Podcasts about Hampstead Theatre

Fresh from wowing Disney audiences as Kleya in Andor, Elizabeth Dulau is playing the iconic poet George Eliot in Alexi Kaye Campbell's brand new play Bird Grove, currently in previews at the Hampstead Theatre. We discuss the surprising facets of Eliot's personality as well as the challenges faced with trying to bring such a revered literary figure to the stage. Beyond that, we also touch on Dulau's experiences in the Star Wars universe – and how she imagines Kleya's storyline continued. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hermione Lee is the renowned biographer of Virginia Woolf, Edith Wharton, Penelope Fitzgerald, and, most recently, Tom Stoppard. Stoppard died at the end of last year, so Hermione and I talked about the influence of Shaw and Eliot and Coward on his work, the recent production of The Invention of Love, the role of ideas in Stoppard's writing, his writing process, rehearsals, revivals, movies. We also talked about John Carey, Brian Moore, Virginia Woolf as a critic. Hermione is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. Her life of Anita Brookner will be released in September.TranscriptHenry Oliver: Today I have the great pleasure of talking to Professor Dame Hermione Lee. Hermione was the first woman to be appointed Goldsmiths' Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford, and she is the most renowned and admired living English biographer. She wrote a seminal life of Virginia Woolf. She's written splendid books about people like Willa Cather, Edith Wharton, and my own favorite, Penelope Fitzgerald. And most recently she has been the biographer of Tom Stoppard, and I believe this year she has a new book coming out about Anita Brookner. Hermione, welcome.Hermione Lee: Thank you very much.Oliver: We're mostly going to talk about Tom Stoppard because he, sadly, just died. But I might have a few questions about your broader career at the end. So tell me first how Shavian is Stoppard's work?Lee: He would reply “very close Shavian,” when asked that question. I think there are similarities. There are obviously similarities in the delighting forceful intellectual play, and you see that very much in Jumpers where after all the central character is a philosopher, a bit of a bonkers philosopher, but still a very rational one.And you see it in someone like Henry, the playwright in The Real Thing, who always has an answer to every argument. He may be quite wrong, but he is full of the sort of zest of argument, the passion for argument. And I think that kind of delight in making things intellectually clear and the pleasure in argument is very Shavian.Where I think they differ and where I think is really more like Chekov, or more like Beckett or more in his early work, the dialogues in T. S. Elliot, and less like Shaw is in a kind of underlying strangeness or melancholy or sense of fate or sense of mortality that rings through almost all the plays, even the very, very funny ones. And I don't think I find that in Shaw. My prime reading time for Shaw was between 15 and 19, when I thought that Shaw was the most brilliant grownup that one could possibly be listening to, and I think now I feel less impressed by him and a bit more impatient with him.And I also think that Shaw is much more in the business of resolving moral dilemmas. So in something like Arms and the Man or Man and Superman, you will get a kind of resolution, you will get a sort of sense of this is what we're meant to be agreeing with.Whereas I think quite often one of the fascinating things about Stoppard is the way that he will give all sides of the question; he will embody all sides of the question. And I think his alter ego there is not Shaw, but the character of Turgenev in The Coast of Utopia, who is constantly being nagged by his radical political friends to make his mind up and to have a point of view and come down on one side or the other. And Turgenev says, I take every point of view.Oliver: I must confess, I find The Coast of Utopia a little dull compared to Stoppard's other work.Lee: It's long. Yes. I don't find it dull. But I think it may be a play to read possibly more than a play to see now. And you're never going to get it put on again anyway because the cast is too big. And who's going to put on a nine-hour free play, 50 people cast about 19th-century Russian revolutionaries? Nobody, I would think.But I find it very absorbing actually. And partly because I'm so interested in Isaiah Berlin, who is a very strong presence in the anti-utopianism of those plays. But that's a matter of opinion.Oliver: No. I like Berlin. One thing about Stoppard that's un-Shavian is that he says his plays begin as a noise or an image or a scene, and then we think of him as this very thinking writer. But is he really more of an intuitive writer?Lee: I think it's a terribly good question. I think it gets right at the heart of the matter, and I think it's both. Sorry, I sound like Turgenev, not making my mind up. But yes, there is an image or there is an idea, or there are often two ideas, as it were, the birth of quantum physics and 18th-century landscape gardening. Who else but Stoppard would put those two things in one play, Arcadia, and have you think about both at once.But the image and the play may well have been a dance between two periods of time together in one room. So I think he never knew what the next play was going to be until it would come at him, as it were. He often resisted the idea that if he chose a topic and then researched it, a play would come out of it. That wasn't what happened. Something would come at him and then he would start doing a great deal of research usually for every play.Oliver: What sort of influence did T. S. Elliot have on him? Did it change the dialogue or, was it something else?Lee: When I was working with him on my biography, he gave me a number of things. I had extraordinary access, and we can perhaps come back to that interesting fact. And most of these things were loans he gave them to me to work on. Then I gave them back to him.But he gave me as a present one thing, which was a black notebook that he had been keeping at the time he was writing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and also his first and only novel Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon, which is little known, which he thought was going to make his career. The book was published in the same week that Rosencrantz came up. He thought the novel was going to make his career and the play was going to sink without trace. Not so. In the notebook there are many quotations from T. S. Elliot, and particularly from Prufrock and the Wasteland, and you can see him working them into the novel and into the play.“I am not Prince Hamlet nor was meant to be.” And that sense of being a disconsolate outsider. Ill at ease with and neurotic about the world that is charging along almost without you, and you are having to hang on to the edge of the world. The person who feels themself to be in internal exile, not at one with the universe. I think that point of view recurs over and over again, right through the work, but also a kind of epigrammatical, slightly mysterious crypticness that Elliot has, certainly in Prufrock and in the Wasteland and in the early poems. He loved that tone.Oliver: Yes. When I read your paper about that I thought about Rosencrantz and Guildenstern quite differently. I've always disliked the idea that it's a sort of Beckett imitation play. It seems very Elliotic having read what you described.Lee: There is Beckett in there. You can't get away from it.Oliver: Surface level.Lee: Beckett's there, but I think the sense of people waiting around—Stoppard's favorite description of Rosencrantz was: “It's two journalists on a story that doesn't add up, which is very clever and funny.”Yes. And that sense of, Vladimir going, “What are we supposed to be doing and how are we going to pass the time?” That's profoundly influential on Stoppard. So I don't think it's just a superficial resemblance myself, but I agree that Elliot just fills the tone of that play and other things too.Oliver: In the article you wrote about Stoppard and Elliot, the title is about biographical questing, and you also described Arcadia as a quest. How important is the idea of the quest to the way you work and also to the way you read Stoppard?Lee: I took as the epigraph for my biography of Stoppard a line from Arcadia: “It's wanting to know that makes us matter, otherwise we're going out the way we came in.” So I think that's right at the heart of Stoppard's work, and it's right at the heart of any biographical work, whether or not it's mine or someone else's. If you can't know, in the sense of knowing the person, knowing what the person is like, and also knowing as much as possible about them from different kinds of sources, then you might as well give up.You can't do it through impressions. You've got to do it through knowledge. Of course, a certain amount of intuition may also come into play, though I'm not the kind of biographer that feels you can make things up. Working on a living person, this is the only time I've done that.It was, of course, a very different thing from working on a safely dead author. And I knew Penelope Fitzgerald a little bit, but I had no idea I was going to write her biography when I had conversations with her and she wouldn't have told me anything anyway. She was so wicked and evasive. But it was a set up thing; he asked me to do it. And we had a proper contract and we worked together over several years, during which time he became a friend, which was a wonderful piece of luck for me.I was doing four things, really. One was reading all the material that he produced, everything, and getting to know it as well as I could. And that's obviously the basic task. One was talking to him and listening to him talk about his life. And he was very generous with those interviews. I'm sure there were things he didn't tell me, but that's fine. One was talking to other people about him, which is a very interesting process. And with someone like him who knew everyone in the literary, theatrical, cultural world, you have to draw a halt at some point. You can't talk to a thousand people, or I'd have still been doing it, so you talk to particularly fellow playwrights, directors, actors who've worked with him often, as well as family and friends. And then you start pitting the versions against each other and seeing what stands up and what keeps being said.Repetition's very important in that process because when several people say the same thing to you, then you know that's right. And that quest also involves some actual footsteps, as Richard Holmes would say. Footsteps. Traveling to places he'd lived in and going to Darjeeling where he had been to school before he came to England, that kind of travel.And then the fourth, and to me, in a way, almost the most exciting, was the opportunity to watch him at work in rehearsal. So with the director's permissions, I was allowed to sit in on two or three processes like that, the 50th anniversary production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern at the Old Vic with David Lavoie. And Patrick Marber's wonderful production of Leopoldstadt and Nick Hytner's production of The Hard Problem at the National. So I was able to witness the very interesting negotiations going on between Tom and the director and the cast.And also the extraordinary fact that even with a play like Rosencrantz, which is on every school syllabus and has been for 50—however many years—he was still changing things in rehearsal. I can't get over that. And in his view, as he often said, theater is an event and not a text, and so one could see that actual process of things changing before one's very eyes, and that for a biographer, it's a pretty amazing privilege.Oliver: How much of the plays were written during rehearsal do you think?Lee: Oh, 99% of the plays were written with much labor, much precision, much correction alone at his desk. The text is there, the text is written, and everything changes when you go into the rehearsal room because you suddenly find that there isn't enough time with that speech for the person to get from the bed to the door. It's physics; you have to put another line in so that someone can make an entrance or an exit, that kind of thing.Or the actors will say quite often, because they were a bit in awe—by the time he became well known—the actors initially would be a bit in awe of the braininess and the brilliance. And quite often the actors will be saying, “I'm sorry, I don't understand. I don't understand this.” You'd often get, “I don't really understand.”And then he would never be dismissive. He would either say, “No, I think you've got to make it work.” I'm putting words into his mouth here. Or he would say, “Okay, let's put another sentence or something like that.”Oliver: Between what he wrote at his desk and the book that's available for purchase now, how much changed? Is it 10%, 50? You know what I mean?Lee: Yes. You should be talking to his editor at Faber, Dinah Wood. So Faber would print a relatively small number for the first edition before the rehearsal process and the final production. And then they would do a second edition, which would have some changes in it. So 2%. Okay. But crucial sometimes.Oliver: No, sure. Very important.Lee: And also some plays like Jumpers went through different additions with different endings, different solutions to plot problems. Travesties, he had a lot of trouble with the Lenins in Travesties because it's the play in which you've got Joyce and you've got Tristan Tzara and you've got the Lenins, and they're all these real people and he makes him talk.But he was a little bit nervous about the Lenin. So what he gave him to say were things that they had really said, that Lenin had really said. As opposed to the Tzara-Joyce stuff, which is all wonderfully made up. The bloody Lenins became a bit of a problem for him. And so that gets changed in later editions you'll find.Oliver: How closely do you think The Real Thing is based on Present Laughter by Noël Coward?Lee: Oh, I think there's a little bit of Coward in there. Yes, sure. I think he liked Coward, he liked Wilde, obviously. He likes brilliant, witty, playful entertainers. He wants to be an entertainer. But I think The Real Thing, he was proud of the fact that The Real Thing was one of the few examples of his plays at that time, which weren't based on something else. They weren't based on Hamlet. They weren't based on The Importance of Being Earnest. It's not based on a real person like Housman. I think The Real Thing came out of himself much more than out of literary models.Oliver: You don't think that Henry is a bit like the actor character in Present Laughter and it's all set in his flat and the couples moving around and the slight element of farce?The cricket bat speech is quite similar to when Gary Essendine—do you remember that very funny young man comes up on the train from Epping or somewhere and lectures him about the social value of art. And Gary Essendine says, “Get a job in a theater rep and write 20 plays. And if you can get one of them put on in a pub, you'll be damn lucky.” It's like a model for him, a loose model.Lee: Yes. Henry, I think you should write an article comparing these two plays.Oliver: Okay. Very good. What does Stoppardian mean?Lee: It means witty. It means brilliant with words. It means fizzing with verbal energy. It means intellectually dazzling. The word dazzling is the one that tends to get used. My own version of Stoppardian is a little bit different from, as it were, those standard received and perfectly acceptable accounts of Stoppardian.My own sense of Stoppardian has more to do with grief and mortality and a sense of not belonging and of puzzlement and bewilderment, within all that I said before, within the dazzling, playful astonishing zest and brio of language and the precision about language.Oliver: Because it's a funny word. It's hard to include Leopoldstadt under the typical use of Stoppardian, because it's an untypical Stoppard.Lee: One of the things about Leopoldstadt that I think is—let's get rid of that trope about Stoppardian—characteristic of him is the remarkable way it deals with time. Here's a play like Arcadia, all set in the same place, all set in the same room, in the same house, and it goes from a big hustling room, late 19th-century family play, just like the beginning of The Coast of Utopia, where you begin with a big family in Russia and then it moves through the '20s and then into the terrible appalling period of the Anschluss and the Holocaust.And then it ends up after the war with an empty room. This room, is like a different kind of theater, an empty room. Three characters, none of whom you know very well, speaking in three different kinds of English, reaching across vast spaces of incomprehension, and you've had these jumps through time.And then at the very end, the original family, all of whom have been destroyed, the original family reappears on the stage. I'm sorry to tell this for anyone who hasn't seen Leopoldstadt. Because when it happens on the stage, it's an absolutely astonishing moment. As if the time has gone round and as if the play, which I think it was for him, was an act of restitution to all those people.Oliver: How often did he use his charm to get his way with actors?Lee: A lot. And not just actors. People he worked with, film people, friends, companions. Charm is such an interesting thing, isn't it? Because we shouldn't deviate, but there's always a slightly sinister aspect to the word charm as in, a magic charm. And one tends to be a bit suspicious of charm. And he knew he had charm and he was physically very magnetic and good looking and very funny and very attentive to people.But I think the charm, in his case, he did use it to get the right results, and he did use it, as he would say, “to look after my plays.” He was always, “I want to look after my plays.” And that's why he went back to rehearsal when there were revivals and so on. But he wasn't always charming. Patrick Marber, who's a friend of his and who directed Leopoldstadt, is very good on how irritable Stoppard could be sometimes in rehearsal. And I've heard that from other directors too—Jack O'Brien, who did the American productions of things like The Invention of Love.If Stoppard felt it wasn't right, he could get quite cross. So this wasn't a sort of oleaginous character at all. It's not smooth, it's not a smooth charm at all. But yes, he knew his power and he used it, and I think in a good way. I think he was a benign character actually. And one of the things that was very fascinating to me, not only when he died and there was this great outpouring of tributes, very heartfelt tributes, I thought. But also when I was working on the biography, I was going around the world trying to find people to say bad things about him, because what I didn't want to do was write a hagiography. You don't want to do that; there would be no point. And it was genuinely quite hard.And I don't know the theater world; it's not my world. I got to know it a little bit then. But I have never necessarily thought of the theater world as being utterly loving and generous about everybody else. I'm sure there are lots of rivalries and spitefulness, as there is in academic life, all the rest of it. But it was very hard to find anyone with a bad word to say about him, even people who'd come up against the steeliness that there is in him.I had an interview with Steven Spielberg about him, with whom he worked a lot, and with whom he did Empire of the Sun. And I would ask my interviewees if they could come up with two or three adjectives or an adjective that would sum him up, that would sum Stoppard up to them. And when I asked Spielberg this question, he had a little think and then he said, intransigent. I thought, great. He must be the only person who ever stood up to him.Oliver: What was his best film script? Did he write a really great film.Lee: That one. I think partly the novel, I don't know if you know the Ballard novel, the Empire of the Sun, it's a marvelous novel. And Ballard was just a magical and amazing writer, a great hero of mine. But I think what Stoppard did with that was really clever and brilliant.I know people like Brazil, the Terry Gilliam sort of surrealist way. And there's some interesting early work. Most of his film work was not one script; it was little bits that he helped with. So there's famously the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, he did most of the dialogue for Harrison Ford.But there are others like the One Hundred and One Dalmatians, where I think there's one line, anonymously Stoppardian in there. One of the things about the obituaries that slightly narked me was that there, I felt there was a bit too much about the films. Truly, I don't think the film work was—he wanted it to be right and he wanted to get it right—but it wasn't as close to his heart as the theater work. And indeed the work for radio, which I thought was generally underwritten about when he died. There was some terrific work there.Oliver: Yes. And there aren't that many canonical writers who've been great on the radio.Lee: Absolutely. He did everything. He did film, he did radio. He wrote some opera librettos. He really did everything. And on top of that, there was the great work for the public good, which I think is a very important part of his legacy, his history.Oliver: How much crossover influence is there between the different bits of his career? Does the screenwriting influence the theater writing and the radio and so on? Or is he just compartmentalized