English playwright (1930-2008)
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3 episodes with Harold Pinter
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3 episodes with Harold Pinter
Nobel Prize-winning dramatist Harold Pinter's London premiere of his debut, ‘The Birthday Play' was detested by most critics - on 19th May, 1958. Set in a mundane seaside boarding house, the play initially lures audiences in with a naturalistic facade, before plunging them into a perplexing, uncomfortable narrative. Critics lambasted the production for its nonsensical dialogue and lack of clarity; lines of attack which were not eased by Pinter's lifelong refusal to offer explanations. The sole exception was a positive review from The Sunday Times's Harold Hobson - but this was printed after the show had already been pulled. In this episode, The Retrospectors explain how Pinter's play nonetheless left a lasting impact on British theatre; reveal who ‘Betrayal' was REALLY about; and attempt to quantify the value of the Pinteresque pause... Further Reading: • ‘Hated by critics, the new boy Harold Pinter' (Sunday Times, 1958): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/from-the-archive-hated-by-critics-the-new-boy-harold-pinter-wjj2mssv8vp • ‘Fighting talk' (The Guardian, 2008): https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/may/03/theatre.stage • ‘The Birthday Party, By Harold Pinter' (BBC, 1987): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vbXyXeEDhU&t=64s Love the show? Support us! Join
És quan dormo que hi veig clar. Crítica teatral de l'obra «Una mena d'Alaska», de Harold Pinter. Traducció de l'anglès de Cristina Genebat. Música original: Aida Oset. Intèrprets: Mireia Aixalà, Andrés Corchero, Carles Martínez i Aida Oset. Coreografia: Andrés Corchero. Escenografia: Sílvia Delagneau. Vestuari: Maria Armengol. Caracterització: Núria Llunell. Il·luminació: Jaume Ventura. Vídeo: Anna Oset. Espai sonor: Damien Bazin. Ajudanta d'escenografia: Bàrbara Roig. Alumnes en pràctiques de l'ITB: Pau Sanroman (vestuari) i Marina Valls (direcció). I els equips del Teatre Lliure. Agraïments: Núria Botia, Iris Abancó, Marine Zimmer, Violeta Sugranyes, Pepe Hernández i Òptica Sanabre. Producció: Teatre Lliure. Ajudanta de direcció: Rita Molina Vallicrosa. Direcció: Ivan Benet. Espai Lliure, Teatre Lliure Montjuïc, Barcelona, 9 maig 2025. Veu: Andreu Sotorra. Música: Tema musical. Interpretació: Aida Oset. Composició: Aida Ost i Damien Bazen. Àlbum: Una mena d'Alaska, 2025.
In this week's episode, Patrick and Tommie discuss how not to lose one's dog, herd reindeer with the Finnish Lapphund, celebrate the birthdays of the world's greatest playwright and one of the worst U.S. Presidents not named Donald, mark the passing of Pope Francis and review his record on LGBTQIA issues, watch the first YouTube video, rock with the Ramones, Tommie finds a way to make sense of Harold Pinter but can't make sense of the U.S. Supreme Court, Patrick describes how we now live under a fascist government, Tommie spills the tea on the latest winner of RuPaul's Drag Race, Patrick reviews the films Heretic and September 5, they chat on Signal about Stupid Person Pete Hegseth, and name their favorite Shakespeare plays.
#623 Harold Pinter will never be dead ... I'll tell you what I mean.
Hoy en Cultura Rápida descubrimos Piedra, papel, patín, el nuevo podcast de Radio 3 Extra sobre la cultura del skate, con Alfredo Moral.Charlamos con Beatriz Argüello, directora de Viejos Tiempos de Harold Pinter, en cartel en el Teatro de la Abadía.Nazanin Armanian nos presenta Eterna anochecer (Gallo Nero), la poesía completa de la cineasta y poeta Forugh Farrojzad, recuperada en el año en que habría cumplido 90 años.Y en Barra Libre, Aloma Rodríguez nos acerca Días lentos, malas compañías (Colectivo Bruxista), donde Eve Babitz retrata un Hollywood tan fascinante como despiadado.Escuchar audio
Hoy está con nosotros Beatriz Argüello, la directora de la obra 'Viejos Tiempos' de Harold Pinter que se representa en el Teatro Abadía.Conocemos la historia de tres personas complejas que luchan por encontrar espacios comunes en los que reconstruir un pasado borroso.Escuchar audio
Nos visita Ernesto Alterio que acaba de estrenar en el teatro 'Viejos tiempos' del premio nobel Harold Pinter, una obra sobre las relaciones de pareja y la incomunicación. Sobre parejas y miserias hemos hablado con Fernando Aramburu. El autor de 'Patria' acaba de publicar 'Hombre caído', su nuevo libro de relatos
La memoria y la indeterminación, dos de los pilares del teatro de Harold Pinter, llegan a la escena madrileña con Viejos tiempos, dirigida por Beatriz Argüello en el Teatro de la Abadía. Ernesto Alterio (Deeley), Marta Belenguer (Anna) y Mélida Molina (Kate) interpretan esta historia en la que el pasado y el presente se entrelazan de manera ambigua, cuestionando la fiabilidad de los recuerdos y la naturaleza de las relaciones humanas.Desde Madrid viajamos a Toronto con Laura Fernández para descubrir a la escritora Rivka Galchen, una autora imprescindible cuya obra mezcla el humor y la reflexión. También analizamos la serie Adolescence, el nuevo estreno de Netflix que explora la complejidad de crecer en la era digital.En el ámbito de la fotografía, Joan Fontcuberta presenta en Tabakalera, Donosti, la exposición Monstrorum historia, donde reúne cuatro proyectos que exploran la relación entre imagen, tecnología y verdad. En esta muestra, se combinan creaciones con inteligencia artificial y obras de su etapa predigital, en una reflexión sobre los límites de lo real.El arte barroco tiene un lugar especial en el Museo Nacional de Catalunya con una gran exposición sobre Francisco de Zurbarán y su legado en el arte contemporáneo. La muestra reúne por primera vez las tres versiones de San Francisco de Asís según la visión del papa Nicolás V, una obra cumbre del pintor sevillano, gracias a la colaboración de tres importantes pinacotecas europeas.Escuchar audio
El actor presenta 'Viejos tiempos' del premio Nobel británico, que juega con el misterio y los recuerdos, las contradicciones y la propia confusión de los personajes para componer una obra compleja, sobre la memoria y la incomunicación en las relaciones de pareja, que interpela directamente al espectador. Conversamos con el actor y con la directora Beatriz Argüello, que acaban de estrenar el montaje en el teatro de La Abadía y que después saldrá de gira
We have actor, presenter, and national treasure Danny Dyer round for lunch this week. Mum wondered who would out swear each other over the meal, but we were both on our best behaviour! We learned about his close relationship with playwright Harold Pinter, his love of his mum's shepherds pie, his thoughts on being related to the royals, his plans to open a Kent caravan park with his daughter Dani, and we discover his starter of choice for a burger is… another burger! We can't wait to pop down to the caravan park for a holiday, save a spot for us Dyers! Danny's new film ‘Marching Powder' is in cinemas now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week on Screentime John Fardy talks to the one and only Danny Dyer about his new movie ‘Marching Powder' as well as his love of Harold Pinter, the need for men to talk and what Eastenders thought him about the business. Plus, Ciara Treacy reports on the fallout from this week's Oscars.
Margaret Atwood via Harold Pinter? Volker Schlöndorff's 1990 adaptation of what's become a feminist classic promises “a haunting tale of sexuality in a country gone wrong”. So there's that for starters. Will Mick, Hannah and Jen get onboard with Schlöndorff's vision of Gilead and what happens to the women living in it, or will they, like Pinter, find it all very tiring? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Welcome back to Morgan Hasn't Seen with Jeannine Brice & Morgan Robinson!!Step into springtime and revel in the Regency era this March on Morgan Hasn't Seen as Jeannine is introducing Morgan to the world of Jane Austen adaptations!They kick the series off this week with a seemingly rather controversial adaptation of perhaps Jane Austen most controversial, and autobiographical novel, MANSFIELD PARK (1999) starring Frances O'Conner, Jonny Lee Miller, Embeth Davitz, Alessandro Nivola & Harold Pinter!Bold, outspoken Fanny Price is sent to live with wealthy cousins and learns the importance of true honesty, integrity, and natural love, while battling for her viewpoints to be heard!Our YouTube Channel for all our regular videos:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvACMX8jX1qQ5ClrGW53vowDonate:https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ItsAWonderful1Join our Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/ItsAWonderful1IT'S A WONDERFUL PODCAST STORE:https://www.teepublic.com/user/g9designSub to the feed and download now on all major podcast platforms and be sure to rate, review and SHARE AROUND!!Keep up with us on (X) Twitter:Podcast:https://twitter.com/ItsAWonderful1Morgan:https://twitter.com/Th3PurpleDonJeannine:https://twitter.com/JeannineDaBean_Keep being wonderful!!
