Nick, Nick and Nancy are on hand with the latest news, honest reviews and big name interviews from the world of London theatre. Nancy Durrant is the former Culture Editor of the Evening Standard and before that an arts editor at The Times for many years. She is the creator of The London Culture Edit on Substack and writes across culture for The Times , Sunday Times , Observer , W Magazine , Opera Now and more, and appears regularly on Times Radio and BBC Radio 4 Front Row. Nick Clark was Head of Culture at The London Standard , covering the cultural landscape in the capital, and was previously features editor of The Stage and the arts correspondent of The Independent . Nick Curtis is Chief Theatre Critic of The London Standard and has written about theatre since 1989. Also a feature writer, editor and an award-winning interviewer, his work has appeared in most major British newspapers, as well as Radio Times , GQ , Harpers & Queen and Tatler , among others. Produced by Tim Bano Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's the series six musical finale, and the team go out with a bang -- well, a damp squib and then a bang. First up, Nick, Nick and Tim review Trainspotting the Musical at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Irvine Welsh's adaptation of his own epoch-defining novel, now given the West End musical treatment...and possibly one of the most misconceived shows any of them have seen in a very long time. Then it's across town to the Menier Chocolate Factory for Midnight at the Never Get, starring Tony Award winner Ben Platt, and the verdict couldn't be more different. Nick Curtis also speaks to the brilliant Phelim McDermott, Olivier Award-winning director of My Neighbour Totoro, co-founder of Improbable, whose new show Tao of Glass is a love letter to Philip Glass and to theatre itself. And Natalie Kassanga answers our Five Questions ahead of the Jonathan Larson Project at Southwark Playhouse. Now we're on a break! The London Theatre Review will return in September for our live show at the Chelsea Arts Festival. But there may be a bit of surprise podding before then... Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week Nick Clark and producer Tim are holding the fort while Nancy and other Nick are away, but to be fair to them they managed to bag some pretty great interviews before they disappeared... First up, Nick Curtis sat down with Aaron Sorkin — yes, the extraordinary writer of The West Wing, A Few Good Men, The Social Network, The Newsroom — ahead of his To Kill a Mockingbird adaptation returning to the West End. They talk about why his first draft was really bad, and whether the man who gave us Jed Bartlet's America still believes in it. Tim reviews The Oresteia at the Bridge Theatre, Simon Stone's long, blood-smeared, gleefully melodramatic update of the Greek tragic trilogy, set inside a glass box with David Morrissey, Mary-Louise Parker (also of West Wing fame!) and a scene-stealing Rosie Sheehy. Plus Nancy talks to John Studzinski about 25 years of the very influential and very necessary Genesis Foundation, the organisation that supported Ava Pickett in writing 1536, among many other early career artists and musicians...he also reveals what Katharine Hepburn told him about stage fright. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week Nick, Nick and producer Tim (filling in for Nancy who's on the other side of the Atlantic) sort the divine from the infernal in London theatre, starting with the resurrection of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium, starring Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder alongside Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) as the first in a roster of celebrity Herods. Then it's over to the Royal Court for Archduke, Rajiv Joseph's tragicomic fever dream about the teenage assassins who accidentally started the First World War. Grace Mouat, alumna of Six the Musical and currently appearing in Death Note at the Barbican, answers our five questions including an off-tune on-stage mishap. And Nick Curtis sits down with the legendary Harry Shearer - best known for his 23-odd voices in the Simpsons and for playing Derek Smalls in This Is Spinal Tap - alongside veteran sitcom writer Tom Leopold of Cheers and Seinfeld fame to talk about their new comedy musical Here Comes J. Edgar. There may be an appearance from C Montgomery Burns himself... Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week Nick, Nick and Nancy head to the National Theatre's Dorfman for Pride , Steven Beresford and Matthew Warchus's musical adaptation of the beloved 2014 film about the unlikely alliance between gay activists and Welsh miners during the 1984 strike. Then it's off to the Noël Coward for the RSC's transfer of Cyrano de Bergerac , with Adrian Lester in glorious form and Susannah Fielding turning Roxanne into something the gang have never seen before - hear her interview in episode three of this season. Nick Curtis talks to Anna Zavelson, the 22-year-old Texan who had never left North America before landing the role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty's Theatre. And Henry Lewis from Mischief Theatre answers our Five Questions ahead of The Comedy About Spies returning to the West End. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