and able to do a lot of different things?Lee: That's such an interesting question. I don't think I've thought about it enough. I think there are very cinematic aspects to some of the plays, like Night and Day, for instance, the play about journalism. That could easily have been a film.And perhaps Hapgood as well, although it could be a kind of John le Carré type film thriller, though it's such a set of complicated interlocking boxes that I don't know that it would work as a film. It's not one of my favorite players, I must say. I struggle a little bit with Hapgood. But, yes, I'm sure that they fed into each other. Because he was so busy, he was often doing several things at once. So he was keeping things in boxes and opening the lid of that box. But mentally things must have overlapped, I'm sure.Oliver: He once joked that rather than having read Wittgenstein from cover to cover, he had only read the covers. How true is that? Because I know some people who would say he's very clever in everything, but he's not as clever as he looks. It's obviously not true that he only read the covers.Lee: I think there was a phase, wasn't there, after the early plays when people felt that he was—it's that English phrase, isn't it—too clever by half. Which you would never hear anyone in France saying of someone that they were too clever by half. So he was this kind of jazzy intellectual who put all his ideas out there, and he was this sort of self-educated savant who hadn't been to Oxford.There was quite a lot of that about in the earlier years, I think. And a sense that he was getting away with it, to which I would countermand with the story of the writing of The Invention of Love. So what attracted him to the figure of Housman initially was not the painful, suppressed homosexual love story, but the fact that here was this person who was divided into a very pernickety, savagely critical classical editor of Latin and a romantic lyric poet. In order to work out how to turn this into a play, he probably spent about six years taking Latin lessons, reading everything he could read on the history of classical literature. Obviously reading about Housman, engaging in conversation with classical scholars about Housman's, finer points of editorial precision about certain phrases. And what he used from that was the tip of the iceberg. But the iceberg was real.He really did that work and he often used to say that it was his favorite play because he'd so much enjoyed the work that went into it. I think he took what he needed from someone like Wittgenstein. I know you don't like The Coast of Utopia very much, but if you read his background to Coast of Utopia, what went into it, and if you compare what's in the plays, those three plays, with what's in the writing about those revolutionaries, he read everything. He may have magpied it, but he's certainly knows what he's talking about. So I defend him a bit against that, I think.Oliver: Good, good. Did you see the recent production at the Hamstead Theatre of The Invention of Love?Lee: I did, yes.Oliver: What did you think?Lee: I liked it. I thought it was rather beautifully done. I liked those boats rowing around that clicked together. I thought Simon Russell Beale was extremely good, particularly very moving. And very good in Housman's vindictiveness as a critic. He is not a nice person in that sense. And his scornfulness about the women students in his class, that kind of thing. And so there was a wonderful vitriol and scorn in Russell Beale's performance.I think when you see it now, some of the Oxford context is a little bit clunky, those scenes with Jowett and Pater and so on, it's like a bit of a caricature of the context of cultural life at the time, intellectual life at the time. But I think that the trope of the old and the young Housman meeting each other and talking to each other, which I still think is very moving. I thought it worked tremendously well.Oliver: What are Tom Stoppard's poems like?Lee: You see them in Indian Ink where he invents a poet, Flora Crewe, who is a poet who was died young, turn of the century, bold feminist associated with Bloomsbury and gets picked up much later as a kind of Sylvia Plath-type, HD type heroine. And when you look at Stoppard's manuscripts in the Harry Ransom Center in the University of Austin, in Texas, there is more ink spent on writing and rewriting those poems of Flora Crewe than anything else I saw in the manuscript. He wrote them and rewrote them.Early on he wrote some Elliot—they're very like Elliot—little poems for himself. I think there are probably quite a lot of love poems out there, which I never saw because they belong to the people for whom he wrote them. So I wouldn't know about those.Oliver: How consistently did Stoppard hold to a kind of liberal individualism in his politics?Lee: He was accused of being very right wing in the 1980s really, 1970s, 1980s, when the preponderant tendency for British drama was radicalism, Royal Court, left wing, all of that. And Stoppard seemed an outlier then, because he approved of Thatcher. He was a friend of Thatcher. He didn't like the print union. It was particularly about newspapers because he'd been a newspaper man in his youth. That was his alternative university education, working in Bristol on the newspapers. He had a romance heroic feeling about the value of the journalist to uphold democracy, and he hated the pressure of the print unions to what he thought at the time was stifling that.He changed his mind. I think a lot about that. He had been very idealistic and in love with English liberal values. And I think towards the end of his life he felt that those were being eroded. He voted lots of different ways. He voted conservative, voted green. He voted lib dem. I don't if he ever voted Labour.Oliver: But even though his personal politics shifted and the way he voted shifted, there is something quite continuous from the early plays through to Rock ‘n' Roll. Is there a sort of basic foundation that doesn't change, even though the response to events and the idea about the times changes?Lee: Yes, I think that's right, and I think it can be summed up in what Henry says in The Real Thing about politics, which is a version of what's often said in his plays, which is public postures have the configuration of private derangement. So that there's a deep suspicion of political rhetoric, especially when it tends towards the final solution type, the utopian type, the sense that individual lives can be sacrificed in the interest of an ultimate rationalized greater good.And then, he's worked in the '70s for the victims of Soviet communism. His work alongside in support of Havel and Charter 77. And he wrote on those themes such as Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and Professional Foul. Those are absolutely at the heart of what he felt. And they come back again when he's very modest about this and kept it quiet. But he did an enormous amount of work for the Belarus exile, Belarus Free Theater collective, people in support of those trying to work against the regime in Belarus.And then the profound, heartfelt, intense feeling of horror about what happened to people in Leopoldstadt. That's all part of the same thing. I think he's a believer in individual freedom and in democracy and has a suspicion of political rhetoric.Oliver: How much were some of his great parts written for specific actors? Because I sometimes have a feeling when I watch one of his plays now, if I'd been here when Felicity Kendal was doing this, I would be getting the whole thing, but I'm getting most of it.Lee: I'm sure that's right. And he built up a team around him: Peter Wood, the director and John Wood who's such an extraordinary Henry Carr in in in Travesties. And Michael Hordern as George the philosopher in Jumpers. And he wrote a lot for Kendal, in the process of becoming life companions.But he'd obviously been writing and thinking of her very much, for instance, in Arcadia. And also I think very much, it's very touching now to see the production of Indian Ink that's running at Hampstead Theatre in which Felicity Kendal is playing the older woman, the surviving older sister of the poet Flora Crewe, where of course the part of Flora Crewe was written for her. And there's something very touching about seeing that now. And, in fact, the first night of that production was the day of Stoppard's funeral. And Kendal couldn't be at the funeral, of course, because she was in the first night of his play. That's a very touching thing.Oliver: Why did he think the revivals came too soon?Lee: I don't really know the answer to that. I think he thought a play had to hook up a lot of oxygen and attract a lot of attention. If you were lucky while it was on, people would remember the casting and the direction of that version of it, and it would have a kind of memory. You had to be there.But people who were there would remember it and talk about it. And if you had another production very soon after that, then maybe it would diminish or take away that effect. I think he had a sort of loyalty to first productions often. What do you think about that? I'm not quite sure of the answer to that.Oliver: I don't know. To me it seems to conflict a bit with his idea that it's a living thing and he's always rewriting it in the rehearsal room. But I think probably what you say is right, and he will have got it right in a certain way through all that rehearsing. You then need to wait for a new generation of people to make it fresh again, if you like.Lee: Or not a generation even, but give it five years.Oliver: Everyone new and this theater's working differently now. We can rework it in our own way. Can we have a few questions about your broader career before we finish?Lee: Depends what they are.Oliver: Your former colleague John Carey died at a similar time to Stoppard. What do you think was his best work?Lee: John Carey's best work? Oh. I thought the biography of Golding was pretty good. And I thought he wrote a very good book on Thackery. And I thought his work on Milton was good. I wasn't so keen on The Intellectuals and the Masses. He and I used to have vociferous arguments about that because he had cast Virginia Woolf with all the modernist fascists, as it were. He'd put her in a pile with Wyndham Lewis and Ezra Pound and so on. And actually, Virginia Woolf was a socialist feminist. And this didn't seem to have struck him because he was so keen to expose her frightful snobbery, which is what people in England reading Woolf, especially middle class blokes, were horrified by.And she is a snob, there's no doubt about it. But she knew that and she lacerated herself for it too. And I think he ignored all the other aspects of her. So I was angry about that. But he was the kind of person you could have a really good argument with. That was one of the really great things about John.Oliver: He seems to be someone else who was amenable and charming, but also very steely.Lee: Yes, I think he probably was I think he probably was. You can see that in his memoir, I think.Oliver: What was Carmen Callil like?Lee: Oh. She was a very important person in my life. It was she who got me involved in writing pieces for Virago. And it was she who asked me to write the life of Virginia Woolf for Chatto. And she was an enormous, inspiring encourager as she was to very many people. And I loved her.But I was also, as many people were, quite daunted by her. She was temperamental, she was angry. She was passionate. She was often quite difficult. Not a word I like to use about women because there's that trope of difficult women, but she could be. And she lost her temper in a very un-English way, which was quite a sight to behold. But I think of her as one of the most creative and influential publishers of the 20th century.Oliver: Will there be a biography of her?Lee: I don't know. Yes, it's a really interesting question, and I've been asking her executors whether they have any thoughts about that. Somebody said to me, oh, who wants a biography of a publisher? But, actually, publishers are really important people often, so I hope there would be. Yes. And it would need to be someone who understood the politics of feminism and who understood about coming from Australia and who understood about the Catholic background and who understood about her passion for France. And there are a whole lot of aspects to that life. It's a rich and complex life. Yes, I hope there will be someday.Oliver: Her papers are sitting there in the British Library.Lee: They are. And in fact—you kindly mentioned this to start with—I've just finished a biography of the art historian and novelist, Anita Brookner, who won the Booker prize in 1984 for a novel called Hotel du Lac.And Carmen and Anita were great buddies, surprisingly actually, because they were very different kinds of characters. And the year before she died, Carmen, who knew I was working on Anita, showed me all her diary entries and all the letters she'd kept from Anita. And that's the kind of generous person that she was.That material is now sitting in the British Library, along with huge reams of correspondence between Carmen and many other people. And it's an exciting archive.Oliver: She seems to have had a capacity to be friends with almost anyone.Lee: Yes, I think there were people she would not have wanted to be friends with. She was very disapproving of a lot of political figures and particularly right-wing figures, and there were people she would've simply spat at if she was in the room with them. But, yes, she an enormous range of friends, and she was, as I said, she was fantastically encouraging to younger women writers.And, also, another aspect of Carmen's life, which I greatly admired and was fascinated by: In Virago she would often be resuscitating the careers of elderly women writers who had been forgotten or neglected, including Antonia White and including Rosamund Lehmann. And part of Carmen's job at Virago, as she felt, was not just to republish these people, some of whom hadn't had a book published for decades, but also to look after them. And they were all quite elderly and often quite eccentric and often quite needy. And Carmen would be there, bringing them out and looking after them and going around to see them. And really marvelous, I think.Oliver: Yes, it is. Tell me about Brian Moore.Lee: Breean, as he called himself.Oliver: Oh, I'm sorry.Lee: No, it's all right. I think Brian became a friend because in the 1980s I had a book program on Channel 4, which was called Book Four. It had a very small audience, but had a wonderful time over several years interviewing lots and lots of writers who had new books out. We didn't have a budget; it was a table and two chairs and not the kind of book program you see on the television anymore. And I got to know Brian through that and through reviewing him a bit and doing interviews with him, and my husband and I would go out and visit him and his wife Jean.And I loved the work. I thought the work was such a brilliant mixture of popular cultural forms, like the thriller and historical novel and so on. And fascinating ideas about authority and religion and how to be free, how to break free of the bonds of what he'd grown up with in Ireland, in Northern Ireland, the bombs of religious autocracy, as it were. And very surreal in some ways as well. And he was also a very charming, funny, gregarious person who could be quite wicked about other writers.And, he was a wonderfully wicked and funny companion. What breaks my heart about Brian Moore is that while he was alive, he was writing a novel maybe every other year or every three years, and people would review them and they were talked about, and I don't think they were on academic syllabuses but they were really popular. And when he died and there were no more books, it just went. You can think of other writers like that who were tremendously well known in their time. And then when there weren't any more books, just went away. You ask people, now you go out and ask people, say, “What about The Temptation of Eileen Hughes or The Doctor's Wife or Black Robe? And they'll go, “Sorry?”Oliver: If anyone listening to this wants to try one of his novels, where do you say they should start?Lee: I think I would start with The Doctor's Wife and The Temptation of Eileen Hughes. And then if one liked those, one would get a taste for him. But there's plenty to choose from.Oliver: What about Catholics?Lee: Yes. Catholics is a wonderful book. Yes. Wonderful book. Bit like Muriel Spark's The Abbess of Crewe, I think.Oliver: How important is religion to Penelope Fitzgerald's work?Lee: She would say that she felt guilty about not having put her religious beliefs more explicitly into her fiction. I'm very glad that she didn't because I think it is deeply important and she believes in miracles and saints and angels and manifestations and providence, but she doesn't spell it out.And so when at the end of The Gate of Angels, for instance, there is a kind of miracle on the last page but it's much better not to have it spelt out as a miracle, in my view. And in The Blue Flower, which is not my favorite of her books, but it's the book of the greatest genius possibly. And I think she was a genius. There is a deep interest in Novalis's romantic philosophical ideas about a spiritual life, beyond the physical life, no more doctrinally than that. And she, of course, believes in that. I think she believed, in an almost Platonic way, that this life was a kind of cave of shadows and that there was something beyond that. And there are some very mysterious moments in her books, which, if they had been explained as religious experiences, I think would've been much less forceful and much less intense.Oliver: What is your favorite of her books?Lee: Oh, The Beginning of Spring. The Beginning of Spring is set in Moscow just before the revolution. And its concerns an Englishman who runs a print and publishing works. And it's based quite a lot on some factual narratives about people in Moscow at the time. And it's about the feeling of that place and that time, but it's also about being in love with two people at the same time.And, yes, and it's about cultural clashes and cultural misunderstanding, and it is an astonishingly evocative book. And when asked about this book, interviewers would say to Penelope, oh, she must have lived in Moscow for ages to know so much about it. And sometimes she would say, “Yes, I lived there for years.” And sometimes she would say, “No, I've never been there in my life.” And the fact was she'd had a week's book tour in Moscow with her daughter. And that was the only time she ever went to Russia, but she read. So it was a wonderful example of how she would be so wicked; she would lie.Oliver: Yes.Lee: Because she couldn't be bothered to tell the truth.Oliver: But wasn't she poking fun at their silly questions?Lee: Yes. It's not such a silly question. I would've asked her that question. It is an astonishing evocation of a place.Oliver: No, I would've asked it too, but I do feel like she had this sense of it's silly to be asked questions at all. It's silly to be interviewed.Lee: I interviewed her about three times—and it was fascinating. And she would deflect. She would deflect, deflect. When you asked her about her own work, she would deflect onto someone else's work or she would tell you a story. But she also got quite irritable.So for instance, there's a poltergeist in a novel called The Bookshop. And the poltergeist is a very frightening apparition and very strong chapter in the book. And I said to her in interview, “Look, lots of people think this is just superstition. There aren't poltergeists.” And she looked at me very crossly and said they just haven't been there. They don't know what they're talking about. Absolutely factual and matter of fact about the reality of a poltergeist.Oliver: What makes Virginia Woolf's literary criticism so good?Lee: Oh, I think it's a kind of empathy actually. That she has an extraordinary ability to try and inhabit the person that she's writing about. So she doesn't write from the point of view of, as it were, a dry, historical appreciation.She's got the facts and she's read the books, but she's trying to intimately evoke what it felt like to be that writer. I don't mean by dressing it up with personal anecdotes, but just she has an extraordinary way of describing what that person's writing is like, often in images by using images and metaphors, which makes you feel you are inside the story somehow.And she loves anecdotes. She's very good at telling anecdotes, I think. And also she's not soft, but she's not harshly judgmental. I think she will try and get the juice out of anything she's writing about. Most of these literary criticism pieces were written for money and against the clock and whilst doing other things.So if you read her on Dorothy Wordsworth or Mary Wollstonecraft or Henry James, there's a wonderful sense of, you feel your knowledge has been expanded. Knowledge in the sense of knowing the person; I don't mean in the sense of hard facts.Oliver: Sure. You've finished your Anita Brookner biography and that's coming this year.Lee: September the 10th this year, here and in the States.Oliver: What will you do next?Lee: Yes. That's a very good question, though a little soon, I feel.Oliver: Is there someone whose life you always wanted to write, but didn't?Lee: No. No, there isn't. Not at the moment. Who knows?Oliver: You are open to it. You are open.Lee: Who knows what will come up.Oliver: Yes. Hermione Lee, this was a real pleasure. Thank you very much.Lee: Thank you very much. It was a treat. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.commonreader.co.uk