Anjli Mohindra is a brilliant actor, not only Martin's wife in The Fear (coming to screens soon), but she tried to resuscitate him in Vigil, stormed it in The Lazarus Project and is currently on stage at the Harold Pinter in Annie Ernaux's The Years. Anjli talks about meeting Martin on the set of Vigil, the challenges of quirky cars, intimate scenes, her brave and brilliant role in The Years, giving a stunt driver a hernia, and the belief in destiny.Make sure you subscribe and leave a 5 star review! If you'd like to share the times you've been a resourceful rascal, or want to get in touch, send an email to Hello@RestlessNativesPodcast.comPlease review Global's Privacy Policy: https://global.com/legal/privacy-policy
Today we're honoured to be joined by a Chef who's worked for the greats, a TV star who's created 9 TV series of his own, an author who's written 5 award wining cookbooks - but most importantly he's Ben's Hero - in the gloriously charming - Valentine Warner! We discuss his crazy upbringing which often saw him sat round the table debating with Harold Pinter whilst sampling his mums genius culinary creations, his tough years at school where he was bullied and called 'Fat Val' which led him to skip sports in the afternoons and instead steal the local trout farmers fish before he was whipped within an inch of his life, his career as a chef working for Alistair Little and getting brutally rejected by Rick Stein, setting up his catering company which became famous in London and catered all the high end fashion parties of the 90s including an infamous incident with Kate Moss one evening at a Rimmel party, ruining a member of the royal families birthday with the worst cake ever invented, illegal fishing trips to India, his regrets on not making more of his 9 TV series, his amazing new spirits company 'Hepple', his new project 'Kitchen In The Wild' where you escape on a luxury week away into Kenya to be cooked food by Jackson Boxer and much much more........ ------- Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show. If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges. Just £49 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that's always there, in person when you need it. Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you're live in just 2 hours. Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com/ @valentinewarner49 @kitchenitw www.kichenithewild.org @hepple_spirits Www.hepplespirits.com Valentine Warner Food YouTube
We're honoured to have the great Dame Penelope Wilton as our very special guest on Rosebud today, in a rare podcast interview for this distinguished and well-loved actress. Penelope talks to Gyles about her happy childhood, in and around Knightsbridge and Kensington in London - we find out about her interesting neighbours, Mr Onion and the one-armed colonel. She tells Gyles about her mother's illness and her unhappy time at boarding school. She talks about her drama school days, and her breakthrough role in Harold Pinter's classic play Betrayal at the National Theatre. She talks about the roles on TV which made her a household name: Ever Decreasing Circles and, more recently, Afterlife. We're delighted to give Rosebud listeners the chance to spend time with this delightful, talented performer. Enjoy this. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Participants: John Steppling, Shaenah Batterson, Lex Steppling, Hiroyuki Hamada, Max Parry, and Dennis Riches. Final podcast of 2024. Topics covered: The “canon” of television serials: The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Lost. Also mentioned: Blood in, Blood Out, Snowfall, Homicide--Life in the Street, Quarry. Related works in film and theater: The Caretaker (play by Harold Pinter), The Godfather, Goodfellas, The Mission, Stalker (directed by Andrei Tarkovsky). Music track: “Every Day I Have the Blues” by Count Basie (public domain).
On this Giving Tuesday, donate what you can to a theatre in need, wild project! Ani Mari de Quesada chats with Sarah about the importance of local theatre on the Lower East Side. Ana Mari has been the producing Artistic Director at wild project since its opening in July 2007. As Producing Artistic Director Ana Mari has formed creative partnerships with the Current Sessions, Poetic Theater Productions, Contemporary Performance, New York No Limits, International Human Rights Art Festival, Angela DiCarlo, Jill Pangallo, Heather Litteer & Amber Martin. She has also helped develop the East Village Queer Film Festival as part of wild project's Queer Initiative. Previously, Ana Mari was the Studio Administrator at The Actors Studio from 2013-2016. Ana Mari has worked as a Production Manager & Production Stage Manager on countless New York theatrical productions such as The Actors Studio productions of The Danube byMaria Irene Fornes, Mud by Maria Irene Fornes , The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis (La MaMa), First Born by Lyle Kessler , and Old Times by Harold Pinter. Ana Mari has also worked as a Production Manager for Rattlestick Playwrights Theater productions of my Lingerie Play by Diana Oh, Until The Flood byDael Orlandersmith, Draw The Circle by Mashuq Deen. & The Enclave by Arthur Laurent. She has also toured with Big Art Group as their Assistant Technical Director and Production Manager on North America & European tours of House of No More, Dead Set, S.O.S., The People and Cinema Fury from 2005-2012. Ana Mari is also the Repertory Season Academic Manager at The Actors Studio Drama School MFA Program, Sands College of Performing Arts, Pace University. Since 2007, wild project has presented and produced theater that enriches, educates, and unifies its East Village community in an environmentally responsible green space. We proudly devote specific initiatives toward female, LGBTQIA+ and BIPOC projects and the work of local East Village artists, to ensure nonprofit theater sustains its roots in the community. wild project places the utmost importance on engendering a climate that supports emerging artists and cultivates artistic excellence, enriching the community and promoting social equity. Our staff takes pride in nurturing new and exciting work with a personal and intimate approach to theater. DONATE TODAY TO HELP WILD PROJECT www.thewildproject.org Connect with GOOD SHOW! Instagram: @goodshowpodcast Tik Tok: @goodshowpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Elaine's spite takes over as she travels to India for the wedding of her rival, Sue Ellen Mischke. This groundbreaking episode is known as the "Backwards Episode" since it takes on the structure of Harold Pinter's play of the same name. JLD has one of her best performances of the entire series in this one and I cannot get enough of Drunk Elaine. Insta - @hotheavyelaine TikTok - @elainebenespodcast Email - elainepodcast@gmail.com
Elegant. That was the adjective used by Team Vintage Sand's own Michael Edmund to describe why the films of Joseph Losey are so important to him, and why he has been such a huge fan of Losey's for nearly all of his film-going life. Losey's was a name that seemed to keep popping up in a wide variety of contexts over the course of the podcast, so, after many delays, we are proud to present Episode 54—Director's Cut: Joseph Losey. Losey's is a unique career in the sense that it really was two distinct careers. After growing up in a life of privilege in Wisconsin (where he was a high school classmate of another pretty good director, Nicholas Ray) and an education at Harvard and Dartmouth, Losey made his way to Hollywood and directed a couple of interesting, low-budget films. Among these were the stilted but prescient "The Boy with Green Hair" (1948), and the rather senseless remake of Lang's "M" (1951), the latter replete with awful soundtrack music and LA sunshine. One possible reason that Losey might have gotten involved with this misguided effort might have been to give actors (Luther Adler, Martin Gabel) and other creatives (screenwriter Waldo Salt), who had been or were about to be blacklisted, a shot at getting some work. Losey himself, an unapologetic member of the Communist Party and an important creative associate of Bertolt Brecht, knew that when Brecht was called before HUAC, it was only a matter of time before he would meet the same fate. So before he could be summoned, he fled to London, and never again worked in the United States for the remaining three decades of his life. He began his English period with some low budget films, some of which, like 1954's "The Sleeping Tiger", still hold some interest. It was during this period, however, that he met two men who were going to help him create the reputation that he still carries to this day, that of a director of great style whose films, not surprisingly given his own life experience, were always political without ever dealing directly with politics: the actor Dirk Bogarde, and the legendary playwright Harold Pinter. Their first work together, 1963's "The Servant", is generally regarded as Losey's masterpiece. It is an absolute evisceration of a rotting class system that has yet to realize its time has passed and that the empire on which it was founded has disintegrated. The complex, ever-changing relationship between upper class twit Tony (the wonderful James Fox) and Barrett, the manservant Tony hires (Bogarde), is cold, chilling and surprising right to the very end. Losey continued his obsession with social class in the World War I drama "King and Country" (1964), a film with a setup similar to "Paths of Glory" that in some ways is an even more powerful anti-war statement than Kubrick's film. Losey teamed up again, somewhat less successfully, with Pinter and Bogarde for 1967's "Accident", and with Pinter for one more masterpiece, 1971's "The Go-Between", a gorgeous period piece featuring pitch-perfect performances by Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton, newcomer Dominic Guard as the titular young man, and especially by the never-more-luminous Julie Christie. There are no easy answers when it comes to Losey, but two things come to mind. As John notes in the episode, had Losey not fled persecution and stayed in America, he probably would have been nothing more than a more-talented-than-average studio hack. Exile turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to him, and it may be a direct result of his outsider status that Losey was able to cast an even sharper eye on the follies and perils of the dying English class system more effectively even than the great native British directors of the 1960's. Whatever your thoughts on his work, in the end, it is that aforementioned elegance and intelligence that make Losey's best films worth watching today.
Marina de Tavira es una actriz mexicana de teatro, cine y televisión. Se ha desarrollado principalmente en los escenarios del teatro mexicano, trabajando con los directores más prestigiosos. Ha protagonizado textos de autores como Bertolt Brecht, Harold Pinter, David Mamet, Ximena Escalante, David Hevia, y más.Entre sus últimos trabajos en televisión se encuentran “Ingobernable” para Netflix y “Falco” para Amazon. Ha sido nominada por distintas asociaciones de periodistas teatrales en México y a las Diosas de Plata por su trabajo en el cine.Formó Incidente Teatro junto con Enrique Singer, desde donde han producido “Tragaluz”, “El Río”, “Traición”, “Crímenes del Corazón”, “La Mujer Justa”, “La Anarquista” y “Obsesión”.En cine ha trabajado con directores como Issa López, Rodrigo Plá, Carlos Carrera, Mariana Chenillo, Hari Sama y Alfonso Cuarón. Marina fue nominada al Óscar en 2019 como Mejor Actriz de Reparto por su interpretación del papel de “Sofía” en la multipremiada “Roma”. Por este mismo papel, Marina se hizo acreedora a un Ariel en la categoría de Mejor Coactuación Femenina en la edición 2019 de los galardones más importantes en el cine mexicano.En 2024, protagonizó “El Aroma del Pasto Recién Cortado” de Celina Murga, película producida por el afamado director Martin Scorsese. Además, forma parte del elenco de la puesta en escena de “Un Tranvía Llamado Deseo”.Síguenos en redes:http://instagram.com/cableatierrapodhttp://facebook.com/cableatierrapodcasthttp://instagram.com/tanialicious Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
On this episode, we were joined by the iconic actor, writer, and filmmaker Richard Ayoade to discuss his latest comic novel, The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, a fictional accounting of his quest to canonise the most significant British playwright of the 20th century (who also happens to be entirely made up). Richard spoke to us about the figures that influenced the invention of Hughes–among them Harold Pinter and Orson Welles–and the ill-fated film Hughes authored, "O Bedlam, O Bedlam", which stopped the prolific playwright from ever writing again. He expressed scepticism about the myths and exaggerations that create "great lost works" and literary recluses and discussed why it is important to approach comic writing from the inside out rather than trying to make fun of your characters. For good measure, we also discuss his deep love of "Spinal Tap", Joan Didion, and the time he spent acting in Wes Anderson's "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar."
