris Thorpe's "Status", ThisEgg's "dress" and Dante or Die's "User Not Found", all part of the Edinburgh Fringe 2018. There are also discussions of theatrical spectatorship, the MeToo movement and Derrida, amongst other things.

This episode offers reviews of Penelope Skinner's play "Angry Alan", Knaive Theatre's "War With Newts" and Darkfield's "Flight", all showing at the Edinburgh fringe 2018. There is also a discussion of Paul Virilio's theories on speed, and the ways in which the problems of acceleration manifest in the three shows analysed here.

Why is weakness important? This episode reviews two Edinburgh Fringe shows - Beadledom's "Omega" and Chris Thorpe and Rachel Bagshaw's "The Shape of the Pain", under the topic of 'weakness' and 'story'. There are discussions of Simon Critchley, St Paul and Giorgio Agamben thrown in for good measure.

This episode examines Patrick Ness' book "A Monster Calls", and J. A. Bayona's film adaptation, in the context of Jacques Derrida's "Work of Mourning". **Spoiler alert: please do not listen if you are interested in reading the book or watching the film, and have not already done so.**

Series 2 starts with a discussion of the 'amateur' in performance. How do we engage with amateur performances, and performers, in ways that do justice to their work without unfairly critiquing it? This episode includes a discussion of Bernard Stiegler, and a recent commemoration of the 1947 partitioning of India and Pakistan. References to the US elections are kept to a minimum.