The ghost is not real, it is only in your ear...Andy Conduit-Turner is joined by A Ghost In Your Ear writer and director Jamie Armitage to discuss the play that uses binaural sound technology to immerse the audience in the terrifying auditory world of the show.An actor arrives late at a sound studio for a last-minute job that he is yet to see the script for: an audiobook recording of a particularly chilling ghost story. But as the evening progresses, the horrors start to escape the pages of the story, and haunt the studio itself...A Ghost In Your Ear is the new play from Jamie Armitage, the writer/director of 2025 sell-out hit An Interrogation. Made in collaboration with Ben and Max Ringham (ANNA, National Theatre and Blindness, Donmar Warehouse). It plays at the Hampstead Theatre in London until January 31st 2026!https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2025/a-ghost-in-your-ear/www.horrorhangout.co.ukPodcast - https://fanlink.tv/horrorhangoutPatreon - http://www.patreon.com/horrorhangoutFacebook - http://www.facebook.com/horrorhangoutpodcastX - http:/x.com/horror_hangout_TikTok - http://www.tiktok.com/@horrorhangoutpodcastInstagram - http://www.instagram.com/horrorhangoutpodcastAndy - https://www.instagram.com/andyctwrites/Jamie - https://www.instagram.com/jararmitage/Audio credit - Taj Eastonhttp://tajeaston.comSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/thehorrorhangout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George Blagden is In The Frame!George is starring in A Ghost In Your Ear at the Hampstead Theatre, written and directed by Jamie Armitage. Using binaural sound technology, the audience wears headphones so they are immersed in the "terrifying" auditory world of the show.Next year George will star alongside Anna-Jane Casey and Layton Williams in Paul Foster's UK revival of Kiss Of The Spider Woman. George has worked extensively on screen, he's best known for his roles in Vikings and Versailles. His stage work includes The Cabinet Minister (Menier Chocolate Factory), Tartuffe (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Platinum (Hampstead Theatre) and The Pitchfork Disney (Shoreditch Town Hall). George's first love is musicals. In addition to playing Grantaire in the Les Misérables movie, he played PJ in Marianne Elliott's West End revival of Company and Bob Wallace in Sheffield Theatres's production of White Christmas.In this episode, George reveals why A Ghost In Your Ear is such a unique piece of theatre as well as his love for musicals and the unexpected path of his career. A Ghost In Your Ear runs at the Hampstead Theatre (downstairs) until 24th January. Visit www.hampsteadtheatre.com for info and tickets.Kiss Of The Spider Woman plays Leicester Curve, Bristol Old Vic and Mayflower Studios next year. This podcast is hosted by Andrew Tomlins @AndrewTomlins32 Thanks for listening! Email: andrew@westendframe.co.uk Visit westendframe.co.uk for more info about our podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Send us a textAfter premiering in the Ustiniv Studio at Theatre Royal Bath in 2022, SHOWMANISM is making its London premiere at Hampstead Theatre. The show has been described as  a kaleidoscopic journey through theatre and its history, and will also mark Dickie Beau's fourth venture into Hampstead Theatre, a place which he describes fondly as his latest show prepares to open. Indeed, it was only earlier this year when he was starring opposite Simon Russell Beale in an acclaimed revival of 'The Invention of Love'. In this way, it seems that there will likely be an ongoing partnership between him and the theatre, with Hampstead's audiences continuing to be blown away by his performances.In this brand new interview with Dickie Beau, he tells us about the origins of SHOWMANISM and how he began by thinking of theatres as sacred, communal spaces. We talked about his unique process of using technology in his shows as he transforms himself into various esteemed actors including Sir Ian McKellen and Fiona Shaw. Over the course of our conversation, Dickie opens up about his love for actors and for live theatre before discussing his hopes for how audiences will come away from the show having had a fundamentally human experience.SHOWMANISM opens at Hampstead Theatre on 18 June and runs till 12 July 2025.Support the show