For this special bonus episode of the pod, Nancy went to talk to writer/performer Jordan Luke Gage and director Paul Foster about the new musical Redcliffe running at Southwark Playhouse. Jordan has spent the last three years writing the show, and he also stars in it - musical theatre fans will have seen his amazing performances in Bonnie and Clyde, Heathers, &Juliet and Titanique. Set against the backdrop of 18th Century England, the musical is based on the true story of William Critchard and Richard Arnold who met in Redcliffe, Bristol. It's an epic, funny and moving tale of forbidden love during the persecution people faced for hundreds of years. Plus you can hear Jordan sing one of the beautiful songs from the show, Void of Love. You can find out more about the show on Instagram @redcliffemusical and find us @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week is French translation week as Nick, Nancy and Tim took refuge in the blissful air conditioning of London's theatres to review The Misanthrope at the National — Martin Crimp's rhyming-couplet update of the Molière play with Sandra Oh on ferocious form — and The Truth at the Apollo, Florian Zeller's gleefully French sex comedy starring Stephen Mangan, Janie Dee, Ardal O'Hanlan and Sarah Hadland. Plus Nick spoke to playwright Rajiv Joseph about Archduke at the Royal Court and working with Robin Williams. And Desmonda Cathabel answered our five questions ahead of playing Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We have a pretty special guest interview this week: somehow we got Willem Dafoe on the phone from Venice, where he's now in his second year as artistic director of the Biennale Theatre Festival. Long before Spider-Man villains and Wes Anderson ensembles, Dafoe was a downtown New York theatre kid, spending four decades with the experimental Wooster Group, and he is as brilliant on the subject of live performance as you'd hope. He also tells Nick Curtis why he's 'very turned on right now'... In reviews, the Old Vic's all-female Glengarry Glen Ross gives us plenty to chew over — is gender-swapping David Mamet's toxic-masculinity classic illuminating or just a clever exercise? — while A Fine Idea at the Arcola tackles the murky world of international aid with righteous research. The delightful and ridiculously versatile Paul Chahidi talks about playing opposite Sandra Oh in Martin Crimp's reimagined The Misanthrope at the National. And we dig into a stacked week of theatre news: a new James Graham play about Keynes (John Maynard, not Milton), the Shaftesbury Theatre's renaming in honour of Judi Dench, and Ian McKellen's much-anticipated return to the stage at The Yard. Talk to us on Insta and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A mixed bag of horror, comedy and drama this week...First up, Martina Laird's debut play Driftwood arrives at the Kiln: set in a Port of Spain gentleman's club on the eve of Trinidad's independence, it's bursting with ideas, a stellar cast, and a second act that gets quite mad. Then the gang reviews Under the Shadow at the Almeida. Leila Farzad is magnetic as a woman trapped in Tehran during the Iran-Iraq War, stalked by something that may or may not be a jinn (and may or may not have rubber fingers). Producer Tim Bano sits down with Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris to discuss how War Horse, one of the most successful pieces of theatre ever made, came into being almost 20 years ago. It went very wrong before it went very right... And Patricia Allison, Sex Education's Maeve, is at the Orange Tree in Peter Shaffer's Black Comedy. She answers our Five Questions. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
War Horse is back...After nearly two decades, the show that transformed theatre has returned to the National Theatre. Nick, Nick and Nancy discuss whether it still hits, and why it might matter even more right now. Plus young critic Dash returns to the pod to give his verdict from the stalls of the Olivier. We also review Cole Porter musical High Society at the Barbican, starring Helen George as Tracy Lord, a role made famous by both Grace Kelly and Katharine Hepburn, alongside Felicity Kendal, Freddie Fox and Nigel Lindsay. Isis Hainsworth — who lit up the Old Vic's Arcadia and just won the Ian Charleson Award — joins Nancy for a conversation about imposter syndrome and Tom Stoppard's terrifying cleverness. And Martina Laird answers our five questions ahead of her play Driftwood at the Kiln. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
