English playwright
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In this episode, Adam and Budi speak with the Head of the Drama Division at Juilliard, Evan Yionoulis.Evan Yionoulis, an Obie award-winning director and nationally-recognized teacher of acting, is Richard Rodgers dean and director of Juilliard's Drama Division. Before that, she served twenty years on the faculty of Yale School of Drama, where she was a professor in the practice of acting and directing and a resident director at Yale Repertory Theatre, as well as Lloyd Richards chair of the department of acting from 1998 to 2003. She has directed new plays and classics in New York and across the U.S., enjoying collaborations with major American playwrights, including Adrienne Kennedy and Richard Greenberg. She directed the critically acclaimed world premiere of Kennedy's He Brought Her Heart Back in a Box for Theatre for a New Audience, where she previously directed her Ohio State Murders (Lortel Award for Best Revival) and the Off-Broadway premiere of Howard Brenton's Sore Throats. She opened Manhattan Theatre Club's Biltmore Theatre (Broadway) with Greenberg's The Violet Hour, directed his Everett Beekin at Lincoln Center Theater, and received an Obie Award for her direction of his Three Days of Rain at Manhattan Theatre Club, having directed the premieres of all three at South Coast Repertory. At Yale Repertory Theatre, she directed Cymbeline, Richard II, The Master Builder, George F. Walker's Heaven, Brecht's Galileo, Gozzi's The King Stag (which she adapted with her brother, composer Mike Yionoulis and Catherine Sheehy), Caryl Churchill's Owners, the world premiere of Kirsten Greenidge's Bossa Nova, and numerous other productions including Kiss, by Guillermo Calderón. Other credits include productions at the Mark Taper Forum, the Huntington, NY Shakespeare Festival, the Vineyard, Second Stage, Primary Stages, Dallas Theatre Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Denver Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and many others. She directed Seven, a documentary theatre piece about extraordinary women from across the globe who work for human rights, in New York, Boston, Washington, Aspen, London, Deauville, and New Delhi. Her short film, Lost and Found, made with Mike Yionoulis, premiered at Cleveland International Film Festival. Their most recent collaborations are the multi-platform project Redhand Guitar, about five generations of musicians across an American century, and The Dread Pirate Project, about the malleability of identity between the digital and natural worlds.She has received a Princess Grace Foundation Fellowship, Works-in-Progress Grant, and the foundation's prestigious Statuette. She serves as president of the executive board of SDC, the labor union representing stage directors and choreographers. Support the showIf you enjoyed this week´s podcast, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts. To submit a question: Voice- http://www.speakpipe.com/theatreofothers Email- podcast@theatreofothers.com Support the Theatre of Others - Check out our Merch!Show Credits Co-Hosts: Adam Marple & Budi MillerProducer: Jack BurmeisterMusic: https://www.purple-planet.comAdditional compositions by @jack_burmeister
On our Thursday review panel this week: the film critic Leila Latif and Simon Goldhill, Professor of Greek Literature and Culture at the University of Cambridge, review the British comedy horror film All My Friends Hate Me, directed by Andrew Gaynord and Howard Brenton's play Cancelling Socrates, directed by Tom Littler at the Jermyn Street Theatre in London. And the last of our author interviews with the writers shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. Ruth Ozeki is a novelist, filmmaker and Zen Buddhist priest, whose novel The Book of Form and Emptiness is the story of Benny, a teenager in the US who finds that objects are starting to talk to him. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson Image: The cast of All My Friends Hate Me Credit: BFI Distribution
Back with more brand new episodes for 2021, Nottingham Playhouse’s Amplify Producer Craig Gilbert chats to artists of national and international renown in our Amplify podcast series. These conversations cover career and process as well as offering a few ideas to explore from home during this time of social distancing. This week Craig is chatting to Sam Hodges, a theatre director, artistic director and producer with over 15 years’ experience across the not-for-profit and commercial sectors. A few years after graduating from Cambridge University, he founded the HighTide Festival Theatre which grew into one of the country’s leading new writing companies. He was Artistic Director for five years, during which time he produced early work by the leading writers and directors of his generation – including writers Nick Payne, Sam Holcroft, Ella Hickson and Beth Steel, and directors Mike Longhurst, Polly Findlay and Natalie Abrahami. Highlights include Stovepipe - which was co-produced with the National Theatre and named one of The Sunday Times ‘Ten Best Theatre Productions of the Decade’ - and Ditch, which opened the Old Vic Tunnels. In 2009, Sam was named in Esquire Magazine’s 60 Brilliant Brits for shaping British theatre. Between 2012 and 2014, he was invited by Stephen Fry and Sally Greene to become the Creative Producer for the Criterion Theatre in London’s West End. More recently, Sam was Artistic Director of Nuffield Southampton Theatres (NST) where he built on his reputation for commissioning new plays and musicals. Highlights include international award-winning tours of Fantastic Mr Fox the Musical and Billionaire Boy the Musical, London transfers for A Number to the Young Vic and SS Mendi to the Royal Opera House, and world premieres of The Shadow Factory by Howard Brenton and an adaptation of the Coen Brothers film The Hudsucker Proxy. After his first season in charge, NST was named Regional Theatre of the Year and Sam has been named in the Stage 100 power list for the last 4 years. As a director, his productions for NST include The Audience (nominated Best Design & Best Actress, UK Theatre Awards), The Shadow Factory (nominated Best Design, UK Theatre Awards), Dedication, and The Glass Menagerie (nominated Best Director, UK Theatre Awards). He has also written two short films, Player (nominated Best Short: Raindance Film Festival, Miami Short Film Festival) and Double Take (commissioned by BAFTA and Big Dance for Channel 4: Dance on Camera Festival 2013 ) which he also directed.