A Note from Jacob: If you or someone you know are experiencing a mental health crisis, please call 988.   It was an honor to welcome award-winning actress and singer Lenore Zann to The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast.  A ground-breaking artist and political trailblazer, Lenore Zann's explosive career has spanned the globe with iconic performances and strong political stances. Thanks to her beloved portrayal of Rogue (the superhero fittingly recognized as “the strongest woman in the Universe”) in X-Men: The Animated Series and Marvel Studio's X-Men '97, as well as her roles as Tigra in The Avengers: United They Stand, Chiriko in Fushigi Yûgi, and Star Catcher in My Little Pony. Lenore Zann has become the voice of an entire generation.   Born in Sydney, Australia, she moved to Canada with her teacher parents at the age of eight. With a natural talent for performance, Lenore Zann burst onto the entertainment scene at just nineteen with her haunting portrayal of Marilyn Monroe in the rock opera Hey Marilyn! At twenty-six, she won Canada's national ACTRA Award for Best Actor in a Radio Drama for her performance as Mary Snow in CBC Radio's Salt Water Moon by David French.At thirty, producers in New York sponsored her to play Candy in Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love by Brad Fraser, first at the Hampstead Theatre in Chicago, followed by an off-Broadway run at the Orpheum Theatre. She followed this by writing and performing her first play, The Marilyn Tapes, first at Don't Tell Mama's Cabaret and another off-Broadway run at The Blue Heron Theatre. With hundreds of credits in TV, film, theater, radio, animation, and interactive games, she has electrified audiences with her performances. Fans tell her she has empowered them in their own lives.   Now, the magical wings of Disney have helped Lenore Zann soar to new heights of fame. Fans and critics alike have hailed her stunning performance in X-Men '97 as Emmy-worthy with both the show and Lenore garnering numerous award nominations, including a Primetime Emmy nomination for Best Animated Production. An album of songs and several feature film and TV roles are currently in the works. A Rogue's Tale is her first book.   Lenore also received the 2024 King Charles III Coronation Medal for outstanding community service, the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award for Service to Community and Country, the ACTRA Award for Best Actor, and a Lifetime Achievement Award for Contribution to Arts and Culture. She supports organizations such as the Terry Fox Foundation, The Sick Kids Foundation, and St. Jude.  On this episode of The Jake's Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Lenore Zann spoke about returning to the X-Men universe for Disney+'s  X-Men '97, portraying Marilyn Monroe and writing A Rogue's Tale.Let's connect on social media: A) BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/jacobelyachar.bsky.socialB) Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacobElyachar/C) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacobelyachar/D) Threads: https://www.threads.net/@jacobelyacharE) Twitter (X): https://x.com/JacobElyacharF) YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JacobElyacharBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jake-s-take-with-jacob-elyachar--4112003/support.

Spooky Season is back. We have a week of brilliant audio drama coming your way. Today is The Revival by Corinne Sailsbury Voice Actors: Alex – Fergus John McCann Iona – Elaine Stirrat Corinne Sailsbury Corinne Salisbury is an Edinburgh-based playwright. She's had plays produced at the Traverse Theatre and the Scottish Storytelling Centre (both commissioned by Strange Town for their youth theatre groups); and digital commissions from Paines Plough and from the National Theatre of Scotland/BBC for the SCENES FOR SURVIVAL series. She's a past Playwrights Studio Scotland New Playwrights Award winner, and was longlisted for the Channel4 New Writers Scheme 2024 and nominated for the Adopt a Playwright Award 2024. She's had development processes supported by Playwrights' Studio Scotland, National Theatre of Scotland, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Creative Scotland and the Peggy Ramsay Foundation. Her work has been performed at venues including Hampstead Theatre, Theatre503, the Spiegeltent, Southwark Playhouse, Live Theatre Newcastle, Camden People's Theatre, the Yard Theatre, the Old Vic Theatre, New York's Public Theater, the Tron, the Traverse, the CCA, Leith Depot, the Village pub and the Hidden Door Festival. Her play GIRLBOSS is published in Routledge's anthology ‘Short Plays with Great Roles for Women' The Revival A ghost hunter and property developer meet in an abandoned theatre to communicate with the voices of the past. What could possibly go wrong. OUR WEBSITE - www.persistentandnasty.co.uk HIPA GUIDES: HIPA GUIDES Equity Toolkit: Link Stellar Quines: Link Persistent Pal & Nasty Hero - Pals and Hero Membership Email – persistentandnasty@gmail.com Instagram - @persistentandnasty Twitter - @PersistentNasty Coffee Morning Eventbrite - Coffee Morning Tickets LINKTREE - LINKTR.EE Resources Samaritans - Rape Crisis Scotland - Rape Crisis UK ArtsMinds - BAPAM Freelancers Make Theatre Work Stonewall UK - Trevor Project - Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ - GATE PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE - DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK - ASN.COM- DONATE

The acclaimed Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovor talks about this new film The Room Next Door, which won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival the Golden Lion and stars Tilda Swinton as a woman dying of cancer who enlists her friend Julianne Moore to help her end her life at a time of her choosing.The Bloomsbury Group of writers and thinkers that included the likes of Virginia Woolf, Clive Bell and John Maynard Keynes has enduring appeal, so as a new exhibition at the MK Gallery in Milton Keynes opens to explore the life and legacy of Vanessa Bell, Virginia's sister, her granddaughter the writer Virginia Nicholson and the show's curator Anthony Spira talk about what made this circle of lovers and friends so unique.Playwright Richard Bean had a smash in the West End with his smash hit farce One Man, Two Guvnors, starring James Corden. Now he talks about his new play Reykjavik which is now on at the Hampstead Theatre and explores the British fishing trawler industry, which like coal, was once a mass employer of men and had a terrible safety record. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts

Tracy-Ann Oberman has reprised her role as Eastenders' Chrissie Watts. She talks to Nuala about stepping back into this character after almost two decades, and her recent adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. In it, Tracy-Ann plays a female version of the Jewish character, Shylock, and sets the action in 1930s London during the rise of Oswald Mosley, the antisemitic founder of the British Union of Fascists.We look back at Tuesday's special programme, live from the Radio Theatre in Broadcasting House in London, looking at the support for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities – or SEND as it's often known in England. Nuala heard from guest panellists including Kellie Bright, an actress in EastEnders but also a mum to a child with SEND, Katie, who is 17 and says she was completely failed by the SEND system, Marsha Martin, the founder and CEO of the charity Black SEN Mamas and the Minister for School Standards, Catherine McKinnell.Visual artist Bharti Kher's new exhibition, Target Queen at the Southbank Centre, features supersized bindis reimagined from their microscopic form to the macro size worn by the goddess, transforming the brutalist building into a powerful feminine force. Bharti joins Anita to discuss the exhibition.The newly elected Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, Labour MP Sarah Owen, joins Anita Rani on the programme to discuss the remit of her new role and what she hopes to achieve.A new play, The Lightest Element, which has opened at Hampstead Theatre, explores the life and career of astronomer Cecila Payne-Gaposchkin, the first person to work out what stars are made of. Anita is joined by actor Maureen Beatie, who plays Cecilia, and the playwright Stella Feehilly.

The newly elected Chair of the Women and Equalities Select Committee, Labour MP Sarah Owen, joins Anita Rani on the programme to discuss the remit of her new role and what she hopes to achieve. Tracy Chevalier's new novel The Glassmaker follows a Murano glassmaking family through hundreds of years of Venetian history. Time plays strange tricks as it follows Orsola Rosso, who is nine in 1486, all the way to the present day, when she is in her late sixties. Tracy joins Anita to discuss her love story that encompasses centuries of passion and longing. 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot has been testifying in court against her husband, Dominique. He is accused of drugging her repeatedly over the course of a decade and inviting men to the house to rape her while she was unconscious. This was only discovered because he was caught by the police for upskirting in 2020. To get the latest updates on the case, Anita speaks to BBC Correspondent Andrew Harding. She is also joined by campaigner Gina Martin, who helped to make upskirting illegal in the UK.A new play, The Lightest Element, which has opened at Hampstead Theatre, explores the life and career of astronomer Cecila Payne-Gaposchkin, the first person to work out what stars are made of. Anita is joined by actor Maureen Beatie, who plays Cecilia, and the playwright Stella Feehilly. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Emma Pearce

John Leonard produced his first sound design in September 1972 for a production of A Streetcar Named Desire at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company's Little Theatre. Since then, he has: produced countless soundtracks for theatres around the world; spent eleven years with the Royal Shakespeare Company; worked regularly as a freelancer for the Almeida Theatre, Hampstead Theatre and Donmar Warehouse; written articles and a book about theatre sound and developed a sideline in recording sound effects. He is a Fellow at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts and a Companion of the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.

After over 50 years working as an actress, Maureen Beattie is about to make her Hampstead Theatre debut in The Lightest Element, a brand new play by Stella Feehily. At the centre of the play is Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, one of 20th Century Science's most significant figures. Despite her great discoveries, she's remained a fairly elusive figure and this play sets out to give her the recognition that many of her male counterparts have since received. The show will be directed by Alice Hamilton, who Maureen describes fondly of as being the best type of director who listens to everyone in the room. We also hear her talk about her excitement around getting to perform in Hampstead Theatre, having been a regular theatregoer there since it's early beginnings. In this new interview, Maureen Beattie talks about this exciting new play, shining a light on a truly fascinating figure who has remained out of the social consciousness. As former President of Equity, she also talks to us about the changes that have taken place over the course of her career, providing more opportunities for women and the introduction of safe spaces in rehearsal rooms. Last year, Maureen also returned to the RSC to play Celia in a cast of veteran actors production of As You Like It, opposite the likes of Geraldine James and Malcolm Sinclair. A veteran actress herself, her career has taken her from the RSC to the National Theatre to the Old Vic and the Royal Court. The Lightest Element runs at Hampstead Theatre until 12 October.

