This week, Declan, Nick and Lucie discuss Hamlet, including their experiences of staging the play as a ballet for the Bolshoi (without the words!), the difference between what we say and what we do, and Hamlet's greatest fear: non-existence. More information about Cheek by Jowl's 1990-91 English production here, and Declan and Nick's 2015 Bolshoi Ballet production here. Join our mailing list to keep up-to-date with Cheek by Jowl’s news, events and opportunities. The transcript of this...

This week, Declan, Nick and Lucie discuss Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s great tale of love, loss, and self-deception. More information about Cheek by Jowl's 1986-87 English production here, and their 2003-18 Russian production here. The music in this episode was composed by Alexander Gusev for Cheek by Jowl's 2003-18 production of Twelfth Night. Join our mailing list to keep up-to-date with Cheek by Jowl’s news, events and opportunities. The transcript of this episode is available upon...

Welcome back for another series of Not True, But Useful! To kick off Series 3, Declan and Nick join Lucie Dawkins to discuss Macbeth, a play that continues to reveal new things to us, including the universal problems of loneliness, gratitude, and the danger of trying to solve life's great mysteries. More information about Cheek by Jowl's production of Macbeth here. The music in this episode was composed by Catherine Jayes for Cheek by Jowl's 2009-2011 production of Macbeth. Join our mailing...

Series 3 of ‘Not True But Useful’ is on its way!  The new series will see Declan, Nick, and Lucie returning to their mics to share personal insights into acting, directing, and plays, but above all, to build a bridge between these processes and life as we live it now. Featuring Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Three Sisters, and many more...  Like and subscribe to get the latest episodes as they are released in May! www.cheekbyjowl.com/podcast/ Trailer music composed by Sergey Chekryzhov for Three...

In the final episode of the series, Declan, Nick and Lucie discuss Shakespeare's 'badly behaved' play Cymbeline. They chat about empathy, the idea of 'realism', inventing one's own exercises, and THAT boyband number, performed by Tom Hiddleston in their 2007 production. More information about Cheek by Jowl's production of Cymbeline here (www.cheekbyjowl.com/productions/cymbeline) The music in this episode was composed by Paddy Cunneen for The Winter’s Tale (2016-17) The additional music...

This week, we head to Russia to discuss Pushkin's great lyrical masterpiece Boris Godunov, a compelling exposé of the seductive appeal of power and the price that must be paid for it. Declan and Nick discuss the beginnings of their Russian ensemble, the mystery of how electorates behave, and the show's Shakespearean scope. More information about Cheek by Jowl's production of Boris Godunov here (https://www.cheekbyjowl.com/productions/boris-godunov/) The music in this episode was composed by...

'The whole point of making art is that you’re sharing something with somebody that cannot be put into words.’  This week, Declan, Nick and Lucie deep dive into The Changeling, a bloody Jacobean tragedy filled with lunatics, ghosts, horror, sex and obsession. They discuss the making of their 2006 production (starring Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Williams), using the rehearsal space as the inspiration for the design, the worlds of the madhouse and the court, and the running theme of self-delusion...

How does theatre make us less alone? What is the role that the audience has to play in the act of art? What does Shakespeare have to teach us about humanity and forgiveness? Declan and Nick join Lucie to discuss The Tempest, a play in which Shakespeare juggles magic, laughter, danger and love with all the flair and freedom of his maturity. More information about Cheek by Jowl's production of The Tempest here: (https://www.cheekbyjowl.com/productions/the-tempest/) Series 2 theme music...

"If it's not painful, it ain't love!" This week, Declan and Nick talk about Shakespeare's As You Like It, paying special attention to their landmark 1991 production starring Adrian Lester as Rosalind. They also discuss the perils of believing in a 'fixed' self, reserving one's judgement, and the travails of young love. More information about Cheek by Jowl's production of As You Like It here: (https://www.cheekbyjowl.com/productions/as-you-like-it/) Series 2 theme music composed by Paddy...

Blood, sex, tyranny, and sausages! Declan and Nick join Lucie to discuss Ubu Roi, Alfred Jarry's gruesome and raucous 1896 satire. More information about Cheek by Jowl's production of Ubu Roi here: (https://www.cheekbyjowl.com/productions/ubu-roi/) Series 2 theme music composed by Paddy Cunneen for The Winter's Tale (2016-17) The additional music used in this episode was composed by Davy Sladek for Ubu Roi (2013-15) The transcript of this episode is available upon request. Please contact...

Tis Pity She's a Whore is a vivid and violent Jacobean tragedy about a brother and sister’s passionate descent into hell. It is also the first production Declan and Nick ever worked on together before forming Cheek by Jowl, mounting the production again in 2011.  They talk about their first (and last) design meeting around a kitchen table, our enduring interest in grisly stories, and the agency of the play's female characters. More information about Cheek by Jowl's production of Tis Pity...

