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...

Episode 062: Private Lives by Noël Coward Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Oliver Soden 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. Noël Coward’s play Private Lives is both a dazzling dramatic comedy and an excoriating portrait of love and marriage among the...

The Play Podcast - 061 - Sea Creatures by Cordelia Lynn Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Cordelia Lynn The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Cordelia Lynn’s play Sea Creatures is a poetic exploration of loss and grief, its setting betwixt the sea and...

The Play Podcast - 060 - A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Thomas Keith The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. A Streetcar Named Desire is one of the towering masterpieces of American theatre, distinguished...

The Play Podcast - 059 - Paradise Now! ,  by Margaret Perry Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Margaret Perry The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Margaret Perry’s new play Paradise Now! brings together a group of women who join a pyramid selling scheme...

The Play Podcast - 058 - Noises Off by Michael Frayn Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Lindsay Posner The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Michael Frayn’s classic comedy Noises Off is a work of theatrical genius. Its parody of a hapless acting troupe...

The Play Podcast - 057 - Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Iavn Wise The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. G.B. Shaw’s Arms and the Man is both a sparkling romantic comedy and a telling satire of love, war and...

The Play Podcast - 056 - Good by C.P. Taylor Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Dominic Cooke The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. C.P. Taylor’s powerful, cautionary play Good charts how an ostensibly ‘good’ person can become not just complicit to evil...

The Play Podcast - 055 - Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Professor Karen Leeder The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Frank Wedekind’s dark, expressionist play Spring Awakening is a cautionary portrait of adolescent...

The Play Podcast - 054 - The Crucible by Arthur Miller Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Dr Stephen Marino The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible recreates the terror of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 when a religious...

The Play Podcast - 053 - The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Christopher Haydon The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Bertolt Brecht wrote The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1944 while in exile in the United States as...

The Play Podcast - 052 - The Seagull by Anton Chekhov Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Dan Rebellato The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Anton Chekhov’s play The Seagull was a disaster on its opening night in St Petersburg in 1896. The unsettling blend...

The Play Podcast - 051 - Closer by Patrick Marber Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Clare Lizzimore The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Patrick Marber’s play Closer depicts a merry-go-round of metropolitan relationships powered by sex and betrayal. Its...

The Play Podcast - 050 - Jersualem by Jez Butterworth Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: David Ian Rabey The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Jez Butterworth’s play Jersualem is one of the landmark plays of the 21st century, acclaimed for both its lyrical...

The Play Podcast - 049 - Jitney by August Wilson Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: Wil Johnson and Tony Marshall The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Although August Wilson’s play Jitney is set in the office of an unlicensed taxi company in Pittsburgh...

The Play Podcast - 048 - Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Lucy Bailey The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing is rightly renowned for the “merry war” of wits between...

The Play Podcast - 047 - Middle by David Eldridge Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: David Eldridge The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. David Eldridge’s new play Middle, now playing at the National Theatre, follows on from his 2017 play Beginning. It is...

The Play Podcast - 046 - All My Sons by Arthur Miller Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Douglas Rintoul The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Arthur Miller’s breakthrough play All My Sons is both a searing family tragedy and an exploration of the moral...

The Play Podcast - 045 - Top Girls Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Elaine Aston The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Caryl Churchill’s play Top Girls was a powerful critique of Thatcherite Britain when it was written in 1982. It’s rightly renowned for...

The Play Podcast - 044 - Clybourne Park Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Oliver Kaderbhai The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. It is 1959 and Russ and Bev have sold their 3-bedroom bungalow in the all-white neighbourhood of Clybourne Park in Chicago to...

The Play Podcast - 043 - Faith Healer by Brian Friel Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Joe Dowling The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Brian Friel’s play Faith Healer is a literary and theatrical masterpiece, acclaimed for the beauty of its language,...

The Play Podcast - 042 - Blasted by Sarah Kane Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Graham Saunders The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Sarah Kane’s explosive play Blasted outraged critics on its debut in 1995 with its disturbing depictions of sex and...

Episode 041: Doubt by John Patrick Shanley Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Monica Dolan The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Sister Aloysius Beauvier, principal of St Nicholas Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, has her doubts about the school...

Episode 040: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time adapted by Simon Stephens Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Simon Stephens The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Simon Stephens’s magical adaptation of Mark Haddon’s bestselling novel The...

Episode 039: Best of Enemies by James Graham Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: James Graham The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. James Graham's new play Best of Enemies re-enacts the explosive TV debates between American political pundits Gore Vidal and...