Rachel and Simon speak to Abi Morgan, a screenwriter and playwright. Abi earned her first professional stage credit in 1998 with "Skinned"; since then she has written plays including "Tender", "Fugee", "27" and "The Mistress Contract", which have been performed at the Hampstead Theatre, the National Theatre, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Court. Her work for television includes "Birdsong", "The Split" and "Eric" (which stars Benedict Cumberbatch and is streaming on Netflix). Abi has also written and worked on several films, such as "Brick Lane", "Iron Lady", "Shame" and "Suffragette". Her first book, "This Is Not A Pity Memoir", was published in 2022. We spoke to Abi about breaking into the industry, working on biopics and book adaptations, and her latest TV show, "Eric". “Always Take Notes: Advice From Some Of The World's Greatest Writers” - a book drawing on our podcast interviews - is published by Ithaka Press. You can order it via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amazon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bookshop.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hatchards⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Waterstones⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. You can find us online at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠alwaystakenotes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, on Twitter @takenotesalways and on Instagram @alwaystakenotes. Our crowdfunding page is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/alwaystakenotes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Always Take Notes is presented by Simon Akam and Rachel Lloyd, and produced by Artemis Irvine. Our music is by Jessica Dannheisser and our logo was designed by James Edgar.

The Irish giant of verse Paul Muldoon is this year's Writer in Residence at Ledbury Poetry Festival. He discusses the importance of workshopping and his new collection Joy in Service on Rue Tagore.Filmmakers Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd discuss their new film, Unicorns, a love story in which drag queen Aysha and mechanic and single father Luke embark on a romance against the backdrop of the gaysian club scene.As the play Visit from An Unknown Woman opens at Hampstead Theatre, we talk to writer Christopher Hampton about adapting Stefan Zweig for the stage. Also joining the discussion about renewed interest in Zweig, one of the most significant Austrian writers of the 20th century is Rachel Cockerell, author of Melting Point.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Corinna Jones

Carly Anderson most recently starred as Polly in Susan Stroman's revival of Crazy For You. The production opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre before transferring to the Gillian Lynne Theatre for an acclaimed West End run. Some of Carly's early theatre credits include The Sound of Music (UK Tour), South Pacific (Barbican Centre & National Tour), My Fair Lady (Sheffield Crucible Theatre), Avenue Q (Seoul), Candide (Menier Chocolate Factory) and Sunset Boulevard (ENO London Coliseum). Carly originated the role of Gwen in the premiere of Sunny Afternoon at the Hampstead Theatre which subsequently transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre in the West End, winning the 2015 Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Carly starred as Clio/Kira in the UK premiere of Xandu at the Southwark Playhouse and as Glinda in the 2016-17 international tour of Wicked. Some of Carly's screen credits include Traces (Alibi) and Trust Me (BBC). Follow Carly on Instagram: @anderson_carly Hosted by Andrew Tomlins  @AndrewTomlins32  Thanks for listening! Email: andrew@westendframe.co.uk Visit westendframe.co.uk for more info about our podcasts.  

In a decades spanning career, Danny Sapani has become one of the most revered actors of his generation. After recently starring in the titular role of King Lear at the Almeida Theatre, he is currently playing Walter "Pops" Washington in the UK premiere of Between Riverside and Crazy at the Hampstead Theatre. Having previously worked on the Hampstead stage in Anderson's English, Danny tells us about the full circle moment of getting work opposite his drama school: Central School of Speech and Drama. Having gained considerable success on screen in dramas such as Killing Eve, Harlots and The Crown, we also get to hear him talk about his love for theatre and the excitement around getting to work during a particularly exciting time for the industry.In our interview, Danny Sapani talks to us about the parallels between Lear and Pops, and his love for the intellectual challenge of getting to play unlikeable characters. Between Riverside and Crazy sees him playing a retired policeman struggling to maintain control of his home, estranged from his son and dealing with demons from his past. The Pulitzer Prize winning play was first performed in 2014 in the United States and we hear Danny reflect on how the themes of the play are just as relevant now in a British context as they are in America. We also hear him talk about how the themes in the play speak to him in his current stage of life and share his gratitude to Stephen Adly Guirgis and Michael Longhurst for developing such a relevant piece of drama.Between Riverside and Crazy runs at Hampstead Theatre until 15 June.

Sarah and Nancy have been watching the Oliviers on screen - and wondering why it's so difficult for television to catch the spirit of theatre. Plus Nancy has been to see An Actor Convalescing in Devon at Hampstead Theatre and Sarah has watched The Comeuppance at the Almeida which prompts a conversation about two great American writers - Richard Nelson and Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins - and how they find ways into examining friendship, illness, death and the human condition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After dazzling audiences last year as Willy Wonka in the UK tour of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Gareth Snook is preparing to make his Hampstead Theatre debut in April De Angelis' The Divine Mrs. S. The new play was recently shortlisted for the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn prize with Gareth describing the play to us as genuinely funny and moving. In the show, audiences will see him play multiple characters including writer James Boaden and the painter Thomas Lawrence - both significant figures in Sarah Siddons' life which he show is about. The show is directed by Anna Mackin, with Rachael Stirling playing the title role of Sarah Siddons.In our interview, Gareth Snook opens up about his experience working on big musicals and his excitement at getting to originate a role for a brand new play. We also hear him talk of his admiration for Hampstead Theatre and their continued support for new writers and new plays during such a difficult climate for the industry as a whole. As one of only 2 male actors in the show, he also tells us about his admiration for for the women he's worked with in the past as well as the brilliant actors and creatives he's working with on The Divine Mrs. S. Since starting his career, Gareth has taken on roles in some of the best known productions in the West End including The Phantom of the Opera, Sunset Boulevard and Made in Dagenham so it was great to hear how much he is looking forward to performing in the gorgeously intimate space of Hampstead Theatre.The Divine Mrs. S opens at Hampstead Theatre on 22nd March, running till 27th April with tickets on sale now! 

Carly Anderson / @anderson_carly recently starred as Polly in Crazy for You at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London. Carly's stage credits include playing Polly in Crazy For You at Chichester Festival Theatre; Glinda in Wicked in the international tour; Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard at the London Coliseum / ENO; Kira/Clio in Xanadu at Southwark Playhouse; Gwen in Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre and the Harold Pinter Theatre; Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory; Avenue Q in Seoul; My Fair Lady at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre; South Pacific at the Barbican Theatre and on National tour; and The Sound of Music. Carly's TV credits include Traces (Alibi) and Trust Me (BBC). *2 week Broadway Fitness Program - No Cost/Commitment  www.builtforthestage.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carly Anderson / @anderson_carly recently starred as Polly in Crazy for You at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London. Carly's stage credits include playing Polly in Crazy For You at Chichester Festival Theatre; Glinda in Wicked in the international tour; Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard at the London Coliseum / ENO; Kira/Clio in Xanadu at Southwark Playhouse; Gwen in Sunny Afternoon at Hampstead Theatre and the Harold Pinter Theatre; Candide at the Menier Chocolate Factory; Avenue Q in Seoul; My Fair Lady at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre; South Pacific at the Barbican Theatre and on National tour; and The Sound of Music. Carly's TV credits include Traces (Alibi) and Trust Me (BBC). *2 week Broadway Fitness Program - No Cost/Commitment  www.builtforthestage.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sir Peter Blake is famous for his Pop Art paintings, collages and album covers – and not just Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. But the artist, now 91, has throughout his career made three dimensional works. For the first time in two decades there is an exhibition devoted to these. Samira Ahmed meets the artist in the gallery on the eve of the opening of Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters.Actor David Harewood is appointed the new President of RADA – the Royal Academy for the Dramatic Arts. He shares with Front Row his vision for one of the world's leading theatre schools.John Logan's new play Double Feature explores the director-actor relationship through two of the most tempestuous relationships in cinema history. Samira talks with the Oscar-nominated Gladiator writer about how Alfred Hitchcock made Tippi Hedren's life on the set of 1964 thriller Marnie a living hell, while Vincent Price and Michael Reeves could barely hide their hatred for each other during the making of the 1968 horror film Witchfinder General. The play opens tonight at the London's Hampstead Theatre.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May

Yemen. 2023. In one of the poorest countries in the world, with civil war raging, life isn't exactly easy, and most days the fishermen return with barely enough to live off, let alone to sell.But fisherman's son Yusuf is an eternal optimist, and dreamer, who keeps the community's spirits high with tales of whales and his dreams of the Gulf's glorious past. Plus, he's secretly in love with his best friend. But when disaster strikes, and Yusuf's optimism is tested to the limit, he ends up at sea in the strangest of scenarios.A heart-warming tale of faith, hope and rizq (the Islamic concept that Allah is responsible for all sustenance provided to us).CAST Yusuf ..... Bilal Hasna Zulaikha ..... Danusia Samal Fatima ..... Sirine Saba Khaled ..... Stewart Scudamore Abdo ..... Fayez Bakhsh Nabil/Mahdi ..... Yassine MkhichenWritten by maatin Directed by Anne Isger Sound by Pete Ringrose and Ali Craig A BBC Audio Production for BBC Radio 4.An EcoAudio certified productionAbout the writer: maatin is a London-based playwright who focuses on Muslim storytelling. In 2023, maatin's play Duck was performed at the Arcola, following a run at Jermyn Street Theatre. His play Friday at the masjid was selected for the RSC 37 Plays project, and longlisted for the The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2022 and the Soho Theatre's Verity Bargate Award 2022. Previously, his work was nominated for the Edinburgh TV Festival's New Voice Awards 2021 and longlisted for BBC Comedy Room 2020. He was selected for the Hampstead Theatre's INSPIRE Programme 2020/21.

Nancy and Sarah hail the appointment of Indhu Rubasingham as artistic director of the National Theatre. And talk about Rock N Roll, which Nancy is performing at Hampstead Theatre, and Cold War, which Sarah has just seen at the Almeida, and why love, music and the cold war are a potent mix. Plus some surprising heckling and how Nancy coped. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

9 listopada w londyńskim Hampstead Theatre odbyła się prasowa premiera sztuki Magdaleny Miecznickiej zatytułowana "Nineteen Gardens" - "Dziewiętnaście ogrodów".

Join us on this episode as we embark on a riveting journey through the diverse landscapes of London's theatre scene. On Railton Road: A Play is a captivating exploration of the revolutionary 70s, bringing to life the experiences of real people who dared to squat, emphasising the importance of queer domestic spaces. This landmark production, based on rare archival interviews, is a sold-out sensation that delves into a transformative period. Richard Bean, the genius behind the international hit One Man, Two Guvnors, presents To Have and To Hold, a hilarious take on the challenges of dealing with ageing parents in his uproarious new comedy. Co-directed by the dynamic duo of Richard Wilson and Terry Johnson, both returning to Hampstead Theatre, this promises to be another triumph for Bean. Prepare to be swept away by The Time Traveller's Wife, a new West End musical of undeniable power. With music and lyrics by Grammy Award winners Joss Stone and Dave Stewart, this astonishing production, based on the bestselling novel, is genuinely affecting. Adapted for the stage by multi-award-winning playwright Lauren Gunderson and directed by Bill Buckhurst, it promises a sophisticated and soaring experience. The theatrical supermarket GuyMart is back by popular demand at Waterloo East Theatre. Step into the aisles of this imaginative space where gay hook-up apps become a supermarket, and follow Matt on his humorous journey through the world of love and connection. Lastly, buckle up for the rollercoaster of social media satire with FLIP!. Carleen and Crystal, two best friends navigating the online world, take a wild ride on the new platform FLIP!, chasing superstardom, influence, and money. But as they soon discover, everything comes with a cost. This sharp and thought-provoking play by Racheal Ofori, directed by Emily Aboud, challenges us to find authenticity in a world dominated by algorithms. Tune in for a theatre experience that spans the humorous, the poignant, and the thought-provoking in the heart of London's vibrant theatre land.