Kerry Hudson grew up in all-encompassing and grinding poverty. She is now an acclaimed author, but tells Tom Sutcliffe why she returned home to explore the impact and trap of being lowborn. Howard Brenton’s latest play is loosely inspired by Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure and features a clever, ambitious young woman fighting for an opportunity, yet held back by her background. Will Tanner, director of the think tank Onward, looks at what social mobility - or a lack of it - means in the political sphere. The age at which voters are more likely to vote Conservative than Labour has risen rapidly, and Tanner sees this as both a challenge and an opportunity for all the main parties. The musician and activist Billy Bragg has written about the Three Dimensions of Freedom in which he argues that without equality and accountability, freedom is a mere shadow. Producer: Katy Hickman
Charlize Theron and Seth Rogen star in Long Shot playing an American presidential hopeful and a lovable doofus. Take a wild guess who plays which part? Howard Brenton's new play Jude -at The Hampstead Theatre - is a re-imagining of Thomas Hardy's Jude The Obscure with a Syrian cleaner who possesses a prodigious skill set in the classics and ancient languages - as the title character Writing: Making Your Mark is the newest exhibition at The British Library. It charts 5,000 years of human innovation from hieroglyphs to emojis Sandra Newman's novel The Heavens can be seen as five works in one - a time travel story, historical fiction, political allegory, social realism and a love story. How satisfyingly do the component parts combine into a coherent whole? Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Tom Shakespeare, Helen Lewis and Katie Puckrik. The producer is Oliver Jones Podcast Extra recommendations: Tom Shakespeare - Phyllida Barlow at the Royal Academy and The Porpoise by Mark Haddon and The Bodmer Library in Geneva Helen Lewis - Ritblatt Treasures at The British Library and Patrick Melrose on NowTV Katie Puckrik -Clique on BBC3 and Tom Sutcliffe -Barry on NowTV
Writer David Hare reflects on his new play I’m Not Running, chaired by Helen Lewis. David Hare is a playwright and film-maker. Hare first worked at the National Theatre in 1971. Seventeen of his plays have since been presented there including Plenty, Pravda (with Howard Brenton), The Secret Rapture, Racing Demon, Murmuring Judges, Skylight, Amy’s View, Stuff Happens, The Absence of War, Behind the Beautiful Forevers and The Red Barn. Film and TV includes Collateral, Licking Hitler, Dreams of Leaving, Saigon: Year of the Cat, Wetherby, Damage, The Hours, The Reader, and the Worricker Trilogy: Page Eight, Turks & Caicos and Salting the Battlefield.
Toby Hadoke finds another new interviewee to talk about their time on TV Doctor Who, all as part of his challenge to speak to someone involved in every Doctor Who story in the show's first 53 years!