After becoming one of Broadway's biggest sleeper hits and an absolute social media phenomenon, Beetlejuice the Musical has landed at the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End. Nancy, Nick and producer Tim ventured to the Netherworld to see what all the fuss is about. The gang also headed Stratford East for The Harder They Come, the reggae-soaked, infectious, bass-rattlingly loud stage version of the 1972 Jamaican film classic. Spoiler: one of them didn't quite make it to the end, for reasons entirely beyond their control... Nick Curtis interviews the wonderful Susannah Fielding — you'll know her from This Time with Alan Partridge, from stealing every scene she's in on Tom Jones, or from making Daddy Issues compulsively watchable — and she's about to open opposite Adrian Lester in the RSC's Cyrano de Bergerac at the Noël Coward. And comedian and playwright Rosie Holt answers our Five Questions ahead of Churchill's Urinal, her new play about a sentient toilet possessed by the spirit of Winston Churchill. As you do. Plus, the gang get obsessed with Sting, Shaggy and the real Cyrano de Bergerac... Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week Nick, Nick and Nancy review Alexander Zeldin's Care at the Young Vic - a compassionate, unflinching look at life in an elderly care facility, starring the magnificent Linda Bassett - and the RSC's new musical The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind @sohoplace, the extraordinary true story of a 13-year-old who built a windmill to save his Malawian village from famine. Plus Nancy talks to the brilliant Leila Farzad about her role in Under the Shadow at the Almeida, a supernatural thriller set during the Iran-Iraq War. And Liv Hill, one of the lead trio in 1536 , answers our Five Questions. If you want to get in touch, email thelondontheatrereview@gmail.com or follow us on Instagram @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's only been a few weeks since we went away, but so much theatre has happened in the meantime...Nick Curtis, Nick Clark and Nancy Durrant are back to fill you in on all the goings on in London. And we kick off the season with a stellar episode: we review Gary Oldman's return to the stage for the first time in 40-odd years as he takes on Samuel Beckett's play Krapp's Last Tape at the Royal Court. The play we couldn't stop talking about all last year has transferred to the West End - Ava Pickett's blistering, hilarious Tudor drama 1536 - but does it live up to our memories of it first time round? And the star of Top Gun Maverick and A Complete Unknown, the fabulous Monica Barbaro, talks to Nick Curtis about her stage debut in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre alongside Aidan Turner and Lesley Manville. She talks about turning to the stage, how it feels to play difficult material eight times a week, and how you sprint in a lavishly designed ball gown. Plus artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Michelle Terry answers five questions. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Even though we are officially on a break, we couldn't resist gathering together some of our favourite people for a bonus episode to tide you over until the new season begins. The incredible Giles Terera, who has starred in the UK premieres of Hamilton and Avenue Q among many other musicals, but is just as well known for his Shakespearean performances, talks about Clint Dyer's production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest which has just opened at the Old Vic. Gwyneth Keyworth was one of our favourite guests from the last season, so we asked her back to answer our five questions as she continues to perform in the National Theatre production of Maxim Gorky's Summerfolk. And Ryan Calais Cameron, the brilliant writer of For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy and Retrograde, tells us what it means to him to be appointed the first patron of Camden People's Theatre. We will be back soon, but in the meantime you can keep up with our theatregoing thoughts on Instagram or watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Emergency episode alert! After last night's 50th Olivier Awards - broadcast on the BBC for the first time in decades - the gang give their verdict on the winners, the losers, the dramas and the dresses. Hint: the bear swept the board... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