*Subscribe to the 101 Stage Adaptations newsletter*Melissa was elated to chat with Lauren Gunderson about her brand new musical adaptation of The Time Traveller's Wife, which just premiered on London's West End. Lauren wrote the book, & the music & lyrics are by Dave Stewart & Joss Stone.In this episode, we discuss:How Lauren got the gig to adapt her favorite book of all timeWorking in LondonWhen to take notes and when to ignore them  Her upcoming novel! And more!Resources MentionedThe Time Traveller's WifeRevolutionary WomenAbout Our GuestLauren Gunderson is one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list thrice. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will; the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award, The Jeff Award for New Plays, and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award; and a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Arthur L. Weissberger Award, and John Gassner Award for Playwriting. Revolutionary Women, her new anthology of five plays, is published by Bloomsbury along with I and You, The Catastrophist and anthropology, which recently premiered at Hampstead Theatre. She co-authored the popular Miss Bennet trilogy with Margot Melcon. The Half-Life of Marie Curie was commissioned by Audible Theatre, premiered off-Broadway and can be heard at Audible.com. She just finished her first novel, The Fervor Witch, and will soon premiere several new musicals including Sinister, I and You: A Musical, and Built for This, as well as another musicals with Dave Stewart.  Connect with Our Guestlaurengunderson.com New Play ExchangeFacebookInstagramConnect with host Melissa Schmitz***Sign up for the 101 Stage Adaptations Newsletter***101 Stage AdaptationsFollow the Podcast on Facebook & InstagramRead Melissa's plays on New Play ExchangeConnect with Melissa on LinkedInWays to support the show:- Buy Me a Coffee- Tell us your thoughts in our Listener Survey!- Give a 5-Star rating- Write a glowing review on Apple Podcasts - Send this episode to a friend- Share on social media (Tag us so we can thank you!)Creators: Host your podcast through Buzzsprout using my affiliate link & get a $20 credit on your paid account. Let your fans directly support you via Buy Me a Coffee (affiliate link).

Get ready for a theatrical feast in our latest podcast! First up, at the Orange Tree Theatre, the talented Niamh Cusackleads a thrilling revival of Polly Stenham's remarkable 2007 debut, That Face. When Mia is expelled from boarding school, her mother Martha seems indifferent, more interested in her son Henry. And with Mia's estranged husband, Hugh, returning from Hong Kong with his new girlfriend, he's determined to fix things. But Martha insists everything is just fine. Polly Stenham's searing debut play peels back the curtain on the hidden lives of the wealthy, delivering anarchic humour that won accolades like the Evening Standard Charles Wintour Award, the TMA Best New Play Award, and the Critics' Circle Award. Don't miss its first major London revival! Next, we venture to the Globe Theatre for a spirited rendition of Shakespeare's As You Like It. In Duke Frederick's court, division and distrust reign supreme. When Rosalind is banished, she escapes with her cousin Celia to the Forest of Arden, free from the court's rigid rules. Here, they explore new identities and discover a place where love and connection know no bounds. In this ancient haven of nature, unexpected friendships bloom, enemies reconcile, and strangers fall head over heels. Join us in our wooden 'O' for an unforgettable journey where you never know what—or who—you might encounter. Director Ellen McDougall's delightful production infuses warmth into the summer's end. At the Hampstead Theatre, prepare for a mind-bending journey in Anthropology. Merril, a leading software engineer in Silicon Valley, faces a life-shattering ordeal when her sister Angie vanishes. A year later, Merril takes Angie's digital traces and constructs a digital simulation of her sister. This 'virtual Angie' initially provides solace, but it soon starts revealing unsettling details about the real Angie's disappearance. Playwright Lauren Gunderson, celebrated for works like "I and You," crafts a gripping narrative in this San Francisco-based tale. Directed by Anna Ledwich, who has an impressive Hampstead Theatre portfolio, Anthropology stars the talented MyAnna Buring alongside Dakota Blue Richards, Yolanda Kettle, and Abigail Thaw. Last but not least, immerse yourself in the mesmerising world of Bob Marley's music with Legend. This unforgettable stage show extravaganza brings to life the timeless hits of the reggae legend. From Could You Be Loved to No Woman No Cry and One Love, you'll experience Marley's iconic sound like never before. With impeccable vocals, flawless musicianship, and a supremely talented cast, this two-hour spectacle captures the essence of an icon gone too soon. Don't miss this celebration of the magic and culture of Bob Marley!

The French archaeologist Ludovic Slimak has spent three decades uncovering evidence of ancient human life. In The Naked Neanderthal (translated by David Watson) he explores the last great extinction of a humanity that died out at the very moment Homo Sapiens expanded across the earth. The ingenuity, compassion and cruelty of Homo Sapiens are at the centre of Sebastian Faulks's new novel, The Seventh Son. As scientists develop methods to genetically alter the human race, ethical questions arise, as do questions about how humans respond to difference. The American playwright Lauren Gunderson interrogates our relationship with AI in her new play, Anthropology, at the Hampstead Theatre, London (to 14th October). When Angie goes missing, presumed dead, her grieving sister Merril assembles the digital footprint she left behind, and builds herself a digital simulation. Producer: Katy Hickman

Hello, Hello!    In this special edition of Indie Talk, we miss Bonsai Nick but bring on two fantastic guest hosts. Director and Producer Maggie Contreras (https://instagram.com/maggiecontreras) and Actress and  Producer Charity Wakefield (https://instagram.com/charitywakefield). Both worked on the incredible documentary Maestra, Executive Produced by David Letterman's Production company, Worldwide Pants. We talk about:     Pros and cons of filming in Cuba Why Producers are elite problem solvers How they got access to the musicians featured in their film Maestra  What steps are required to produce in France effectively  The tricks to getting the most out of a cast and crew The need for a Documentary Filmmaker union Producer Papa Bear once again stumps and educates us with an all-new Things We Should Know and much more...   Enjoy!   The MAKE IT podcast is brought to you by the Voice of the Filmmaker program, which is sponsored by Women in Film and Television, Nashville (a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization).   If you like what we're doing, please donate here: https://www.bonsai.film/donate.   How you can continue to enjoy MAKE IT content:   Subscribe to the MAKE IT YouTube channel. Subscribe to the MAKE IT Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.bonsai.film/subscribe.   The MAKE IT podcast amplifies the voice of the filmmaker by exploring the filmmaking journeys of actors, writers, directors, producers, and a host of other creatives from across the film industry. We provide a platform for filmmakers to provide advice, lessons learned, personal reflections, and insights through our Filmmaker Conversations, Mistakes in the Making, Industry Insights, Indie Talks, and Film Investment Series. We are the go-to film podcast for independent creatives!   More on Charity Wakefield   Instagram - @charitywakefield Twitter - @charitywakefld   CHARITY WAKEFIELD's resumé boasts a colorful spectrum of critically and commercially acclaimed work that illustrates her fantastic talent.   Charity stars in Hulu Original drama series THE GREAT, starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult. Written and executive produced by Tony McNamara (The Favourite) and directed by Matt Shakman (Game of Thrones, Succession), the series charts the rise to power of Catherine the Great and her explosive relationship with her husband, Peter, the emperor of Russia. The series has been nominated for Golden Globe, SAG, Emmy, MTV, and BAFTA Awards.   Since playing the romantic ‘Marianne Dashwood' in the BBC mini-series of Jane Austen's celebrated SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, she has appeared in some of our most noteworthy productions, including the critically acclaimed Channel 4 drama ANY HUMAN HEART, the Golden Globe and BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated WOLF HALL, THE HALCYON (ITV), Ron Howard's Emmy nominated GENIUS (Nat Geo);  CLOSE TO THE ENEMYdirected by Stephen Poliakoff for BBC2, the global phenomenon DOCTOR WHO; playing opposite Jack Whitehall in Sky One's BOUNTY HUNTERS, an ‘action-comedy-drama' also starring Oscar nominee Rosie Perez. International projects include working alongside Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in the Susanne Bier-directed SERENA, crime thriller THE PLAYER for NBC with Wesley Snipes, and supernatural drama MOCKINGBIRD LANE also for NBC.   Charity made history as the first woman to play Shakespeare at The Globe Theatre, London, in  Nicole Charles's ‘exhilarating' all-female production of EMILIA, which had a West End transfer to the Vaudeville Theatre. Additional theatre credits include a ‘beautifully executed' (LA Times) THE CHERRY ORCHARD at the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre, SEMINA, THE BLACKEST BLACK and NO NAUGHTY BITS all at the Hampstead Theatre; CANDIDA at the Theatre Royal Bath and THE RIVALS with Celia Imrie at the Southwark Playhouse.   As a producer, Charity's credits include the female-led, jet-black comedy A SERIAL KILLER'S GUIDE TO LIFE, which was long-listed for the Breakthrough Producer award at the 2019 British Independent Film Awards and can be viewed on all VoD sites (Apple TV, Itunes, Amazon, BT, Virgin, etc). Additional producing credits include short films WRAPS, which is now being made into a feature, and MEMENTO VITAE.     More on Maggie Contreras   Instagram is @MaggieContreras @MaestraMovie www.MaggieContreras.com   Maestra is a new feature documentary following five internationally-based women as they prepare for and perform in ‘La Maestra'—the only competition in the world for female orchestra conductors. Personal stories of survival, passion, and perseverance are woven together with the drama and excitement of this one-of-a-kind event created to break yet another glass ceiling for women. Maggie Contreras' directorial debut had its world premiere in competition at the 2023 Tribeca Festival, where it won an audience award.   Previously, she was the producer behind documentary films tackling a wide range of topics, from comics to solar energy. Jonathan Scott's Power Trip (PBS Independent Lens ‘20) is the titular HGTV celebrity and activist's journey across the USA to examine the antiquated utility monopoly system and how solar holds the key to energy freedom. In 2017, Gilbert also premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was distributed by Gravitas Ventures with exclusive SVOD on Hulu. Her work has been seen on AMC, NFL, and Quibi.   Whether it's working with brands or in the field on her next film, Maggie is fueled by the power of true stories.

Callum Woodhouse is a brilliant stage and screen actor originally from Durham, England. You may recognize Callum from playing Leslie Durrell in ITV's much-loved series The Durrells. He's also starred as Tristan Farnon in the Masterpiece TV adaptation of All Creatures Great and Small, and as James Marsden in series 6 and 8 of ITV's beloved British comedy-drama Cold Feet, starring alongside James Nesbitt, Fay Ripley, Robert Bathurst, Hermione Norris and John Thomson.              He also played Will Taylor in Christopher Hatton's excellent Edgar Allen Poe feature, Raven's Hollow. Christopher Hatton has been a guest on this podcast, as has Callum's exceptional co-star, Melanie Zanetti.            Callum trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. On stage, he has appeared at the Hampstead Theatre in Ryan Craig's Filthy Business, which was directed by Edward Hall. The play also starred Sara Kestelman, Ashley Martin-Davis, Louis Hilyer, Dorian Lough and Callie Cooke. Filthy Business opened to rave reviews with Callum's performance being critically highlighted as ‘sharply defined' in The Guardian, ‘glinting promise' in The Telegraph and ‘a fine performance' in The Financial Times. 

Will Young has dealt with huge changes both in his personal and professional life. The original Pop Idol winner turned writer and actor has had eight albums, four of which went to number one, won two brit awards and a Laurence Olivier nomination for his performance in Cabaret in the West End. He is currently starring in the one man play Song From Far Away at Hampstead Theatre in London and hosts his own podcast 'The Wellbeing Lab' which discusses mental health and wellbeing. He's also written five books including 'Anything is Possible', 'To Be a Gay Man' and 'Be Yourself and Happier, the A-Z of Wellbeing'.In this compelling episode, Will talks to Annie about his relationship with change, snobbery in music, courage and standing up to Simon Cowell, his childhood at boarding school, learning boundaries, his brother's suicide and his search for joy. You can listen to The Wellbeing Lab here:https://podfollow.com/1614065266/viewContent warning: this episode discusses suicide. Should you be affected by any of the issues raised in this episode, in the UK, The Samaritans can be reached on 116 123. Hotlines in other countries can be found here. Changes is a deaf friendly podcast, transcripts can be accessed here: https://www.anniemacmanus.com/changes Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Get ready for an episode filled with theatrical brilliance as Natalie and Darren delve into a wide range of incredible productions! They'll immerse themselves in the dazzling world of Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre, featuring a cast of theatre royalty including Daniel Mays, Andrew Richardson, Celinde Schoenmaker, Marisha Wallace, and Cedric Neal. Prepare to be enchanted by the classic charm and toe-tapping tunes of this beloved musical, promenade style. Next, they'll explore the comic gem How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at Southwark Playhouse, a delightful show that combines sharp wit, catchy songs, and uproarious humour and starring Olivier Award and Tony Award legend Tracie Bennett. Get ready to laugh out loud as they uncover the hilarious escapades of ambitious office worker J. Pierrepont Finch. Intrigue awaits as they discuss Philip Ridley's gripping narrative of memory, manipulation, and power in Leaves of Glass, which recently had a revival at Park Theatre. Brace yourself for a thought-provoking journey through the complexities of human relationships and the haunting echoes of the past starring Eastenders favourite actress Kacey Ainsworth. Prepare for laughter aplenty as they uncover London's bleaking hilarious new comedy, Bleak Expectations, based on the award-winning comedy by Mark Evans, with the talented Sally Phillips as our narrator. Join them at the Criterion Theatre for a rollicking adventure through the absurd and absurdly funny world of Dickensian parody. And don't miss the mesmerising performance by Dickie Beau in Re-Member Me at Hampstead Theatre, where he expertly channels the voices of past Hamlets in a captivating lip-sync show. Get ready to be swept away by the artistry and emotional depth of this truly unique theatrical experience. Tune in for an episode that celebrates the magic of the stage, showcasing a variety of genres and performances that will leave you entertained, inspired, and eager for your next theatre-going adventure.

