Episode 086: Death of England by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Roy Williams 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. Clint Dyer and Roy William’s trilogy of plays, Death of England, is a searing state-of-the-nation drama voiced by...

Episode 085: The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Mark Lawson 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. Tom Stoppard is renowned for his intellectual wit and playful dramatic form, both of which are certainly on show in The Real Thing, but...

Episode 084: Abigail's Party by Mike Leigh Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Nadia Fall 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. Mike Leigh’s 1977 ‘tragi-comedy’, Abigail’s Party, is renowned for its iconic snapshot of the material and social fabric of its time. The...

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...

Episode 082: People, Places & Things by Duncan Macmillan Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: Duncan Macmillan and Jeremy Herrin 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. Duncan Macmillan’s People, Places & Things is a blisteringly frank and funny portrait of...

Episode 081: The Government Inspector by Nikolay Gogol Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Patrick Myles 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. Vladimir Nabokov described The Government Inspector as the “greatest play in the Russian language”. Gogol’s comedy of...

Episode 080: Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Jeremy Herrin 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. Eugene O’Neill wrote his autobiographical magnum opus, Long Day’s Journey into Night, in 1941, but because of the...

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...

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...

Episode 077: An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Kirsten Shepherd-Barr 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. Henrik Ibsen’s play An Enemy of the People is a fable of truth and lies, politics and power, and the challenge and...

Episode 076: Othello by William Shakespeare Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Farah Karim-Cooper 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. Shakespeare’s devastating exploration of race, reputation and jealousy, The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice was a popular...

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...

Episode 074: Ghosts by Henrik Ibsen Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Kirsten Shepherd-Barr 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. Henrik Ibsen’s dark family drama Ghosts provoked outrage when it was published in 1881, its treatment of sexual disease, incest and...

Episode 073: The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico Garcia Lorca Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Maria Delgado 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. Federico Garcia Lorca’s unsparing drama The House of Bernarda Alba is not only a tragic family drama, but its...

Episode 072: She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Tom Littler 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. Oliver Goldsmith’s ‘sentimental’ or ‘laughing’ comedy She Stoops to Conquer is both a romantic comedy and a deft social...

Episode 071: Clyde's by Lynn Nottage Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Lynette Linton 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. Lynn Nottage’s play Clyde’s is set in a truck-stop diner on the outskirts of Reading, Pennsylvania. This is no ordinary diner though,...

Episode 070: King Lear by William Shakespeare Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Paul Prescott 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. The poet Percy Shelley called King Lear “the most perfect specimen of the dramatic art existing in the world”. It is a prodigious...

Episode 069: A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: Holly Race Roughan 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. Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge tells the tragic story of Eddie Carbone, a longshoreman who works on the docks...

Episode 068: Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: Ivan Wise 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. Pygmalion is arguably George Bernard Shaw’s most famous play, partly because it spawned the even-more famous musical My Fair Lady. The...

Episode 067: Red Pitch by Tyrell Williams Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: Tyrell Williams and Daniel Bailey 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. Tyrell William’s award-winning, debut play Red Pitch is set on an inner-city fottball ptich in South London. It is...

Episode 066: The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh  Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Professor Eamonn Jordan 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. Martin McDonagh’s 2004 play The Pillowman is an unsettling mix of gruesome fairy tales, child abuse, and murder,...

Episode 065: Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo and Franca Rame Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: Tom Basden and Daniel Raggett 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. Accidental Death of an Anarchist by Dario Fo and Franca Rame is both an hilarious...

Episode 064: A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Emma Smith 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 Midsummer Night’s Dream has all the ingredients of classic romantic comedy: a magical setting, a merry-go-round of...

Episode 063: Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Josie Rourke 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. Brian Friel’s magical memory play Dancing at Lughnasa is set at the time of the harvest festival in rural Ireland in 1936. It’s...