Carol Baum has produced thirty-four movies, seventeen of them independently. Before becoming an independent producer, Baum was co-president of Sandollar Productions, Dolly Parton and Sandy Gallin's production company, for ten years, where she produced such hits as Father of the Bride; the Academy Award-winning HBO documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt; Tidy Endings; I.Q.; Jacknife; True Identity; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Gross Anatomy; Shining Through; Straight Talk; and Kicking and Screaming. As an indie producer, Baum made, among other movies, The Good Girl; My First Mister; $5 A Day; You Kill Me; and Boychoir. She has produced five television movies for Hallmark and several documentaries. Baum currently teaches producing in the Film and Television Production Division at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. She is also a mentor for the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC. In this episode, we talk about: • The lesson she learned working at her first job at Bantam Books which led to the purchase and development of the autobiography of Malcolm X • Being an advocate for the material and develop your taste • Getting pregnant and working freelance for awhile • Her 5 years at Palomar Pictures working on projects like The Stepford Wives and then moving to LA with her husband and becoming the studio VP at Lorimar • Becoming known for developing “The Shining” at the Producer's Circle • Being a VP at 20th Century Fox and what she sees as the difference between a producer and an Executive • Working at Dolly Parton's company Sandollar • How The Fountainhead made her love the business and why she thinks its important for young producers to watch movies from the 40s and 50s • Meeting a hero, playwright Harold Pinter, and what it taught her to avoid in meetings with writers • The story of developing with Father of the Bride and getting the rights from Ted Turner, the invention of Martin Short's character, and how Jack Nicholson was thrown as a possibility for Steve Martin's role • Developing multiple projects as a producer and how it's all about timing. She said that if David Cronenberg hadn't had success with The Fly, he wouldn't have been able to do Dead Ringers. • Her recommendations for writers on what is commercially viable right now • Carol's explanation for spec scripts for films • Her recommendation for writers on how to get an agent Guest: IMDb Wikipedia Website Buy her book! Host: Instagram: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneMiller Twitter: @MentorsontheMic @MichelleSimoneM Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mentorsonthemic Website: www.michellesimonemiller.com and www.mentorsonthemic.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/24mmichelle If you like this episode, check out Excerpt from Creative Producing: a Pitch-to-Picture Guide to Movie Development by Carol Baum The Do's and Don'ts of PITCHING YOUR FILM with Hollywood Producer Carol Baum --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michelle-miller4/support
The Prime Minister's chief of staff Sue Gray has left her post and has been replaced by Morgan McSweeney. It's led some papers to claim "the lads have won this round". To discuss, Nuala McGovern is joined by Caroline Slocock, former civil servant and author of Margaret Thatcher and Me, which reflects on women and power. Actor Cush Jumbo has reprised the role of Lady Macbeth alongside David Tennant in Macbeth which has just transferred to the Harold Pinter theatre in London. She joins Nuala to discuss how she is approaching one of Shakespeare's most famous female characters. A recent government survey showed a sharp decline in the number of female-led businesses. Last year, only 15% of businesses employing fewer than 250 people were owned or led by women, down from 18% in 2022. Debbie Wosskow, serial entrepreneur and co-chair of the Invest in Women Taskforce, joins Nuala. Kate Mosse is soon to release The Map of Bones, the fourth and final instalment in her series of novels The Joubert Family Chronicles, which begin in 1562 and follow a persecuted Huguenot family, charting generations of courageous and resilient women. Adventurer Elise Wortley is following in the footsteps of forgotten female explorers… all whilst wearing the same, historically accurate clothing. She joins Nuala to tell her more about her mission. Presenter: Nuala McGovern Producer: Emma Pearce
Seinfeld: "The Betrayal" In one of the most famous sitcom episodes of all time, Seinfeld tells the story of a wedding in India, spraypainted Timberlands, peach schnapps, an evil birthday wish, and of course, many many betrayals... all in reverse order! We talk about this episode's roots in Harold Pinter's play of the same name, along with the complexity--and money--only a popular show in its final season could pull off. Plus, we dig into the bad (the unsurprisingly rough humor around India) and the good (Julia Louis-Dreyfus's drunk acting, Jason Alexander in a t-shirt on a cold set, etc.) A proud part of The Glitterjaw Queer Podcast Collective Tip us on Ko-Fi | Gimmicks Website Email: gimmickspodcast@gmail.com | Twitter: @gimmickspod | Instagram: @gimmickspod Theme song: "Disco Tears" by Raven | Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Sources: Cracked's Oral History on "The Betrayal" David Lynch Cigarette Commercial Harold Pinter and Charlie Rose Interview
This week on the blog, a podcast interview with playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher on Columbo, Sherlock Holmes, favorite mysteries and more!LINKSA Free Film Book for You: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/cq23xyyt12Another Free Film Book: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/x3jn3emga6Fast, Cheap Film Website: https://www.fastcheapfilm.com/Jeffrey Hatcher Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.hatcher.3/The Good Liar (Trailer): https://youtu.be/ljKzFGpPHhwMr. Holmes (Trailer): https://youtu.be/0G1lIBgk4PAStage Beauty (Trailer): https://youtu.be/-uc6xEBfdD0Columbo Clips from “Ashes to Ashes”Clip One: https://youtu.be/OCKECiaFsMQClip Two: https://youtu.be/BbO9SDz9FEcClip Three: https://youtu.be/GlNDAVAwMCIEli Marks Website: https://www.elimarksmysteries.com/Albert's Bridge Books Website: https://www.albertsbridgebooks.com/YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/BehindthePageTheEliMarksPodcastTRANSCRIPTJohn: Can you remember your very first mystery, a movie, book, TV show, play, a mystery that really captured your imagination? Jeffrey: You know, I was thinking about this, and what came to mind was a Disney movie called Emile and the Detectives from 1964. So, I would have been six or seven years old. It's based on a series of German books by Eric Kastner about a young man named Emile and his group of friends who think of themselves as detectives. So, I remember that—I know that might've been the first film. And obviously it's not a play because, you know, little kids don't tend to go to stage thrillers or mysteries and, “Daddy, please take me to Sleuth.But there was a show called Burke's Law that I really loved. Gene Barry played Captain Amos Burke of the Homicide Division in Los Angeles, and he was very rich. That was the bit. The bit was that Captain Burke drove around in a gorgeous Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, and he had a chauffeur. And every mystery was structured classically as a whodunit.In fact, I think every title of every episode was “Who Killed Cock Robin?” “Who Killed Johnny Friendly?” that kind of thing. And they would have a cast of well-known Hollywood actors, so they were all of equal status. Because I always think that's one of the easiest ways to guess the killer is if it's like: Unknown Guy, Unknown Guy, Derek Jacobi, Unknown Guy, Unknown Guy. It's always going to be Derek Jacobi. John: Yeah, it's true. I remember that show. He was really cool. Jim: Well, now I'm going to have to look that up.Jeffrey: It had a great score, and he would gather all of the suspects, you know, at the end of the thing. I think my favorite was when he caught Paul Lynde as a murderer. And, of course, Paul Lynde, you know, kept it very low key when he was dragged off. He did his Alice Ghostly impersonation as he was taken away.John: They did have very similar vocal patterns, those two.Jeffrey: Yep. They're kind of the exact same person. Jim: I never saw them together. John: You might have on Bewitched. Jim: You're probably right.Jeffrey: Well, I might be wrong about this, either Alice Ghostly or Charlotte Ray went to school with Paul Lynde. And Charlotte Ray has that same sound too. You know, kind of warbly thing. Yes. I think they all went to Northwestern in the late 40s and early 50s. So maybe that was a way that they taught actors back then. John: They learned it all from Marion Horne, who had the very same warble in her voice. So, as you got a little older, were there other mysteries that you were attracted to?Jeffrey: Yeah. Luckily, my parents were very liberal about letting me see things that other people probably shouldn't have. I remember late in elementary school, fifth grade or so, I was reading Casino Royale. And one of the teachers said, “Well, you know, most kids, we wouldn't want to have read this, but it's okay if you do.”And I thought, what's that? And I'm so not dangerous; other kids are, well they would be affected oddly by James Bond? But yeah, I, I love spy stuff. You know, The Man from Uncle and The Wild Wild West, all those kind of things. I love James Bond. And very quickly I started reading the major mysteries. I think probably the first big book that I remember, the first novel, was The Hound of the Baskervilles. That's probably an entrance point for a lot of kids. So that's what comes in mind immediately. Jim: I certainly revisit that on—if not yearly basis, at least every few years I will reread The Hound of the Baskervilles. Love that story. That's good. Do you have, Jeffrey, favorite mystery fiction writers?Jeffrey: Oh, sure. But none of them are, you know, bizarre Japanese, Santa Domingo kind of writers that people always pull out of their back pockets to prove how cool they are. I mean, they're the usual suspects. Conan Doyle and Christie and Chandler and Hammett, you know, all of those. John Dickson Carr, all the locked room mysteries, that kind of thing. I can't say that I go very far off in one direction or another to pick up somebody who's completely bizarre. But if you go all the way back, I love reading Wilkie Collins.I've adapted at least one Wilkie Collins, and they read beautifully. You know, terrifically put together, and they've got a lot of blood and thunder to them. I think he called them sensation novels as opposed to mysteries, but they always have some mystery element. And he was, you know, a close friend of Charles Dickens and Dickens said that there were some things that Collins taught him about construction. In those days, they would write their novels in installments for magazines. So, you know, the desire or the need, frankly, to create a cliffhanger at the end of every episode or every chapter seems to have been born then from a capitalist instinct. John: Jeff, I know you studied acting. What inspired the move into playwriting?Jeffrey: I don't think I was a very good actor. I was the kind of actor who always played older, middle aged or older characters in college and high school, like Judge Brack in Hedda Gabler, those kind of people. My dream back in those days was to play Dr. Dysart in Equus and Andrew Wyke in Sleuth. So, I mean, that was my target. And then I moved to New York, and I auditioned for things and casting directors would say, “Well, you know, we actually do have 50 year old actors in New York and we don't need to put white gunk in their hair or anything like that. So, why don't you play your own age, 22 or 23?” And I was not very good at playing 22 or 23. But I'd always done some writing, and