Get ready for a captivating episode as Natalie and Darren dive into the mesmerising world of Re-Member Me. Join them as they discuss this unique show brought to life by the theatrical master of lip-sync, Dickie Beau, at Hampstead Theatre for a strictly limited run. Discover the process of building a human Hamlet mix-tape, where Dickie Beau takes recordings of great Hamlets from the past, including Sir Ian McKellen, Daniel Day Lewis, Richard Burton, and Ian Charleson, to channel them into an epic one-man lip-sync performance. But amidst the collection, there is one exceptional rendition that left an indelible mark on all who witnessed it—a ghost from Hamlet's past. However, this particular performance can never be "re-membered" because no recording of it exists. Prepare to be enthralled by the mysteries and artistry of this remarkable production. This episode also includes an exclusive interview with the show's creator, Dickie Beau, providing unique insights into the creation and inspiration behind Re-Member Me. Tune in for a thought-provoking and extraordinary episode that delves into the magic of theatre and the power of performance.

We talk to Hassan Akkad, who came to the UK as an asylum seeker from Syria and who earned a BAFTA for his BBC documentary ‘Exodus: Our Journey to Europe', which used real footage from his journey from Syria.  Hassan tells us about his short film, ‘Matar', which tells the story of a day in the life asylum-seeker Matar as he tries to survive in London without being able to work legally or have a bank account.   ‘Matar' stars Ahmed Malek, who recently starred in ‘The Swimmers', the feature film about the Mardini sisters escaping war-torn Syria.  Both superb swimmers, the sisters sought asylum in Germany and Yusra Mardini went on to earn an Olympic gold medal.  Hassan also tells us about projecting his short 90 second message ‘Led by Donkeys' onto the White Cliffs of Dover.  We also talk to Shomit Dutta, who wrote the play ‘Stumped' about an imaginary game of cricket between Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett, and to Andrew Lancel, who plays Pinter in the play. Who knew that Beckett, played in ‘Stumped' by Stephen Tompkinson, is the only Nobel Prize Winner to have an entry in Wisden?  Shomit and Andrew discuss the joys of cricket and the dramatic opportunities the game offers to explore the friendship between two of the greatest dramatists of our time. ‘Matar' can be viewed free here at Waterbear.com. ‘Stumped' plays at Theatre Royal Bath between 23rd and 27th May, at Cambridge Arts Theatre between 5th and 10th June and finally at the Hampstead Theatre in London between 16th June and the 22nd July.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram

In Episode One, we kick off the Old Fire Station's How to Write a Play course with Mike Bartlett. We discuss how to start a play, where they come from, and some exercises to use. We also talk about how playwrights and theatres can work together, and Mike answers your questions. Got a Question for Mike and Alex? Send us your updates and questions: info@oldfirestation.org.uk Show notes: Sarah Kane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Kane The Artist's Way: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/The-Artists-Way-by-Julia-Cameron/9781788164290 Royal Court Theatre: https://royalcourttheatre.com/ Hampstead Theatre: https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/ Headlong Theatre: https://www.headlong.co.uk/ The Stage - “Theatres told to stop ‘ghosting' playwrights”: https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/theatres-told-to-stop-ghosting-playwrights Support the Old Fire Station: https://oldfirestation.org.uk/support-us/ Transcript available here: https://oldfirestation.org.uk/our-work/how-to-write-a-play/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In episode 260 UNP founder and curator Grant Scott is in his shed reflecting on digital art, the AI debate and reasons why student degree shows exist. Plus this week, photographer John Haynes takes on the challenge of supplying Grant with an audio file no longer than 5 minutes in length in which he answer's the question ‘What Does Photography Mean to You?' John Haynes started taking photographs in 1963 after seeing Cartier-Bresson's book The Europeans. After working for two years with The Sunday Times, he decided to specialise in theatre photography. He was the in-house photographer for The Royal Court Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, and Michael Codron Ltd, from 1970-1994 , and between 1970 and 2006 photographed over 200 productions for The National Theatre. His most well-known images taken during his time were of the playwright Samuel Beckett. In 1986 Thames & Hudson published a book of Haynes theatre photography, called Taking the Stage: Twenty-One Years of the London Theatre, which was accompanied by an exhibition of his work at the National Theatre which later moved to the Colnaghi Gallery in New York, and then to The Moscow Arts Theatre. In 2003 Cambridge University Press published Haynes next book, Images of Beckett, with text by Samuel Beckett's biographer James Knowlson. https://johnhaynesphotography.net Dr. Grant Scott is the founder/curator of United Nations of Photography, a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, a working photographer, documentary filmmaker, BBC Radio contributor and the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was first screened in 2018 www.donotbendfilm.com. He is the presenter of the A Photographic Life and In Search of Bill Jay podcasts. © Grant Scott 2023

The Play Podcast - 061 - Sea Creatures by Cordelia Lynn Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Cordelia Lynn The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Cordelia Lynn's play Sea Creatures is a poetic exploration of loss and grief, its setting betwixt the sea and shore rich in metaphoric resonances. As we record this episode, Sea Creatures is playing at the Hampstead Theatre in London in a spellbinding production directed by James Macdonald. I am delighted to be joined by playwright Cordelia Lynn to talk about her fascinating new play.

David Keith Williamson was born in Melbourne on 24 February 1942 and brought up in Bairnsdale. He studied mechanical engineering and psychology at the University of Melbourne and Monash University, graduating in mechanical engineering in 1964. He lectured in both these subjects and worked as a design engineer for General Motors. His first play, The Indecent Exposure of Anthony East, was produced by the Tin Alley Players at Melbourne University's Union Theatre in 1968. David Williamson's career as a dramatist began when La Mama produced three of his short plays and The Coming of Stork in 1970, followed by The Removalists in 1971, launching him to become one of Australia's best known and most widely performed playwrights and one of Australia's leading screenwriters. Some of his more than fifty produced plays include Don's Party, The Department, The Club, Travelling North, The Perfectionist, Sons of Cain, Emerald City, Top Silk, Money & Friends, Sanctuary, Dead White Males, After the Ball, Face to Face, Up For Grabs, A Conversation, Charitable Intent, Soulmates, Birthrights, Amigos, Influence, Lotte's Gift, Scarlet O'Hara at the Crimson Parrot, Let the Sunshine, Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica, Don Parties On, At Any Cost? (co-written by Mohamed Khadra), When Dad Married Fury, Managing Carmen, Rupert, Cruise Control, Jack of Hearts, Odd Man Out, Sorting Out Rachel, Nearer the Gods, and Family Values.    His plays have been produced by all the major Australian theatre companies – with twenty Sydney Theatre Company productions and twenty-two at Sydney's Ensemble Theatre. His plays have been translated into many languages and performed internationally, including; The Removalists at Royal Court London, New York, Germany, France and Los Angeles; Don's Party at the Royal Court and in Scandinavia; The Club at Kennedy Center for Arts in Washington DC and then a Broadway transfer, Hampstead Theatre London, Toronto; The Perfectionist at Hampstead Theatre and the Spoleto Festival; Money & Friends in Los Angeles, and in Poland and Canada; Sanctuary in NZ, Antwerp, Belgium, Hong Kong and Singapore; Up For Grabs on the West End starring Madonna, and Rupert at the Kennedy Centre Washington DC in 2013. David has directed eight professional productions of his own work and written many radio dramas.  David has written (or co-written) fifteen feature films, including the original screenplays for Petersen, Eliza Fraser, (starring Susannah York) Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously (both starring Mel Gibson), Phar Lap and Balibo. His writing feature adaptations of his own plays include The Removalists, Don's Party, The Club, Travelling North, Emerald City and Sanctuary. For television he adapted On the Beach, wrote The Four Minute Mile, A Dangerous Life, The Perfectionist, and The Department. David was the first person outside Britain to receive the George Devine Award (for The Removalists). His many awards include twelve Australian Writers' Guild AWGIE Awards, five Australian Film Institutes' Awards for Best Screenplay and, in 1996 The United Nations Association of Australia Media Peace Award.  In 2005 he was awarded the Richard Lane Award for services to the Australian Writers' Guild. David has received four honorary doctorates and been made an Officer of the Order of Australia, as well as having been named one of Australia's Living National Treasures. David's memoir Home Truths was published by Harper Collins and shortlisted for the 2022 National Biography Award.A much lauded revival of his play Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica is currently playing a season at the Ensemble theatre in Sydney.The STAGES podcast is available to access and subscribe from Spotify and Apple podcasts. Or from wherever you access your favourite podcasts. A conversation with creatives about craft and career. Follow socials on instagram (stagespodcast) and facebook (Stages).www.stagespodcast.com.au

Rebecca Humphries had just celebrated her birthday when her world turned upside down. Pictures of her boyfriend, and his dance partner were leaked in the media, as they were competing in the popular show, Strictly Come Dancing. While Rebecca was utterly heartbroken, overwhelmed by news outlets and a heartless boyfriend, she decided to rise above it. Rebecca stood her ground, spoke her truth, and was able to overcome her abusive relationship and independently move on with her life. Listen to this episode and learn how Rebecca's tragedy turned out to be the best thing that happened to her life and career. Host Information:  Instagram: Dr Ramani's IG - @doctorramani Facebook: Dr Ramani's FB - @doctorramani Twitter: Dr Ramani's TW - @DoctorRamani  YouTube: Dr. Ramani's YT - DoctorRamani Guest Information: Instagram: Rebecca Humphries' IG - @beckshumps Twitter: Rebecca Humphries' Twitter -@beckshumps Book: Why Did You Stay?  The book is on sale in the US and Canada on January 17th and is available now to pre-order from all good booksellers, including (links below): Barnes & Noble Bookshop.org Amazon Guest Bio:  Rebecca Humphries' first book 'Why Did You Stay? A memoir about self worth' became an instant Sunday Times bestseller in July 2022. As an actress, she has played Carol Thatcher in 'The Crown', and stars in 'Ten Percent' - the UK remake of the smash French series 'Call My Agent'. She recently wrapped a performance in the play, Blackout Songs at London's Hampstead Theatre. I want to hear from you, too. Have a toxic topic you want me to explore? Email me at askdrramani@redtabletalk.com   I just might answer you questions on air.  This podcast should not be used as a substitute for medical or mental health advice. Individuals are advised to seek independent medical advice, counseling, and/or therapy from a health care professional with respect to any medical condition, mental health issue, or health inquiry, including matters discussed on this podcast. Navigating Narcissism is produced by Red Table Talk Podcasts. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jada Pinkett-Smith, Fallon Jethroe, Ellen Rakieten, and Dr. Ramani Durvasula. Also, PRODUCER: Matthew Jones, ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Mara De La Rosa. EDITORS AND AUDIO MIXERS: Devin Donaghy and Calvin Bailiff.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Tennant in ‘Good' at the Harold Pinter Theatre and why it's an important watch. Plus, does ‘Mary' at Hampstead Theatre need a trigger warning? This week the Evening Standard's chief theatre critic Nick Curtis is joined by Nancy Durrant, our culture editor, as they unpick two more interesting shows from London's stages.In this episode:Part 1: ‘Good' at the Harold Pinter TheatreThe very ‘good' German man who gradually changes to NazismDavid Tennant's "best friend" personality, his performance and career choicesElliot Levey and Sharon Small, plus the various roles they playWhy the play was revived and why it still feels current two years onWhy it's an important watch, rather than enjoyablePart 2: ‘Mary' at Hampstead TheatreDoes Mary need a trigger warning?What is Rona Munro's queen's tale about?The representation of Mary Stuart's terrible treatmentThe playwright Rona Munro and Mary as the sixth part of the trilogyGangs of London's Brian VernelWhy it "utterly failed to spark", and left Nick & Nancy feeling "flat"What shows are on in London in December? Well, this is your weekly Theatre Review from the Evening Standard.Visit standard.co.uk/culture or find us on Twitter #TheLeaderPodcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Kamila Shamsie's new novel Best of Friends follows two women from Pakistan who take different route to power. Rona Munro's new plays explore the courts of James IV and Mary Stuart. Caroline Moorehead has written a biography of Edda Mussolini, the Italian leader's favourite daughter. Anne McElvoy talks to them about power and influence past and present. Best of Friends by Kamila Shamsie is out now. You can hear her discussing her novel Home Fire and the Antigone story in a previous episode of Free Thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b095qhsm Edda Mussolini: The Most Dangerous Woman in Europe by Caroline Moorehead is out on October 27th 2022. James IV - Queen of the Fight by Rona Munro:is touring from Sept 30th to Nov 12th 2022 It is presented by Raw Material and Capital Theatres in association with National Theatre of Scotland www.capitaltheatres.com Mary by Rona Munro runs at the Hampstead Theatre in London from 21 Oct to 26 Nov 2022 www.hampsteadtheatre.com You can hear Rona discussing previous plays in the James trilogy and a drama inspired by Manchester in the Industrial Revolution in a previous episode of Free Thinking https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b050xpsd And Free Thinking has a playlist exploring Women in the World https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p084ttwp Producer: Ruth Watts