Greta Gerwig's latest film stars Saoirse Ronan. Lady Bird has been Oscar-nominated but will it impress our panel of reviewers? Alfred Döblin's 1929 novel Berlin Alexanderplatz is considered one of the finest novels ever written. How does a brand new translation improve it? For more than 35 years, Kettle's Yard in Cambridge was the home of Jim and Helen Ede and they opened it to the public allowing everyone to enjoy their art collection. Following 2 years of closure and a multi-million pound programme of improvements it has reopened Howard Brenton's play, The Shadow Factory is the opening production for a new arts centre in Southampton. Set during The Battle of Britain - when Southampton was heavily bombed - it tells the story of a government initiative to make more spitfires using the facilities and technologies of many small industries throughout the city Troy; Fall of a City is a new swords and sandals series on on BBC1 based on Ancient Greek tales Tom Sutcliffe's guests are Deborah Moggach, Meg Rosoff and Boyd Tonkin. The producer is Oliver Jones.
I first encountered the plays of Howard Brenton right at the beginning of my life as a playwright. Before I’d properly written anything of my own I saw a student production of his 1984 play Bloody Poetry.
Howard Brenton discusses his new play Lawrence After Arabia, which examines a little known period of TE Lawrence's life. Back in England, Lawrence wearied by his romanticised public image and disgusted with his country and himself, seeks solace and a place to hide in the home of the Bernard Shaws.Christian Bale stars as a disillusioned Hollywood writer in the new film Knight Of Cups from director Terence Malick. Film critic Kate Muir reviews.91-year-old photographer Dorothy Bohm looks back over her 75-year career at her latest exhibition Sixties London. Born in East Prussia before being sent by her father to England to escape the threat of Nazism, she then became co-founder of The Photographer's Gallery and worked alongside some of the greats, from Henri Cartier-Bresson to Bill Brandt and Don McCullin.Danish artist Olafur Eliasson is most famous for erecting a giant sun in the Tate Modern for his work The Weather Project. He talks about his new book Unspoken Spaces which has collected all his architectural works in public spaces over the past two decades.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Jack Soper.
Playwright Howard Brenton and director Adrian Noble discuss stage plays drawing on the life of TE Lawrence. Journalist John Preston has explored MP Jeremy Thorpe's downfall. And Philip Dodd is joined by Chris Bryant for a wider discussion about privacy in public life. And Mary Beard joins us to discuss another imperial endeavour, Rome. Howard Brenton's new play Lawrence After Arabia runs at the Hampstead Theatre from April 28th to June 4th. Adrian Noble is directing Terence Rattigan's play Ross at Chichester Theatre from 3rd to 25th June. John Preston's book is called A Very English Scandal. Mary Beard's Rome: Empire without limit continues on BBC 2 at 9pm on Wednesday 5th May Producer: Ruth Watts
A conversation with playwrights David Edgar, Howard Brenton and Bryony Lavery about how playwrights collaborate with directors, performers and each other. This conversation was filmed on 6th February 2015. How do playwrights with together with each other, with dramaturgs, with directors and producers, with actors? How do things work in television, where writers are increasingly powerful in the production process? In theatre, how do playwrights work with companies that have traditionally made their own work?
Denzel Washington on getting revenge in his new film, action thriller The Equalizer. Samira Ahmed talks to conductor Riccardo Chailly, whose recordings of Brahms Symphonies last night won Gramophone Record the Year. Howard Brenton discusses Doctor Scroggy's War, his new play for Shakespeare's Globe about the founding father of plastic surgery. And 80 year old Leonard Cohen releases his 13th studio album, Popular Problems. Ruth Barnes reviews.