a friend of mine, Graham Slayton, who was out at the Playwrights Center here, and we'd gone to college together. He encouraged me to write a play, you know, write one act, and then write a full length. So, I always say this, I think most people go into the theater to be an actor, you know, probably 98%, and then bit by bit, we, you know, we peel off. We either leave the profession completely or we become directors, designers, writers, what have you. So, I don't think it's unnatural what I did. It's very rare to be like a Tom Stoppard who never wanted to act. It's a lot more normal to find the Harold Pinter who, you know, acted a lot in regional theaters in England before he wrote The Caretaker.Jim: Fascinating. Can we talk about Columbo?Jeffrey: Oh, yes, please. Jim: This is where I am so tickled pink for this conversation, because I was a huge and am a huge Peter Falk Columbo fan. I went back and watched the episode Ashes To Ashes, with Patrick McGowan that you created. Tell us how that came about. Jeffrey: I too was a huge fan of Columbo in the 70s. I remember for most of its run, it was on Sunday nights. It was part of that murder mystery wheel with things like Hec Ramsey and McCloud, right? But Columbo was the best of those, obviously. Everything, from the structure—the inverted mystery—to thw guest star of the week. Sometimes it was somebody very big and exciting, like Donald Pleasence or Ruth Gordon, but often it was slightly TV stars on the skids.John: Jack Cassidy, Jim: I was just going to say Jack Cassidy.Jeffrey: But at any rate, yeah, I loved it. I loved it. I remembered in high school, a friend and I doing a parody of Columbo where he played Columbo and I played the murderer of the week. And so many years later, when they rebooted the show in the nineties, my father died and I spent a lot of time at the funeral home with the funeral director. And having nothing to say to the funeral director one day, I said, “Have you got the good stories?”And he told me all these great stories about, you know, bodies that weren't really in the casket and what you can't cremate, et cetera. So, I suddenly had this idea of a Hollywood funeral director to the stars. And, via my agent, I knew Dan Luria, the actor. He's a close friend or was a close friend of Peter's. And so, he was able to take this one-page idea and show it to Peter. And then, one day, I get a phone call and it's, “Uh, hello Jeff, this is Peter Falk calling. I want to talk to you about your idea.” And they flew me out there. It was great fun, because Falk really ran the show. He was the executive producer at that point. He always kind of ran the show. I think he only wrote one episode, the one with Faye Dunaway, but he liked the idea.I spent a lot of time with him, I'd go to his house where he would do his drawings back in the studio and all that. But what he said he liked about it was he liked a new setting, they always liked a murderer and a setting that was special, with clues that are connected to, say, the murderer's profession. So, the Donald Pleasant one about the wine connoisseur and all the clues are about wine. Or the Dick Van Dyke one, where he's a photographer and most of the clues are about photography. So, he really liked that. And he said, “You gotta have that first clue and you gotta have the pop at the end.”So, and we worked on the treatment and then I wrote the screenplay. And then he asked McGoohan if he would do it, and McGoohan said, “Well, if I can direct it too.” And, you know, I've adored McGoohan from, you know, Secret Agent and The Prisoner. I mean, I'd say The Prisoner is like one of my favorite television shows ever. So, the idea that the two of them were going to work together on that script was just, you know, it was incredible. John: Were you able to be there during production at all? Jeffrey: No, I went out there about four times to write, because it took like a year or so. It was a kind of laborious process with ABC and all that, but I didn't go out during the shooting.Occasionally, this was, you know, the days of faxes, I'd get a phone call: “Can you redo something here?” And then I'd fax it out. So, I never met McGoohan. I would only fax with him. But they built this whole Hollywood crematorium thing on the set. And Falk was saying at one point, “I'm getting pushback from Universal that we've got to do all this stuff. We've got to build everything.” And I was saying, “Well, you know, 60 percent of the script takes place there. If you're going to try to find a funeral home like it, you're going to have all that hassle.” And eventually they made the point that, yeah, to build this is going to cost less than searching around Hollywood for the right crematorium, And it had a great cast, you know, it had Richard Libertini and Sally Kellerman, and Rue McClanahan was our murder victim.Jim: I'll tell you every scene that Peter Falk and Mr. McGoohan had together. They looked to me as an actor, like they were having a blast being on together. Jeffrey: They really loved each other. They first met when McGoohan did that episode, By Dawn's Early Light, where he played the head of the military school. It's a terrific episode. It was a great performance. And although their acting styles are completely different, You know, Falk much more, you know, fifties, methody, shambolic. And McGoohan very, you know, his voice cracking, you know, and very affected and brittle. But they really loved each other and they liked to throw each other curveballs.There are things in the, in the show that are ad libs that they throw. There's one bit, I think it's hilarious. It's when Columbo tells the murderer that basically knows he did it, but he doesn't have a way to nail him. And, McGoohan is saying, “So then I suppose you have no case, do you?” And Falk says, “Ah, no, sir, I don't.” And he walks right off camera, you know, like down a hallway. And McGoohan stares off and says, “Have you gone?” And none of that was scripted. Peter just walks off set. And if you watch the episode, they had to dub in McGoohan saying, “Have you gone,” because the crew was laughing at the fact that Peter just strolled away. So McGoohan adlibs that and then they had to cover it later to make sure the sound wasn't screwed up. Jim: Fantastic. John: Kudos to you for that script, because every piece is there. Every clue is there. Everything pays off. It's just it is so tight, and it has that pop at the end that he wanted. It's really an excellent, excellent mystery.Jim: And a terrific closing line. Terrific closing line. Jeffrey: Yeah, that I did right. That was not an ad lib. Jim: It's a fantastic moment. And he, Peter Falk, looks just almost right at the camera and delivers that line as if it's, Hey, check this line out. It was great. Enjoyed every minute of it. Can we, um, can I ask some questions about Sherlock Holmes now?Jeffrey: Oh, yes. Jim: So, I enjoyed immensely Holmes and Watson that I saw a couple summers ago at Park Square. I was completely riveted and had no, absolutely no idea how it was going to pay off or who was who or what. And when it became clear, it was so much fun for me as an audience member. So I know that you have done a number of Holmes adaptations.There's Larry Millet, a St. Paul writer here and I know you adapted him, but as far as I can tell this one, pillar to post was all you. This wasn't an adaptation. You created this out of whole cloth. Am I right on that? Jeffrey: Yes. The, the idea came from doing the Larry Millet one, actually, because Steve Hendrickson was playing Holmes. And on opening night—the day of opening night—he had an aortic aneurysm, which they had to repair. And so, he wasn't able to do the show. And Peter Moore, the director, he went in and played Holmes for a couple of performances. And then I played Holmes for like three performances until Steve could get back. But in the interim, we've sat around saying, “All right, who can we get to play the role for like a week?” And we thought about all of the usual suspects, by which I mean, tall, ascetic looking actors. And everybody was booked, everybody was busy. Nobody could do it. So that's why Peter did it, and then I did it.But it struck me in thinking about casting Holmes, that there are a bunch of actors that you would say, you are a Holmes type. You are Sherlock Holmes. And it suddenly struck me, okay, back in the day, if Holmes were real, if he died—if he'd gone over to the falls of Reichenbach—people probably showed up and say, “Well, I'm Sherlock Holmes.”So, I thought, well, let's take that idea of casting Holmes to its logical conclusion: That a couple of people would come forward and say, “I'm Sherlock Holmes,” and then we'd wrap it together into another mystery. And we're sitting around—Bob Davis was playing Watson. And I said, “So, maybe, they're all in a hospital and Watson has to come to figure out which is which. And Bob said, “Oh, of course, Watson's gonna know which one is Holmes.”And that's what immediately gave me the idea for the twist at the end, why Watson wouldn't know which one was Holmes. So, I'm very grateful whenever an idea comes quickly like that, but it depends on Steve getting sick usually. Jim: Well, I thoroughly enjoyed it. If it's ever staged again anywhere, I will go. There was so much lovely about that show, just in terms of it being a mystery. And I'm a huge Sherlock Holmes fan. I don't want to give too much away in case people are seeing this at some point, but when it starts to be revealed—when Pierce's character starts talking about the reviews that he got in, in the West End—I I almost wet myself with laughter. It was so perfectly delivered and well written. I had just a great time at the theater that night. Jeffrey: It's one of those things where, well, you know how it is. You get an idea for something, and you pray to God that nobody else has done it. And I couldn't think of anybody having done this bit. I mean, some people have joked and said, it's kind of To Tell the Truth, isn't it? Because you have three people who come on and say, “I'm Sherlock Holmes.” “I'm Sherlock Holmes.” “I'm Sherlock Holmes.” Now surely somebody has done this before, but Nobody had. Jim: Well, it's wonderful. John: It's all in the timing. So, what is the, what's the hardest part about adapting Holmes to this stage?Jeffrey: Well, I suppose from a purist point of view‑by which I mean people like the Baker Street Irregulars and other organizations like that, the Norwegian Explorers here in Minnesota‑is can you fit your own‑they always call them pastiches, even if they're not comic‑can you fit your own Holmes pastiche into the canon?People spend a lot of time working out exactly where Holmes and Watson were on any given day between 1878 and 1930. So, one of the nice things about Holmes and Watson was, okay, so we're going to make it take place during the three-year interregnum when Holmes is pretending to be dead. And it works if you fit Holmes and Watson in between The Final Problem and The Adventure of the Empty House, it works. And that's hard to do. I would say, I mean, I really love Larry Millett's book and all that, but I'm sure it doesn't fit, so to speak. But that's up to you to care. If you're not a purist, you can fiddle around any old way you like. But I think it's kind of great to, to, to have the, the BSI types, the Baker Street Irregular types say, “Yes, this clicked into place.”Jim: So that's the most difficult thing. What's the easiest part?Jeffrey: Well, I think it's frankly the language, the dialogue. Somebody pointed out that Holmes is the most dramatically depicted character in history. More than Robin Hood, more than Jesus Christ. There are more actor versions of Holmes than any other fictional character.We've been surrounded by Holmes speak. Either if we've read the books or seen the movies or seen any of the plays for over 140 years. Right. So, in a way, if you're like me, you kind of absorb that language by osmosis. So, for some reason, it's very easy