Sir Richard Eyre is one of the UK's most distinguished and celebrated directors - equally at home in theatre, film, and television. At the age of 79, he has just made his debut as a playwright with his new play, The Snail House, which has just opened at Hampstead Theatre. He talks to Samira about his late literary blooming and what needs to happen for theatre audiences to return to their pre-pandemic levels. The name Sylvia Anderson was recently invoked by Dr. Lisa Cameron MP, during a debate on gender equality in the media in Westminster Hall. The late Sylvia Anderson was a pioneer in the male dominated world of television, co-creating Thunderbirds in the 1960s with her then husband Gerry. But her family say her name has often been omitted from credits and merchandise in the years since then. Samira speaks to Sylvia's daughter Dee Anderson and Dame Heather Rabbatts, Chair of Time's Up UK, who are campaigning for her legacy to be restored and to Barbara Broccoli, producer of the James Bond films, who remembers Sylvia as her mentor. The French film director Jean-Luc Godard, who spearheaded the revolutionary French New Wave of cinema, has died at the age of 91. The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has described him as “a national treasure, a man who had the vision of a genius." French film critic Agnes Poirier guides us through Godard's long career, beginning with the classic, À bout de souffle (Breathless), and his influence on directors from Martin Scorsese to Quentin Tarantino. Producer: Kirsty McQuire

Episode 2 of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 series Today Louise chats with playwright, performer and director Isla Cowan about her new Edinburgh Festival Fringe show SHE WOLF. Along with chatting about Isla's activism and her process. SHE WOLF A fierce, ferocious monologue about getting f*cked over and fighting your way back. Spoken by a woman hiding out at the zoo, She Wolf tears open questions of gender and class in a capitalist world. What does it take to succeed when only the fittest survive? As Maggie's life falls apart, becoming animal is only human. Winner of the 2022 Assembly ART Award and the Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize. See She Wolf at Assembly Roxy @1.50pm 5th – 28th August 2022 (excluding 15th & 22nd) SHOW: assemblyfestival.com INSTAGRAM: @shewolfshow TWITTER: @SheWolfShow ISLA COWAN Isla is a Scottish playwright, performer and director, based in Edinburgh. She specialises in creating ecofeminist work and believes in theatre that challenges both its audience and its makers. Isla's recent work for stage includes, amongst others, Alright Sunshine (A Play, a Pie and a Pint @ Òran Mór), Daphne, or Hellfire (Pleasance and Assembly Roxy), Sno Wite and the Seven Dickensians (Strange Town / Scottish Storytelling Centre), The View from Portobello (Royal Lyceum), and BANTER (LYT/Traverse). Isla was selected as one of four playwrights to be mentored at Hampstead Theatre on the 2019 INSPIRE Playwrights Programme, mentored by Roy Williams, and was a Traverse Young Writer in 2021. She also makes digital and audio theatre, working with Strange Town, Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival and the Scottish Youth Theatre, on recent projects. Isla currently has plays in development with support from Creative Scotland, The Beacon Arts Centre and The Gaiety. While Isla performs and directs much of her own work, she also has her own directing practice. She has worked as an Assistant Director at The Traverse, Lyceum, Citizens, and Reading Rep, and has been Director on recent work for the Traverse, Beacon Arts Centre, and Creative Scotland. Isla regularly leads and facilitates workshops - particularly on environmental theatre and eco-dramaturgy - for all ages and stages. TWITTER: @islacowan INSTAGRAM: @isla_cowan PLANNED PARENTHOOD DONATE DONATE ABORTION SUPPORT NETWORK UK ASN.COM- DONATE LINKTREE P&N Linktr PayPal https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/persistentandnasty for those who can donate. A million thanks and love. Resources https://www.samaritans.org/?nation=scotland http://www.rapecrisisscotland.org.uk/ https://rapecrisisni.org.uk/ https://rapecrisis.org.uk/ https://www.artsminds.co.uk/ https://www.bapam.org.uk/ https://freelancersmaketheatrework.com/sexual-violence-support-services/ Stonewall UK Trevor Project Mermaids UK Switchboard LGBT+ GATE WeAudition offer: For 25% off your monthly subscription quote: NASTY25 Backstage Offers: Get a free 12 months Actor Subscription: https://join.backstage.com/persistentnasty-uk-12m-free/

Over the course of her career, Paulette Randall has made significant contributions to British theatre and television: from producing Desmond's to serving as Talawa's Artistic Director. Paulette also became the first Black British woman to direct a play in London's West End and was famously praised by August Wilson for her directorial work on his plays. TBB joins Paulette to discuss her work directing the upcoming production of Roy Williams' new play The Fellowship coming to the Hampstead Theatre this June.

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world's leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now. In this episode, Andrew is joined by Abi Morgan, author of This Is Not a Pity Memoir. Abi Morgan is a playwright and screenwriter. Her plays include Skinned, Sleeping Around, Splendour (Paines Plough), Tiny Dynamite (Traverse), Tender (Hampstead Theatre), Fugee (National Theatre), 27 (National Theatre of Scotland), Love Song (Frantic Assembly), and The Mistress Contract (Royal Court Theatre). Her television work includes My Fragile Heart, Murder, Sex Traffic, Tsunami—The Aftermath, White Girl, Royal Wedding, Birdsong, The Hour, River and The Split. Her film writing credits include Brick Lane, Iron Lady, Shame, The Invisible Woman, and Suffragette. She has a number of films currently in development and has won a number of awards, including Baftas and an Emmy for her film and TV work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The man who killed Gandhi is the subject of a new play opening at the National Theatre by Anupama Chandrasekhar. She's one of Rana Mitter's guests along with Balkrishna Doshi, a Riba Gold Medal winner for his buildings, which include low-cost housing and research into environmental design. He studied with Le Corbusier and historian Vikram Visana joins Rana to trace the links between Corbusier, Doshi and Charles Correa. And as she directs a new play at Hampstead Theatre, the Tamasha Theatre Artistic Director Pooja Ghai is also in the Free Thinking studio. The Father and the Assassin - a new play by Anupama Chandrasekhar runs at the National Theatre from 12 May Vikram Visana teaches at the University of Leicester. His research has included the work of architect Charles Correa (1930 -2015). Lotus Beauty by Satinder Chohan is directed by Pooja Ghai at the Hampstead Theatre from May 13th to June 18th. You can find Tamasha Theatre company's podcast dramas online at https://tamasha.org.uk/projects/the-waves/ https://www.architecture.com/awards-and-competitions-landing-page/awards/royal-gold-medal Producer: Tim Bano

Acclaimed writer and actress Alexis Zegerman joins me to discuss her new play at Hampstead Theatre, The Fever Syndrome and takes me through her work with Mike Leigh, her favourite film memories and some Dirty Dancing. Joe Cole talks accents in indie film One if These Days and not doing Michael Caine in The Ipcress File. I review Mexican drama Prayers for the Stolen.Music by Lee Rosevere. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week, we're reading a VERY new work from an award-winning playwright, Judy Upton! Judy has had a number of both plays and screenplays produced by companies like the Royal Court, National Theatre, and Hampstead Theatre. She also enjoys eating cucumber sandwiches at picnics. Her play, Ants at a Picnic, is set in May 2020 and involves two quarantined people on either side of the “should we keep staying home even when it seems like nobody else is” debate. Detours: Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (Ibram X. Kendi), 100 Humans (Netflix) Contact Judy Upton: judyuptonwriter@gmail.com Writing and music submissions: tglsubmit@gmail.com Become one of our producers on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/thegreenlight Make a one-time donation on PayPal at tglsubmit@gmail.com! Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-green-light/id1512027038 Follow The Green Light on social media! Twitter: @tgl_pod https://twitter.com/tgl_pod Instagram: @tgl_pod https://www.instagram.com/tgl_pod/ Facebook: @greenlightpod https://www.facebook.com/greenlightpod Lauren Hunkele: @hunkeleberry (Twitter/Instagram) Jackson Campbell: @j_woodward_c (Twitter/Instagram)

When it comes to potty training, we unpick the fads from what works. Rebecca Mottram, a children's nurse who now runs her own business teaching potty training and Christina Hardyment, author of Dream Babies help us to work out the dos and don'ts - and what has changed over the years. Netflix's new comedy film Wine Country stars Amy Poehler and Tina Fey as friends who go away to the Napa Valley to celebrate a 50th birthday. During the course of the weekend, wine is drunk, singing and dancing ensue - and, tensions arise. We discuss why trips with female friends so often follow this formula with actor, Arabella Weir and Tianna Johnson, the founder of Black Girls Camping Trip. A play, loosely based on Thomas Hardy's 1895 tragic novel Jude the Obscure, has opened at the Hampstead Theatre in London. In this version Jude is a woman, a cleaner, a Syrian refugee who dreams of studying Classics at Oxford University. Actor, Isabella Nefar is joined by Karin Koehler, editor of the Thomas Hardy journal and a lecturer at Bangor University to discuss the challenge of re-working well-known characters for the stage. And, reporter Henrietta Harrison hears about a new libretto by Sheila Hill, performed by a community choir of women and children trained by Glyndebourne opera house in Sussex. Presenter: Jenni Murray Producer: Ruth Watts

Playwright Howard Brenton and director Adrian Noble discuss stage plays drawing on the life of TE Lawrence. Journalist John Preston has explored MP Jeremy Thorpe's downfall. And Philip Dodd is joined by Chris Bryant for a wider discussion about privacy in public life. And Mary Beard joins us to discuss another imperial endeavour, Rome. Howard Brenton's new play Lawrence After Arabia runs at the Hampstead Theatre from April 28th to June 4th. Adrian Noble is directing Terence Rattigan's play Ross at Chichester Theatre from 3rd to 25th June. John Preston's book is called A Very English Scandal. Mary Beard's Rome: Empire without limit continues on BBC 2 at 9pm on Wednesday 5th May Producer: Ruth Watts