"Freedom of expression is the ultimate freedom. It means the freedom to live, to think, to love and be loved, to be secure, to be happy...." So said Pakistani campaigner Shahzad Ahmad accepting the Advocacy Award at this year's Freedom of Expression Awards in London last week. Index on Censorship annual awards ceremony, honours the bravery, and dogged determination of campaigners, journalists and digital activists around the world who put their passion and commitment to free speech before their own personal safety, who challenge governments, gangs, and corporate interests who threaten freedom of expression. Our podcast gives you a brief insight into the courage of the nominees, and finishes with a great song from Egyptian hip hop artist Mayam Mahmoud (pictured) who addresses issues such as sexual harassment and women's rights in Egypt through her music. Mayam won the Arts Award. You'll find more information on the Awards on the Index website. Advocacy Award nominees Colectivo Chuhcan, a mental health pressure group from Mexico Rommy Mom, Nigeria's leading human rights lawyer Generation Wave Institute from Burma who promote democratic engagment in Burma Shahzad Ahmad, cyber freedom activist from Pakistan (winner) Journalism Award nominees Abdulelah Haider Shaye imprisoned for reporting on drone strikes in Yemen Callum Macrae and C4 News who documented the truth about Sri Lankan Human Rights abuses Azadliq - one of the few remaining independent newspapers in Azerbaijan (winner) Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras for their work on the NSA surveillance Dina Meza and investigative journalist from Honduras Digital Activism nominees Edward Snowden who leaked the documents uncovering the mass surveillance by NSA and GCHQ Free Weibo, the uncensored version of China's social network, SinaWeibo Shubhranshu Choudhary who set up a mobile phone news service in rural India (winner) Tails, a free open source encryption tool that protects journalists and sources in any country Arts Award nominees (this section was introduced by playwright Howard Brenton, who you can hear on the podcast) David Cecil, imprisoned in Uganda for producing a 'pro-gay' play Meltem Arikan, playwright, whose play 'Mi Minor' enraged the Turkish Government Lucien Bourjeily, Lebanese playwright who confronted the Lebanese Censorship Bureau Mayam Mahmoud, Egyptian hip artist and women's right campaigner (winner) Photo of Mayam Mahmoud by Alex Brenner Mayam's song Girls in our society are divided Into those who wear the niqab, those who wear the veil And those who are in between There are a lot of cases that depend on the girl How she dresses And how she looks But this is not the rule How can you judge me By my hair or by my veil? If one day you look at me I am not going to be the one Hiding her/my embarrassment You cat call and you harass Thinking this is right not wrong Even if these are words This is not the kind of treatment These are stones It is not her clothing that is inappropriate or wrong It’s this way of thinking which is Sometimes the clothing is too much But you are the one to blame One look can be could hurt And it is not right of you to be staring You deserve to be slapped twice on the face Femininity in Egypt is divided into two parts There is a difference between what men and women consider And both are wrong Who said that femininity is about dresses Femininity is about intelligence and intellect It is also about the way she was raised And her religiosity Girls have lost confidence in themselves Now she puts in makeup And dresses in different colours on top of each other The problem is not with the girl The problem is with the society that influences the girl every second If you ask girls if they have good taste in dressing They will say yes we have But our lives can not be described Our lives have become very materialistic
The Science Museum in London is staging Mind Maps, an exhibition on the history of psychology and Philip Dodd discusses it with psychologist Keith Laws and Clare Allan. Lisa Appignanesi joins Philip to put a new volume of correspondence between Freud and his daughter Anna in context. As religion has declined, has psychotherapy come to take its place in how we think about what it is to be human? Giles Fraser joins Philip along with New Generation Thinker Christopher Harding to discuss. And playwright Howard Brenton and the poet Moniza Alvi discuss writing about Partition.
With Mark Lawson. Front Row's annual Christmas Jukebox returns with music writers Rosie Swash and David Hepworth joining Mark to assess the various candidates in this year's festive single line-up, and advise on which are 2013's Christmas crackers. As a short story by Stieg Larsson is published for the first time, Mark talks to Larsson's friend John-Henri Holmberg, who has edited a collection of Swedish crime stories, A Darker Shade, which also features the first work of fiction by Larsson's partner Eva Gabrielsson to be published in English. Howard Brenton's latest work Drawing the Line at the Hampstead theatre is set on the Indian sub-continent during Partition in 1947. Kamila Shamsie reviews the play in which Cyril Radcliffe, with no knowledge of India or expertise in cartography, is set the daunting task of drawing the new border. Producer: Olivia Skinner.
This week's guest, Howard Brenton, talks about a composer he feels is the heir to Sibelius, sums up the nature of his work in two words, and Sarah chooses a piece of music for him, with his tastes in mind.
Tom Sutcliffe looks at the future of human rights with the campaigner Bianca Jagger and academic Stephen Hopgood. Jagger points to the failure of the global community to tackle violence against women and girls, while Hopgood sounds the death knell for international Human Rights with the rise of religious conservatism and the decline in influence of Europe and America. Pakistan's Tribal Area close to Afghanistan is the setting for Fatima Bhutto's debut novel, and the playwright Howard Brenton examines the chaos of the partition of India in his latest production, Drawing The Line. Producer: Katy Hickman.
Director Oliver Stone discusses his latest TV documentary series. The Untold History of the United States; Shahidha Bari reviews the Tate Modern's major exhibition of work by Saloua Raouda Choucair; US Country and Western singer Kacey Musgraves discusses the inspirations for her music; Howard Brenton on his new play about the imprisonment of Ai Weiwei; David Baldacci on the art of writing crime thrillers; William McIlvanney discusses his new Laidlaw trilogy of novels.