for me to click into the way I think Holmes talks. That very cerebral, very fast, sometimes complicated syntax. That I find probably the easiest part. Working out the plots, you want them to be Holmesian. You don't want them to be plots from, you know, don't want the case to be solved in a way that Sam Spade would, or Philip Marlowe would. And that takes a little bit of work. But for whatever reason, it's the actor in you, it's saying, all right, if you have to ad lib or improv your way of Sherlock Holmes this afternoon, you know, you'd be able to do it, right? I mean, he really has permeated our culture, no matter who the actor is.Jim: Speaking of great actors that have played Sherlock Holmes, you adapted a movie that Ian McKellen played, and I just watched it recently in preparation for this interview.Having not seen it before, I was riveted by it. His performance is terrific and heartbreaking at the same time. Can we talk about that? How did you come to that project? And just give us everything.Jeffrey: Well, it's based on a book called A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullen, and it's about a very old Sherlock Holmes in Surrey, tending to his bees, as people in Holmesland know that he retired to do. And it involves a couple of cases, one in Japan and one about 20 years earlier in his life that he's trying to remember. And it also has to do with his relationship with his housekeeper and the housekeeper's son. The book was given to me by Anne Carey, the producer, and I worked on it probably off and on for about five years.A lot of time was spent talking about casting, because you had to have somebody play very old. I remember I went to meet with Ralph Fiennes once because we thought, well, Ralph Fiennes could play him at his own age,‑then probably his forties‑and with makeup in the nineties.And Ralph said‑Ralph was in another film that I'd done‑and he said, “Oh, I don't wear all that makeup. That's just far too much.” And I said, “Well, you did in Harry Potter and The English Patient, you kind of looked like a melted candle.” And he said, “Yes, and I don't want to do that again.” So, we always had a very short list of actors, probably like six actors in the whole world And McKellen was one of them and we waited for him to become available And yeah, he was terrific. I'll tell you one funny story: One day, he had a lot of prosthetics, not a lot, but enough. He wanted to build up his cheekbones and his nose a bit. He wanted a bit, he thought his own nose was a bit too potatoish. So, he wanted a more Roman nose. So, he was taking a nap one day between takes. And they brought him in, said, “Ian, it's time for you to do the, this scene,” and he'd been sleeping, I guess, on one side, and his fake cheek and his nose had moved up his face. But he hadn't looked in the mirror, and he didn't know. So he came on and said, “Very well, I'm all ready to go.” And it was like Quasimodo.It's like 5:52 and they're supposed to stop shooting at six. And there was a mad panic of, Fix Ian's face! Get that cheekbone back where it's supposed to be! Knock that nose into place! A six o'clock, we go into overtime!” But it was very funny that he hadn't noticed it. You kind of think you'd feel if your own nose or cheekbone had been crushed, but of course it was a makeup. So, he didn't feel anything. Jim: This is just the, uh, the actor fan boy in me. I'm an enormous fan of his work straight across the board. Did you have much interaction with him and what kind of fella is he just in general?Jeffrey: He's a hoot. Bill Condon, the director, said, “Ian is kind of methody. So, when you see him on set, he'll be very decorous, you know, he'll be kind of like Sherlock Holmes.” And it was true, he goes, “Oh, Jeffrey Hatcher, it's very good to meet you.” And he was kind of slow talking, all that. Ian was like 72 then, so he wasn't that old. But then when it was all over, they were doing all those--remember those ice Dumps, where people dump a tub of ice on you? You have these challenges? A the end of shooting, they had this challenge, and Ian comes out in short shorts, and a bunch of ballet dancers surrounds him. And he's like, “Alright, everyone, let's do the ice challenge.” And, he turned into this bright dancer. He's kind of a gay poster boy, you know, ever since he was one of the most famous coming out of the last 20 some years. So, you know, he was suddenly bright and splashy and, you know, all that old stuff dropped away. He has all of his headgear at his house and his townhouse. He had a party for us at the end of shooting. And so, there's a Gandalf's weird hat and there's Magneto's helmet, you know, along with top hats and things like that. And they're all kind of lined up there. And then people in the crew would say, can I take a picture of you as Gandalf? “Well, why, of course,” and he does all that stuff. So no, he's wonderful. Jim: You do a very good impression as well. That was great. Now, how did you come to the project, The Good Liar, which again, I watched in preparation for this and was mesmerized by the whole thing, especially the mystery part of it, the ending, it was brilliant.How did you come to that project?Jeffrey: Well, again, it was a book and Warner Brothers had the rights to it. And because Bill and I had worked on Mr. Holmes--Bill Condon--Bill was attached to direct. And so I went in to talk about how to adapt it.This is kind of odd. It's again based in McKellen. In the meeting room at Warner Brothers, there was a life size version of Ian as Gandalf done in Legos. So, it was always, it'll be Ian McKellen and somebody in The Good Liar. Ian as the con man. And that one kind of moved very quickly, because something changed in Bill Condon's schedule. Then they asked Helen Mirren, and she said yes very quickly.And it's a very interesting book, but it had to be condensed rather a lot. There's a lot of flashbacks and going back and forth in time. And we all decided that the main story had to be about this one con that had a weird connection to the past. So, a lot of that kind of adaptation work is deciding what not to include, so you can't really be completely faithful to a book that way. But I do take the point with certain books. When my son was young, he'd go to a Harry Potter movie, and he'd get all pissed off. Pissed off because he'd say Dobby the Elf did a lot more in the book.But if it's a book that's not quite so well-known—The Good Liar isn't a terribly well-known book, nor was A Slight Trick of the Mind--you're able to have a lot more room to play. Jim: It's a very twisty story. Now that you're talking about the book, I'll probably have to go get the book and read it just for comparison. But what I saw on the screen, how did you keep it--because it was very clear at the end--it hits you like a freight train when it all sort of unravels and you start seeing all of these things. How did you keep that so clear for an audience? Because I'll admit, I'm not a huge mystery guy, and I'm not the brightest human, and yet I was able to follow that story completely.Jeffrey: Well, again, I think it's mostly about cutting things, I'm sure. And there are various versions of the script where there are a lot of other details. There's probably too much of one thing or another. And then of course, you know, you get in the editing room and you lose a couple of scenes too. These kinds of things are very tricky. I'm not sure that we were entirely successful in doing it, because you say, which is more important, surprise or suspense? Hitchcock used to have that line about, suspense is knowing there's a bomb under the table. And you watch the characters gather at the table. As opposed to simply having a bomb blow up and you didn't know about it.So, we often went back and forth about Should we reveal that the Helen Mirren character knows that Ian's character is doing something bad? Or do we try to keep it a secret until the end? But do you risk the audience getting ahead of you? I don't mind if the audience is slightly ahead. You know, it's that feeling you get in the theater where there's a reveal and you hear a couple of people say, “Oh, I knew it and they guessed it may be a minute before. But you don't want to get to the point where the audience is, you know, 20 minutes or a half an hour ahead of you.Jim: I certainly was not, I was not in any way. It unfolded perfectly for me in terms of it being a mystery and how it paid off. And Helen Mirren was brilliant. In fact, for a long time during it, I thought they were dueling con men, the way it was set up in the beginning where they were both entering their information and altering facts about themselves.I thought, “Oh, well, they're both con men and, and now we're going to see who is the better con man in the end.” And so. when it paid off. In a way different sort of way, it was terrific for me. Absolutely. Jeffrey: Well, and I thank you. But in a way, they were both con men. Jim: Yes, yes. But she wasn't a professional con man.Jeffrey: She wasn't just out to steal the money from him. She was out for something else. She was out for vengeance. Jim: Yes. Very good. Very, if you haven't seen it, The Good Liar folks, don't wait. I got it on Amazon prime and so can you.Jeffrey: I watched them do a scene, I was over there for about five days during the shooting.And watching the two of them work together was just unbelievable. The textures, the tones, the little lifts of the eyebrow, the shading on one word versus another. Just wonderful, wonderful stuff. Jim: Yeah. I will say I am a huge Marvel Cinematic Universe fan along with my son. We came to those together and I'm a big fan of that sort of movie. So I was delighted by this, because it was such a taut story. And I was involved in every second of what was going on and couldn't quite tell who the good guys were and who the bad guys were and how is this going to work and who's working with who?And it was great. And in my head, I was comparing my love for that sort of big blow it up with rayguns story to this very cerebral, internal. And I loved it, I guess is what I'm saying. And, I am, I think, as close to middle America as you're going to find in terms of a moviegoer. And I thought it was just dynamite. Jeffrey: It was very successful during the pandemic--so many things were when people were streaming--but it was weirdly successful when it hit Amazon or Netflix or whatever it was. And, I think you don't have to be British to understand two elderly people trying to find a relationship. And then it turns out that they both have reasons to hate and kill each other. But nonetheless, there is still a relationship there. So, I pictured a lot of lonely people watching The Good Liar and saying, “Yeah, I'd hang out with Ian McKellen, even if he did steal all my money.” John: Well, speaking of movies, I am occasionally handed notes here while we're live on the air from my wife. And she wants you to just say something about the adaptation you did of your play, Stage Beauty, and what that process was like and how, how that process went.Jeffrey: That was terrific because, primarily Richard Eyre--the director who used to run the National Theater and all that--because he's a theater man and the play's about theater. I love working with Bill Condon and I've loved working with Lassa Hallstrom and other people, but Richard was the first person to direct a film of any of my stuff. And he would call me up and say, “Well, we're thinking of offering it to Claire Danes.” or we're thinking…And usually you just hear later, Oh, somebody else got this role. But the relationship was more like a theater director and a playwright. I was there on set for rehearsals and all that.Which I haven't in the others. No, it was a wonderful experience, but I think primarily because the, the culture of theater saturated the process of making it and the process of rehearsing it and—again--his level of respect. It's different in Hollywood, everybody's very polite, they know they