Declan and Nick discuss Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, a play in which unity of time, place and action are hurled aside as we range across Europe, from court to country, from high tragedy to low comedy, across a time span of sixteen years. They discuss their shifting ideas when directing the play, the central character around whom the play hinges, the mystery in Hermione’s final scene, as well as sage words of advice to auditioning actors: 'go and touch something!'  More information about...

Cheek by Jowl are back with a new series of 'Not True, But Useful...' as Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod and host Lucie Dawkins bring fresh insights on theatre, life and what the classics can tell us about how we live now. Like and subscribe to get the latest episodes as they're released in November! Trailer music by Paddy Cunneen, originally composed for Cheek by Jowl's 2016-17 production of The Winter's Tale. www.cheekbyjowl.com/podcast/

Like the delicious Italian meal made from the remainders of other pasta, in this episode we have assembled the tastiest bonus offcuts from the interviews for Season One. Declan Donnellan shares his thoughts about life, art, and the theatre, including working with verse, why Caravaggio is a genius, myth, mystery, and Racine. Cheek by Jowl's production archive (www.cheekbyjowl.com/productions/) Facebook (www.facebook.com/cheekbyjowl/) Twitter (www.twitter.com/cbyj/) Instagram...

How does an actor go about stepping into a character? How can they begin to embody them onstage? In Declan's view, a character is not fixed, but is always a living being in a process of adapting to the predicaments of human life. This episode was recorded on Monday 8 June 2020 ahead of its release on 19 June 2020. In the second half of the podcast, we go on a deep dive through Act 1 Scene 7 of Macbeth, which you can read here (https://bit.ly/2YgTFFM) To find out more about Cheek by Jowl’s...

Declan and Nick talk about the predicament of being a human, and how that helps us to think about plays. They consider cats, Breaking Bad, Shakespeare, Beckett, cheese trolleys on the Titanic, falling in love, and the ways that good theatre makes us look back at ourselves. This episode was recorded on Friday 5 June 2020 ahead of its release on 12 June 2020. They take a deep dive into Act 5 Scene 5 of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, which you can read here (https://bit.ly/37qMxJZ) They also discuss...

Co-Artistic Director Nick Ormerod joins Lucie to dive into the world of theatre design, discussing how design can be informed by the space and the actors, his thespian ambitions, his mentors, his influences, last-minute brainwaves, and his unique working relationship with Declan Donnellan. You can see images from Cheek by Jowl’s production of The Winter's Tale here (www.cheekbyjowl.com/productions/the-winters-tale/) You can find the text of The Winter's Tale scenes here. Act III, Scene 3...

In this episode, Declan Donnellan talks about motive, and ways of examining why people in real life and characters in plays do what they do. He talks about dread as a motor for dramatic action, and goes on a deep dive through Act 1 of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, passing through Oscar Wilde, Macbeth, TV crime dramas, and Sally Rooney’s Normal People on the way. You can read Act 1 of Three Sisters here (https://bit.ly/3clnnxn). And see photos from Cheek by Jowl's production of it here...

Declan and Nick talk about how words can behave treacherously, and explore what this means with staging the great plays. With Fawlty Towers, detective novels, Three Sisters, Othello, Macbeth, and Twelfth Night all in the mix in this week's episode, they call into question whether we can really trust the words coming out of our mouths. At the end of the episode, they go on a deep dive into the first scene of Twelfth Night, which you can find the text of here (https://bit.ly/2A3CTjD). To see...

In this episode, Declan and Nick discuss an important idea in their work: 'Thresholds', following on from their discussion about 'Space' in Episode 2. They share with us lessons they have learned about the theatre from holidays in Margate, King Kong, and newborn babies. At the end of the episode, they discuss Act II Scene 2 from Shakespeare's Macbeth, the text of which can be found here (https://bit.ly/2zKO3JZ). You can see archive material from Cheek by Jowl's production of Macbeth here...

In this episode, Declan and Nick talk about the history of their collaboration, and the way they work together as director and designer. They map 40 years of a shared creative life together, taking us from the UK to Russia, via boxes and shipwrecks, through wigs and words, and right into the woods. They discuss several past productions in this episode, and you can find archive material of them at this link (https://www.cheekbyjowl.com/productions/) Follow Cheek by Jowl on Facebook, Twitter,...

What do lobsters, Shakespeare, the room next door, and our lockdown all have in common? They all have something to tell us about space and the theatre. This week, Declan and Nick talk about why space is so important to the way they think about plays, and how that influences their design and rehearsal process. You can find the scenes they discuss in depth here. Macbeth Act I Scene 7 (https://bit.ly/3fb0LSM). Macbeth Act II Scene 2 (https://bit.ly/2KMeU). You can find archive images of Cheek by...

In this first episode, Cheek by Jowl's Artistic Director Declan Donnellan talks to Lucie Dawkins about his thoughts on life, quarantine, making theatre, the brain and Macbeth, while he writes the follow-up to his book The Actor And The Target. Music by Pavel Akimkin. Follow Cheek by Jowl on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. Full transcripts of episodes are available upon request. Please contact [email protected] to request a copy.