With Mark Lawson. On 3 April 2011, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing airport. He disappeared for 81 days and on his release the government claimed his imprisonment related to tax evasion. Howard Brenton's latest play is based on an account of conversations with Ai, in which he told the story of that imprisonment. Howard Brenton discusses the creation of the play, and also the DVD release of his memorable but never repeated 1986 noir BBC series Dead Head. William McIlvanney's Laidlaw trilogy of crime novels created a hard-drinking, Glaswegian, middle-aged cop with marital issues that inspired a generation of fellow Scottish writers including Ian Rankin, Christopher Brookmyre, Val McDermid and Denise Mina. As the Laidlaw series is republished, William McIlvanney talks about Raymond Chandler, poetry and the moment he realized that not everybody's mother read the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Io e Te (Me and You) is the latest film from Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director of Last Tango in Paris. Adapted from a novel by Niccolo Ammantini , Io e Te follows Lorenzo, a teenage boy who, keen to be alone, pretends to be on a school trip while he hides out in a basement, only to find himself unexpectedly joined by his half-sister. Gaylene Gould reviews. The contenders for the Ivor Novello Awards for songwriting, announced today, include an unexpected name: the composer Dmitri Shostakovich receives a co-writing nomination in the Best Contemporary Song category - because his music was sampled on a song by rapper and singer Plan B. Steve Yates looks at other unusual borrowings by contemporary stars. Producer Olivia Skinner.
Howard Brenton discusses his new play The Arrest of Ai Wei Wei with Philip Dodd. Are the BRICS countries set to challenge the World Bank, and realise a power shift from the West and Northern hemispheres to the East and South? Philip discusses with Oscar Guardiola Rivera, Andrew Chesnut and Robert Guest. New Generation thinker Jonathan Healey explains how land reforms brought in by Napoleon in Spring 1813 heralded a profound social change that still affects us today. And a review of Gus Van Sant's latest film Promised Land by Lionel Shriver.
With Mark Lawson. Mark Gatiss stars as King Charles I in Howard Brenton's play 55 Days, which focuses on the period culminating in the trial and execution of the monarch, as Oliver Cromwell takes control. Peter Kemp reviews. Cartoonist and writer Posy Simmonds, whose creations include Tamara Drewe, discusses Mrs Weber's Omnibus - a collection of the newspaper comic strips she began in 1977 and continued for more than a decade. The strips centre on three middle-class, middle-aged school friends and their families, and Posy Simmonds reflects on finding inspiration from everyday life, and how she approached the ageing of her characters. At lunchtime today Derry~Londonderry City of Culture 2013 announced its programme of events. Executive Programmer Graeme Farrow reveals what's happening, and the decisions behind his choice. Seal Team Six: the Raid on Osama Bin Laden is a new film to be broadcast on TV in America two days before the Presidential election - and it has prompted controversy following reports that producer Harvey Weinstein, a Democrat supporter, had added more footage to highlight the role played by the current President. David Darcy reports from New York. Producer Ella-mai Robey.
Sue Lawley's castaway is the playwright Howard Brenton. In the 1960s he was part of a movement called the New Jacobeans. They took drama out of the drawing room and on to a bigger stage. Often controversial, in Romans in Britain he drew parallels with Northern Ireland and earned the wrath of Mary Whitehouse for what she described as "procuring the cast to commit immoral acts". [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Weichet nur, Betrube Schatten, from the Wedding Cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Luxury: Champagne
Sue Lawley's castaway is the playwright Howard Brenton. In the 1960s he was part of a movement called the New Jacobeans. They took drama out of the drawing room and on to a bigger stage. Often controversial, in Romans in Britain he drew parallels with Northern Ireland and earned the wrath of Mary Whitehouse for what she described as "procuring the cast to commit immoral acts".[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Weichet nur, Betrube Schatten, from the Wedding Cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Luxury: Champagne
Michael Bogdanov's colourful, and sometimes controversial, career has included running a pub, a prosecution for his interpretation of Howard Brenton's Romans in Britain, associate directorship of the National Theatre since 1980 and the founding, last year, of the English Shakespeare Company. In conversation with Michael Parkinson, he talks about his views on the theatre and also chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Rocky Road To Dublin by The Dubliners Book: Pocket Wine Book 1987 by Hugh Johnson Luxury: 50-pound jar of Marmite