can fire you and you know, they can fire you and they're going to have somebody else write the dialogue if you're not going to do it, or if you don't do it well enough. In the theater, we just don't do that. It's a different world, a different culture, different kind of contracts too. But Richard really made that wonderful. And again, the cast that he put together: Billy Crudup and Claire and Rupert Everett and Edward Fox and Richard Griffiths. I remember one day when I was about to fly home, I told Richard Griffiths what a fan Evan-- my son, Evan--was of him in the Harry Potter movie. And he made his wife drive an hour to come to Shepperton with a photograph of him as Mr. Dursley that he could autograph for my son. John: Well, speaking of stage and adaptations, before we go into our lightning round here, you did two recent adaptations of existing thrillers--not necessarily mysteries, but thrillers--one of which Hitchcock made into a movie, which are Dial M for Murder and Wait Until Dark. And I'm just wondering what was that process for you? Why changes need to be made? And what kind of changes did you make?Jeffrey: Well, in both cases, I think you could argue that no, changes don't need to be made. They're wildly successful plays by Frederick Knott, and they've been successful for, you know, alternately 70 or 60 years.But in both cases, I got a call from a director or an artistic director saying, “We'd like to do it, but we'd like to change this or that.” And I'm a huge fan of Frederick Knott. He put things together beautifully. The intricacies of Dial M for Murder, you don't want to screw around with. And there are things in Wait Until Dark having to do just with the way he describes the set, you don't want to change anything or else the rather famous ending won't work. But in both cases, the women are probably not the most well drawn characters that he ever came up with. And Wait Until Dark, oddly, they're in a Greenwich Village apartment, but it always feels like they're really in Westchester or in Terre Haute, Indiana. It doesn't feel like you're in Greenwich Village in the 60s, especially not in the movie version with Audrey Hepburn. So, the director, Matt Shackman, said, why don't we throw it back into the 40s and see if we can have fun with that. And so it played out: The whole war and noir setting allowed me to play around with who the main character was. And I know this is a cliche to say, well, you know, can we find more agency for female characters in old plays or old films? But in a sense, it's true, because if you're going to ask an actress to play blind for two hours a night for a couple of months, it can't just be, I'm a blind victim. And I got lucky and killed the guy. You've got a somewhat better dialogue and maybe some other twists and turns. nSo that's what we did with Wait Until Dark. And then at The Old Globe, Barry Edelstein said, “well, you did Wait Until Dark. What about Dial? And I said, “Well, I don't think we can update it, because nothing will work. You know, the phones, the keys. And he said, “No, I'll keep it, keep it in the fifties. But what else could you What else could you do with the lover?”And he suggested--so I credit Barry on this--why don't you turn the lover played by Robert Cummings in the movie into a woman and make it a lesbian relationship? And that really opened all sorts of doors. It made the relationship scarier, something that you really want to keep a secret, 1953. And I was luckily able to find a couple of other plot twists that didn't interfere with any of Knott's original plot.So, in both cases, I think it's like you go into a watch. And the watch works great, but you want the watch to have a different appearance and a different feel when you put it on and tick a little differently. John: We've kept you for a way long time. So, let's do this as a speed round. And I know that these questions are the sorts that will change from day to day for some people, but I thought each of us could talk about our favorite mysteries in four different mediums. So, Jeff, your favorite mystery novel”Jeffrey: And Then There Were None. That's an easy one for me. John: That is. Jim, do you have one?Jim: Yeah, yeah, I don't read a lot of mysteries. I really enjoyed a Stephen King book called Mr. Mercedes, which was a cat and mouse game, and I enjoyed that quite a bit. That's only top of mind because I finished it recently.John: That counts. Jim: Does it? John: Yeah. That'll count. Jim: You're going to find that I am so middle America in my answers. John: That's okay. Mine is--I'm going to cheat a little bit and do a short story--which the original Don't Look Now that Daphne du Murier wrote, because as a mystery, it ties itself up. Like I said earlier, I like stuff that ties up right at the end. And it literally is in the last two or three sentences of that short story where everything falls into place. Jeff, your favorite mystery play? I can be one of yours if you want. Jeffrey: It's a battle between Sleuth or Dial M for Murder. Maybe Sleuth because I always wanted to be in it, but it's probably Dial M. But it's also followed up very quickly by Death Trap, which is a great comedy-mystery-thriller. It's kind of a post-modern, Meta play, but it's a play about the play you're watching. John: Excellent choices. My choice is Sleuth. You did have a chance to be in Sleuth because when I directed it, you're the first person I asked. But your schedule wouldn't let you do it. But you would have been a fantastic Andrew Wyke. I'm sorry our timing didn't work on that. Jeffrey: And you got a terrific Andrew in Julian Bailey, but if you wanted to do it again, I'm available. John: Jim, you hear that? Jim: I did hear that. Yes, I did hear that. John: Jim, do you have a favorite mystery play?Jim: You know, it's gonna sound like I'm sucking up, but I don't see a lot of mystery plays. There was a version of Gaslight that I saw with Jim Stoll as the lead. And he was terrific.But I so thoroughly enjoyed Holmes and Watson and would love the opportunity to see that a second time. I saw it so late in the run and it was so sold out that there was no coming back at that point to see it again. But I would love to see it a second time and think to myself, well, now that you know what you know, is it all there? Because my belief is it is all there. John: Yeah. Okay. Jeff, your favorite TV mystery?Jeffrey: Oh, Columbo. That's easy. Columbo.John: I'm gonna go with Poker Face, just because the pace on Poker Face is so much faster than Columbo, even though it's clearly based on Columbo. Jim, a favorite TV mystery?Jim: The Rockford Files, hands down. John: Fair enough. Fair enough. All right. Last question all around. Jeff, your favorite mystery movie? Jeffrey: Laura. Jim: Ah, good one. John: I'm going to go with The Last of Sheila. If you haven't seen The Last of Sheila, it's a terrific mystery directed by Herbert Ross, written by Stephen Sondheim and Anthony Perkins. Fun little Stephen Sondheim trivia. The character of Andrew Wyke and his house were based on Stephen Sondheim. Jeffrey: Sondheim's townhouse has been for sale recently. I don't know if somebody bought it, but for a cool seven point something million, you're going to get it. John: All right. Let's maybe pool our money. Jim, your favorite mystery movie.Jim: I'm walking into the lion's den here with this one. Jeffrey, I hope this is okay, but I really enjoyed the Robert Downey Jr. Sherlock Holmes movies. And I revisit the second one in that series on a fairly regular basis, The Game of Shadows. I thought I enjoyed that a lot. Your thoughts on those movies quickly? Jeffrey: My only feeling about those is that I felt they were trying a little too hard not to do some of the traditional stuff. I got it, you know, like no deer stalker, that kind of thing. But I thought it was just trying a tad too hard to be You know, everybody's very good at Kung Fu, that kind of thing.Jim: Yes. And it's Sherlock Holmes as a superhero, which, uh, appeals to me. Jeffrey: I know the producer of those, and I know Guy Ritchie a little bit. And, I know they're still trying to get out a third one. Jim: Well, I hope they do. I really hope they do. Cause I enjoyed that version of Sherlock Holmes quite a bit. I thought it was funny and all of the clues were there and it paid off in the end as a mystery, but fun all along the road.Jeffrey: And the main thing they got right was the Holmes and Watson relationship, which, you know, as anybody will tell you, you can get a lot of things wrong, but get that right and you're more than two thirds there.
If it wasn't for The Stage, there's every chance that Britain and, indeed, the world may have been deprived of such great names as Kenneth Brannagh, Harold Pinter, Michael Caine, Sharon D Clarke, Idris Elba, The Spice Girls and Steps.Listen to Country Life podcast on Apple PodcastsListen to Country Life podcast on SpotifyListen to Country Life podcast on AudibleIt goes to show the importance of trade publications, especially those that work in the Arts. I was very lucky to be joined this week on the Country Life by The Stage's editor Alistair Smith to talk about all things theatre and the performing arts, as well as the Edinburgh Fringe. Full disclosure, he is also my friend and neighbour, and sometimes he feeds my cat while I'm on holiday.Nevertheless, he is an expert in his field, having started working at the newspaper 20 years ago on work experience, before rising through the ranks to the top job. Over the years, he's seen it all, from mime shows to the Kit Kat club to a Fringe performance that took place entirely in a lift.We talked about The Fringe, the state of the Arts in the UK and what can be done to help them, his work for the charity Get Into Theatre, how he got his big break in journalism thanks to a juggler and how to get Ian McKellen to take your picture.As always, it's a supremely engaging listen and you can download it wherever you get your podcasts.Episode creditsHost: James FisherGuest: Alistair SmithEditor and producer: Toby KeelMusic: JuliusH via PixabaySpecial Thanks: Adam Wilbourn Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A pioneer of arts broadcasting and an icon of Britain's cultural scene for decades, Dame Joan Bakewell here reflects on her career so far. At 91 she looks back on her work in television, shares her passion for art and music and literature, and explains her affair with Harold Pinter. This is a rare insight into the winner of a BAFTA Fellowship who helped transform the way the arts were covered on TV.
Tom Schulman graduated from Vanderbilt University with a B.A. in Philosophy. He studied at USC Graduate School of Cinema, with Jack Garfein at the Actors and Directors Lab, Los Angeles, and with director Joan Darling. He directed the Actors' Studio first west coast production, Harold Pinter's The Caretaker.Tom wrote Dead Poets Society for which he received an Academy Award for best original screenplay. He also wrote What About Bob?, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, Medicine Man, and Holy Man. He wrote and directed Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag He was an executive producer on Indecent Proposal and Me, Myself and Irene. He was the writer/producer of Welcome to Mooseport. He co-wrote and co-produced with Rafael Yglesias and J.J. Abrams, The Anatomy of Hope, a pilot for HBO. He recently wrote, with Callie Khouri, Trae Crowder, and T Bone Burnett, a pilot for Amazon.He recently wrote and directed Double Down South, an indie feature that will be released in April. Tom served on the board of directors and then as vice president of the Writers Guild of America, West. Tom was the president of the Writers Guild Foundation and serves on its board. He serves on the advisory board of the Science and Entertainment Exchange.Please enjoy my conversation with Tom Schulman.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/indie-film-hustle-a-filmmaking-podcast--2664729/support.
