In the fifth and final part of our week-long Talking Theatre Special – Richard Eyre interviews composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. Sondheim's shows include A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd,Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and Assassins, as well as … Continue reading Richard Eyre’s TALKING THEATRE: with Stephen Sondheim
Theatre Books
Richard Eyre’s TALKING THEATRE: with Alan Bennett
In Part Four of our week-long Talking Theatre Special – Richard Eyre interviews playwright and actor Alan Bennett. He has become part of the (quintessentially English) family, a familiar face, a national institution, adjectival: ‘Very Alan Bennett,’ people say. I interviewed him in the basement kitchen of my house. He wasn’t at his happiest when … Continue reading Richard Eyre’s TALKING THEATRE: with Alan Bennett
Richard Eyre’s TALKING THEATRE: with Fiona Shaw
In Part Three of our week-long Talking Theatre Special – Richard Eyre interviews actor Fiona Shaw. Born in Cork, Fiona Shaw is celebrated for playing many classical roles—Medea, Electra, Hedda Gabler, even Richard II. Most good actors are highly intelligent; few are highly articulate. Fiona Shaw’s fluency never leads her into waffle, but as an … Continue reading Richard Eyre’s TALKING THEATRE: with Fiona Shaw
Richard Eyre’s TALKING THEATRE: with Peter Brook
In Part Three of our week-long Talking Theatre Special – Richard Eyre interviews experimental theatre and film director Peter Brook. Peter Brook has stimulated British theatre for fifty years—first, in his twenties, in the West End, then with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and for the last twenty-five years from outside the country. He disclaims any … Continue reading Richard Eyre’s TALKING THEATRE: with Peter Brook
Richard Eyre’s TALKING THEATRE: with John Gielgud
Part Two of our week-long Talking Theatre Special is an extract from Richard Eyre's interview with the late John Gielgud. Actor and director John Gielgud performed all the major Shakespeare roles, and was instrumental in introducing Chekhov to English audiences. In later life he acted in plays by Alan Bennett, Charles Wood, David Storey and … Continue reading Richard Eyre’s TALKING THEATRE: with John Gielgud
Richard Eyre on TALKING THEATRE: Interviews with Theatre People
To celebrate the new paperback edition of Richard Eyre's Talking Theatre - his superlative account of how theatre is made, in the words of the very people who make it - we will be posting exclusive extracts from the book here on the NHB blog. Come back on Monday to find out what John Gielgud … Continue reading Richard Eyre on TALKING THEATRE: Interviews with Theatre People
Ken Campbell: The True Spirit of a Prankster
Published today – April Fools' Day – is Ken Campbell: The Great Caper, Michael Coveney's biography of the one-man comic whirlwind who tore through the British theatre establishment using well-rehearsed anarchy and a genius for surreal comedy. Here, Coveney recalls Campbell's fondness for a good wheeze - including his notorious Royal Dickens Company hoax... If there’s … Continue reading Ken Campbell: The True Spirit of a Prankster
THEATRE AWARDS ROUND-UP: with James Seabright
The annual awards season is drawing to a close, and we're thrilled that so many NHB plays and theatrebooks have picked up gongs along the way. The King's Speech won both the Bafta and Academy Award for Best Screenplay; Simon Callow beat off stiff competition to take the Sheridan Morley Prize for Theatre Biography with … Continue reading THEATRE AWARDS ROUND-UP: with James Seabright
Going Public: What playwrights feel about their reviews
Playwright and tutor Steve Waters explains the power of the review, and offers advice on how to deal with them, whether they're good or bad. As I sat down to write this piece, I was waiting for reviews for two new plays of mine: Amphibians, a project I have developed with Offstage Theatre Company, and … Continue reading Going Public: What playwrights feel about their reviews
The Prompt Book 