It's a big week. The fifth season comes to an end with no Nick Clark - he's on holiday - but instead a Nick, a Nancy, a producer Tim AND two big starry shows to round things off: two of the most exciting young actors around, Noah Jupe and Sadie Sink, play Shakespeare's star crossed lovers in Robert Icke's take on Romeo and Juliet at the Harold Pinter theatre, and Aidan Turner and the peerless Lesley Manville revive Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre under director Marianne Elliott. Plus Nick Curtis talks to veteran stage and screen actor Henry Goodman about his return to Arthur Miller for a revival of The Price - as well as what it was like to actually work with Miller. And Eleanor Worthington-Cox answers five questions including one of the best (or maybe worst) onstage mishaps we've heard so far. We'll be back soon for another season...in the meantime there may be some bonus content dropping into your feeds. And keep an eye on all the latest updates on Instagram and see what we look like on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Self Esteem aka Rebecca Lucy Taylor returns to the stage for the second time: after playing a singer on the verge of a breakdown when she took on the role of Sally Bowles in Cabaret in 2023, now she plays an alcoholic singer on the verge of a breakdown in David Hare's 1975 play Teeth 'n' Smiles - the gang give their verdict. They also review Kimberly Belflower's Tony-nominated hit US play John Proctor is the Villain currently at the Royal Court. Plus the delightful Gwyneth Keyworth chats to Nancy about starring in the National Theatre production of Summerfolk, which we all loved last week, and how when she grew up she originally wanted to be...a vampire. And stage legend Clive Rowe answers our five questions. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week Nancy and the Nicks head to Hampstead Theatre for Aaron Loeb’s ROI (Return on Investment) , where cancer has potentially been cured, and there's lots of money to be made. Plus the gang are at the National Theatre for Summerfolk , Maxim Gorky’s caustic portrait of the pre-revolution Russian middle classes, eating, drinking and complaining their way towards a fairly inevitable reckoning. Theatre Royal Stratford East's artistic director Lisa Spirling talks to Nick Curtis about her debut season, which has already got off to a stunning start with the harrowing Here There Are Blueberries , and continues with Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy . Plus, Beatrice Penny-Touré, currently starring as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera , answers our five questions. Follow us, watch us, chat to us @thelondontheatrereview on Insta and YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
With Nancy in Mexico on the trail of Frida Kahlo, producer Tim steps in to join the Nicks as they discuss The Holy Rosenbergs at the Menier Chocolate Factory and Marie and Rosetta @sohoplace. Matt Willis from Busted chats to Nancy about taking on the role of the Emcee in Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club, and the Orange Tree Theatre's artistic director Tom Littler answers one listener's question about which plays are chosen for revivals and why. Follow us on Insta and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Michael Sheen's first production for his new company Welsh National Theatre is Our Town, the classic American play by Thornton Wilder transposed to Wales. Nick, Nick and Nancy give their verdicts. They also visit the Young Vic for Broken Glass, one of Arthur Miller's late plays in which a woman becomes paralysed after reading about the horrors of Kristallnacht. Nick Curtis talks to director Monique Touko about having three plays on simultaneous: Marie and Rosetta, The Boy at the Back of the Class and Jaja's African Hair Braiding. And Bridgerton's Hazel, aka Gracie McGonigal, answers five questions as she stars in Into the Woods as a very bolshy Red Riding Hood. Find us on Instagram and YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This week the gang review Bird Grove, the George Eliot origin story that nobody was quite sure they needed. How did Mary Ann Evans become one of the most famous novelists of all time? Did she fall in a vat of radioactive acid? Or get bitten by a radioactive spider? No, the answer is much more church-focused. They also visit the Donmar Warehouse for Anna Ziegler's new play Evening All Afternoon about a mother/daughter relationship and functionally extinct rhinos. Mad Men and Billions star Maggie Siff talks to Nick Curtis about playing CS Lewis's lover, the poet Joy Davidman, in Shadowlands at the Aldwych Theatre, and award-winning actress Nancy Carroll answers five questions. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