Olivier nominee Josefina Gabrielle is playing Denise in the London revival of The Baker's Wife.Featuring the iconic song 'Meadowlark', The Baker's Wife is written by Stephen Schwartz and Joseph Stein. The show first ran in the West End in 1989 and is being revived at the Menier Chocolate Factory directed by Gordon Greenberg.Josefina received her first Olivier Award nomination for her performance as Laurey in Oklahoma! at the National Theatre, a role she later reprised on Broadway. Josefina has been nominated for two further Olivier Awards for her performances in Sweet Charity and Merrily We Roll Along, both at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Josefina recently played Madame Thénardier in the West End production of Les Misérables (Sondheim Theatre). Just a few of her further theatre credits include Chicago (Garrick, Cambridge, Adelphi & Pheonix), The Witches of Eastwick (Prince of Wales), The 39 Steps (Criterion), Hello, Dolly! (Regent's Park Open Air), The King and I (UK Tour), Two Into One (Menier Chocolate Factory & Harold Pinter) and A Chorus Line (Sheffield Crucible).Recorded on the set of The Baker's Wife at the Menier Chocolate Factory, in this episode Josefina discusses what drew her to this production of The Baker's Wife and what happened when Stephen Schwartz visited rehearsals. She also reminisces about special moments of her career - such as Oklahoma!, Merrily We Roll Along and Les Misérables.The Baker's Wife runs at the Menier Chocolate Factory until 14th September. Visit www.menierchocolatefactory.com for info and tickets. 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 career that has spanned TV-soap fame on Eastenders, films roles including The Football Factory, theatre stints under the mentorship of Nobel Prize winning dramatists Harold Pinter, and even Celebrity Gogglebox (alongside his Love Island star daughter Dani) - it seemed that Danny Dyer had pretty much done it all. That was until actor and writer Ryan Sampson (Plebs/Brassic), suggested he play the lead role in a bombastic new Sky Original comedy, Mr Bigtsuff. Telling the story of two estranged brothers, Sampson and Dyer explore themes of "broken families, fragile masculinity and… carpet sales” in a hilarious and at times poignant romp. Joining Tom, they discuss some of the biggest plot twists in their careers including a wild first meeting in Bulgaria filming Plebs, with limoncello shots in tow. All six episodes of Mr Bigstuff are available to watch on NOW and Sky. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
http://www.adamehrlichsachs.com Buy GRETEL AND THE GREAT WAR from https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374614249/gretelandthegreatwar Gateway books - The Giving Tree - Shel Silverstein - Pale Fire - Nabokov - Rings Of Saturn - Sebald - Cat's Cradle - Vonnegut - Borges - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark Current reads - Harold Pinter (plays) - Confessions of an English Opium Eater - Thomas De Quincey - Hiromi Kawakami - The Executioners Song - Mailer - The Material - Camille Bordas - The Most- Jessica Anthony - American Abductions - Mauro Javier Cárdenas Desert Island Books - Heinrich von Kleist - Collected short Stories - Kafka - Collected Stories - Pale Fire - Nabokov - Correction - Thomas Bernhard - Beckett - Trilogy or Novellas
We bonded over swearing. And, although I'm not one to brag: Danny Dyer said it suits me. DANNY F***ING DYER! I mean. I know this is a podcast about failure, but surely that's a major life achievement? Anyway, I digress… Today's guest was born in East London and had a challenging childhood - his parents split when he was nine after his mother discovered Danny's father had a secret family. Acting was, in many ways, his escape from everyday life. He started in his teens, and was soon acting alongside luminaries such as Helen Mirren, Mark Rylance, Daniel Craig and Derek Jacobi. In his 20s, his mentor was the playwright Harold Pinter - someone Danny considers a father figure in his life, and who he has as the screensaver on his phone. We talk about what he learned from his drug addiction and his subsequent rehab, including one panic-inducing story about being on stage and forgetting his lines after spending the night before smoking crack in New York. It's an extraordinary tale of resilience and self-growth and I really appreciate Danny's honesty in telling it. We also talk about what psychics say to him, his concerns over his daughter becoming famous, his royal heritage and why he might have got the wrong dog. Danny's show Mr Bigstuff is out on Sky - Wednesday 17th July How to Fail is going on a live tour in Spring 2025, presented by Hayu! Tickets go on general sale Friday July 12th at 10am here: www.fane.co.uk/how-to-fail And if you are a subscriber to the How To Fail podcast you can get free access to 24 hour priority booking! Sign up to Failing with Friends now and find out how. Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly Studio and Mix Engineer: Josh Gibbs Senior Producer: Selina Ream Executive Producer: Carly Maile Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Episode 083: The Caretaker by Harold Pinter Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Justin Audibert Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We'll discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. When it premiered in London's West End in 1960, The Caretaker catapulted its author to fame and fortune. The play is set entirely in a single room in a dilapidated house, and presents the territorial battle between three men living on the margins of society. The pschological manoeuvrings of the men are dramatised in what we now recognise as Pinter's cryptic mix of comedy and menace, along with his characteristic relish in the precision and panache of language. As we record this episode a new production of the play is playing in the Minerva theatre in Chichester, and I am delighted to welcome its director, Justin Audibert, to the podcast to help us explore Pinter's enigmatic work.
No, you haven't fallen asleep in a Venice alleyway - it's really the podcast! Today we're wandering La Serenissima and monologuing about our fathers as we discuss Paul Schrader's dreamy 1990 literary adaptation THE COMFORT OF STRANGERS with filmmakers and To The White Sea cohosts Jordan Fish and Ray Tintori! And yes, we do figure out which of us is which character from the film. We talk Ian McEwan, Harold Pinter, Gen X masculinity, befriending weirdos, dad stuff, vampires, and much more. Please, listen to our podcast - we insist. Further Reading: The Comfort of Strangers by Ian McEwan "What's Left of Generation X" by Kim Phillips-Fein "Ian McEwan: 'I had the time of my life'" by Rachel Cooke "Pinter's weasels" by David Edgar Further Viewing: DON'T LOOK NOW (Roeg, 1973) DEATH IN VENICE (Visconti, 1971) Follow Jordan and Ray: https://x.com/jwordfish https://x.com/raytintori https://linktr.ee/tothewhitesea https://www.podcastyforme.com/ Follow Pod Casty For Me: https://twitter.com/podcastyforme https://www.instagram.com/podcastyforme/ https://www.youtube.com/@podcastyforme Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PodCastyForMe Artwork by Jeremy Allison: https://www.instagram.com/jeremyallisonart
Sermon Resources: 1. “The majority of politicians are interested not in truth but in power and in the maintenance of that power. To maintain that power it is essential that people remain in ignorance, that they live in ignorance of the truth, even the truth of their own lives. What surrounds us therefore is a vast tapestry of lies, upon which we feed.” -Harold Pinter, "Art, Truth, and Politics" 2. “So the Scribes and Pharisees set James on the pinnacle of the Temple and called to him: "O thou, James the Just, to whom we all ought to listen, since the people are going astray after Jesus the crucified, tell us what is the door of this Jesus?" And with a loud voice he answered: "Why do you ask me concerning the Son of Man? He is the Savior. He sitteth himself in heaven on the right hand of the great Power, and shall come on the clouds of heaven." And when many were convinced and gave glory for the witness of James, and said, "Hosanna to the Son of David," then again the same Scribes and Pharisees said to one another, "We were wrong to permit such a testimony to Jesus; but let us go up and cast James down, that through fear they may not believe him." Accordingly they went up and cast James down. And they said to one another, "Let us stone James the Just," and they began to stone him, since he was not killed by the fall, but he turned and knelt down saying, "I beseech thee, Lord God Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And a certain one of them, one of the fullers, taking the club with which he pounds clothes, brought it down on the head of the Just; and so he suffered martyrdom. And they buried him there on the spot, near the Temple. A true witness has he become both to Jews and Greeks that Jesus is Christ.” -Hegesippus, "Church History: Book II" 3. "Truth forever on the cross, Wrong forever on the throne,— Yet that cross sways the future, and, behind the dim unknown, Standeth God within the shadow, keeping watch above his own." -James Russell Lowell, "The Present Crisis" 4. “All kinds of experiences will come to us. There will be the test of the sorrows and the disappointments which seek to take our faith away. There will be the test of the seductions which seek to lure us from the right way. There will be the tests of the dangers, the sacrifices, the unpopularity which the Christian way must so often involve. But they are not meant to make us fall; they are meant to make us soar. They are not meant to defeat us; they are meant to be defeated. They are not meant to make us weaker; they are meant to make us stronger. Therefore we should not bemoan them; we should rejoice in them. The Christian is like the athlete. The heavier the course of training he undergoes, the more he is glad, because he knows that it is fitting him all the better for victorious effort. As Browning said, we must "welcome each rebuff that turns earth's smoothness rough," for every hard thing is another step on the upward way.” -William Barclay, "DSB: James"
We did it eggs to apples, everybody! This week, we over-discuss: Real time googling (including a new song!) Savage beasts and breasts (and gardens) Restaurant seating logistics Slumber party planning Super violent psalms The first fast one BRAD! Making it a bigger deal by not saying it Sherry 1.0 Everybody's weird in this episode Max and Sherry aren't the same Busy raising an actual child Life advice for 16 year old Poptarts Say it to a therapist Paul Anka origin story Rory as a public speaker Even the teachers know We need to know who Harold Pinter is Eggs is not soup And it's a question-heavy ep: Have you ever said "music has charms to soothe the savage beast?' Who says that? What are the power seats in a restaurant? Twilight Zone or The Outer Limits? Do you know Psalm 79? Have you had any dairy in the last 48 hours? Paris wants Rory to talk faster? Really, is she? What is the motivation behind that? Which one is it? Is that quick? Who brings apple juice when you're expecting water? What did you do? Do you ever end a meal with nuts? And we have some Christopher-specific questions: Do you? Are they talking? Are they involved? Is he around? Are they? Why? Do they? What the heck? Send us your thoughts or just say hi (good vibes only!) at gilmoredpodcast@gmail.com or follow us on Insta @gilmoredpod. You can also join our Facebook group Poptarts! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gilmored/message
A curio from the early 1960s as Harold Pinter translates his Tony Award-winning play into a move and the stars, Donald Pleasance, Robert Shaw and Alan Bates, reprise their roles. It's a claustrophobic phycho-drama played out between two brothers and the homeless man they've taken in. There's also a quiz about caretaker managers and music from Small Black Arrows with Trojan Horse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Audrey Brehm (Radio Free Tote Bag) joins us for the first time to discuss how she got blocked after a Facebook comments exchange with an EDM DJ about wage inequality. 2012 was simply a different time. We have hell of a time on this episode though, as we discuss our grandparents, working retail, our tortured fandom for the Leafs and Canucks, and Star Wars miniature tournaments. Plus, we talk about c*nty outfits, Michael Cohen talks that talk in court, and former NBA player Glen "Big Baby" Davis waxes poetic on being sentenced to 40 months in prison. If you don't want to go to prison, then you must donate to support the Blocked Boys at patreon.com/blockedparty, where $5/month gets you THREE bonus episodes every single month. Last week, Mark Chavez returned to the show to help guide us through a Harold Pinter script in the latest edition of Actor Party. And this week, Danielle Florence returns to answer YOUR questions in the mailbag. We also have ad-free episodes, video episodes, merch discounts, and more! Audrey Brehm is the co-host of Radio Free Tote Bag, an advice podcast, and it's available wherever you get your pods. You can follow her on Twitter at @rftbaudrey. This episode is also available in video format on our YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Myles Anderson (comedian) returns to the show after a 5-year layoff (our fault) to show us what happens when you talk about Tony Robbins on your YouTube channel that analyzes stand-up comedians. Hint: it's not good! We get into a lot of knife talk on the pod, as Myles gets stopped by airport security and we remember some our fondest memories with knives. We also discuss some of our favorite early Flash games, Leisure Suit Larry, BMX XXX, Dan introduces us to Stroker for the Commodore 64, and we check in on the new menu at our ol' top Wisconsin haunt, Every Buddy's Bar and Grill. Plus, Myles fights with a Norwegian, the Edmonton Oilers release a heinous playoff rap, and IMC loves what Grok AI has to offer him with regards to the Drake/Kendrick beef. If you don't want to have a beef with us, support the show by heading on over to our Patreon at patreon.com/blockedparty, where $5/month gets you access to THREE bonus episodes every single month. This week, Actor Party triumphantly returns, as Mark Chavez runs the Blocked Boys through a Harold Pinter script, complete with British accents. That goes as well as you think. We also have ad-free episodes, merch discounts, and more, so check it out! Myles Anderson is a comedian whose new special, Myles Per Hour, is out this week through 800 Pound Gorilla Records. You can also watch his breakdowns of stand-up comedy specials at the Bachelors of Music YouTube page, and you can find his tour dates and other stuff by following him on Instagram at @myles.banderson. This show is also available in video format on our YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In a rare turn of events, we encounter an actually good movie—not just a good Eurospy movie, but just a flat-out banger of a movie—very late in the season and after we've become expert witnesses on just how bad and formulaic pretty much every Eurospy movie is. That's right, we're reviewing the 1966 film THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM featuring some cast you might have heard of, such as: Alec Guiness, Max von Sydow, George Segal, with a screenplay by... Harold Pinter? And it's good. It's great! What the hell is going on? ----- FREE PALESTINE Hey, Devon here. Give money to people crowdfunding for passage out of Rafah first and foremost, then purchase ESIMs, then donate to this link if you feel you need a big name attached to the fund to trust it. Please don't only donate money. You have to do other things now. https://www.map.org.uk/donate/donate ----- A New place to listen! Our entire backlog has been ported over to youtube, and can be found here! ----- Consider supporting us on our reasonably-priced patreon! https://www.patreon.com/killjamesbond ------ WEB DESIGN ALERT Tom Allen is a friend of the show (and the designer behind our website). If you need web design help, reach out to him here: https://www.tomallen.media/ Kill James Bond is hosted by November Kelly, Abigail Thorn, and Devon. You can find us at https://killjamesbond.com
This week's enlightening conversation is thanks to esteemed actor Shaun Dooley, known for his roles in Apple's recent “Criminal Record, “Broadchurch”, “Mr Bates vs The Post Office” and “Saltburn”. Joined by host Lucy Eaton, Shaun delves into the depths of Harold Pinter's timeless play, "The Caretaker," focusing on Aston's poignant monologue. Along the way, he candidly shares his experiences with nerves and imposter syndrome, and challenges the conventional wisdom of media critics. Also tune in to find out what Die Hard, Father of the Bride and Forrest Gump all have in common…Hear Me Out is hosted by Lucy Eaton, a theatre producer and West End / screen actress best known for her role as Lucy in hit BBC comedy ‘Staged'. Other episodes of Hear Me Out include Claire Skinner, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Neil Gaiman and Brendan Coyle.Follow us on TikTok, Instagram and X at @PodHearMeOut.**Join the family by subscribing on iTunes or becoming a Hear Me Out Patreon! www.patreon.com/podhearmeout **Podcast of the Week - GuardianTop 10 theatre podcasts - Feedspot"An ode to the brilliance of language peppered with personal anecdotes" - Vanity FairA Lucy Eaton Productions podcast. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 079: The Hills of California by Jez Butterworth Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Sean McEvoy Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We'll discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. A new Jez Butterworth play is a theatrical event. The Hills of California is currently running at the Harold Pinter theare in London's West End, directed by Sam Mendes. Do not be misled by the title, however, we are not in sunny California, but in the back streets of Blackpool, where four daughters come together to say goodbye to their dying mother. The play is a portrait of lost dreams, of deeply ingrained patterns of love and hurt within a family, and of suppressed and mutable memories. I'm joined to explore this major new work by Sean McEvoy, author of Class, Culture and Tragedy in the Plays of Jez Butterworth.
It's TV movie week as we look into the 1987 2-parter BASEMENTS, Altman's adapted version of two Harold Pinter works. We get into John Travolta's British accent, Tom Conti's voice, Linda Hunt's voice, it's a voice heavy episode! We talk Harold Pinter and have a fun time dissecting these two strange but interesting stories. Check this one out sometime! It's a fascinating watch and available on the Internet Archive
Episode 078: The Lover and The Collection by Harold Pinter Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Lindsay Posner Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We'll discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. We have a double-bill in this episode of two short plays written by Harold Pinter in the early 1960s: The Lover and The Collection, both of which explore sexual compulsion and the manipulation of truth within marriage or partnerships. As we record this episode a new production of both plays is playing at the Theatre Royal in Bath, directed by Lindsay Posner. I'm delighted to welcome Lindsay back to the podcast to talk about these two Pinter gems.
Host Aaron Odom (@TridentTheatre) and actor Suzanne Cotsakos study and dissect the truly enigmatic play "The Homecoming" by Harold Pinter.
The most cracked out of all theatre junkies is Jonny's guest this week. At least 10,000 nights in the theatre and counting after over 50 years as the doyen of British theatre critics, Michael Billington was THE arbiter of critical taste for the entirety of Jonny's life. In this chat Michael opens up about his trouble with mime, air-kissing C list celebrities, how even critics are joining in the rise in audience participation, spaghetti in the stalls, hearing Laurence Olivier in his head, the “inexhaustible surprise” of the theatre, missing Harold Pinter, never finding Marilyn Monroe, how Chekov understood his 20 year old feelings and the way criticism completes the cycle of creation. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Episode 075: The Homecoming by Harold Pinter Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Matthew Dunster Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We'll discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Harold Pinter's disturbing exploration of toxic masculinity and sexual maneuvering, The Homecoming premiered in 1965. The play's portrait of misogyny, and even more disturbing, the apparent female complicity, was shocking at the time it was written. Nearly 60 years on the sexual politics is if anything even more difficult to watch. So what was Pinter's purpose in presenting such a provocative piece, and how do we process it in the post Me-Too age? I am joined by Matthew Dunster, the director of a scintillating new production of the play at the Young Vic in London, who can help us answer those questions about Pinter's challenging classic.
This week, Rob Brydon looks back on his childhood and adolescence in South Wales. From riding around on bikes pretending to be Starsky and Hutch, to his first electrifying stage kiss in the school play, to being rejected by Rada, bumping into Harold Pinter, and his friendship with Ronnie Corbett, this is an evocative, funny and fascinating interview peppered with impressions, famous names and great stories. It's slightly longer than our usual episodes, simply because Rob and Gyles were enjoying each other's company so much! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
“My life is an empty place.”Harold Pinter adapted Penelope Mortimer's 1962 semi-autobiographical novel The Pumpkin Eater into a screenplay for this 1964 British drama film directed by Jack Clayton. With acclaimed performers Anne Bancroft and Peter Finch on board, Clayton and cinematographer Oswald Morris shot the black and white film partly on location in London and Shepperton Studios. Despite its downbeat subject matter, The Pumpkin Eater was considered a prestige picture with a relatively large budget upon its production. Join us – Pete Wright and Andy Nelson – as we continue the 1965 BAFTAs Best Film From Any Source Nominees series with a conversation about The Pumpkin Eater.Here's a hint at what we talk about:In this episode, we dive deep into the complex psychology of the characters and relationships in The Pumpkin Eater. We discuss how the film provides an intimate portrait of a woman struggling with depression and a crumbling marriage in 1960s England. The stellar performance by Anne Bancroft anchors the film, while the script by Harold Pinter brings emotional honesty through raw, confrontational dialogue. We also analyze how the movie explores challenging themes like women's rights, mental health, fidelity, and family.Here are a few other points in our discussion: Appreciation for Jack Clayton's skilled direction The intriguing nonlinear structure using flashbacks James Mason's supporting turn as the angry betrayed husband The Pumpkin Eater is a psychologically complex drama that impressed us both. The gorgeous black and white cinematography transports you into this intimate story. We have a great time talking about it, so check it out then tune in. The Next Reel – when the movie ends, our conversation begins!Film Sundries Watch this on Apple or Amazon, or find other places at JustWatch Script Options Theatrical trailer Original Material Letterboxd Find source material for The Next Reel's family of podcasts – and thousands of other great reads – at Audible! Get your free audiobook and 30-day free trial today.Learn more about CODA and how it can work for you! Read more about the results of the WGA strike here. Read more about the results of the SAG-AFTRA strike here. Join the conversation with movie lovers from around the world on The Next Reel's Discord channel!Here's where you can find us around the internet: The Web Letterboxd Facebook Instagram X YouTube Flickchart Check out poster artwork for movies we've discussed on our Pinterest page Pete Andy We spend hours every week putting this show together for you, our dear listener, and it would sure mean a lot to us if you considered becoming a member. When you do, you get early access to shows, ad-free episodes, and a TON of bonus content. To those who already support the show, thank you. To those who don't yet: what are you waiting for?Become a Member here: $5 monthly or $55 annuallyWhat are some other ways you can support us and show your love? Glad you asked! You can buy TNR apparel, stickers, mugs and more from our MERCH PAGE. Or buy or rent movies we've discussed on the show from our WATCH PAGE. Or renew or sign up for a Letterboxd Pro or Patron account with our LETTERBOXD MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT. Or sign up for AUDIBLE.
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