Renowned actor and author Michael Pennington introduces his new book on Shakespeare, Sweet William, based on his solo show of the same name. Read on, and you'll find an exclusive extract from the book, that may whet your appetite for more... This morning the snow is six inches deep and as I live at the … Continue reading Michael Pennington on his new book, SWEET WILLIAM: Twenty Thousand Hours with Shakespeare
Theatre
Helen Edmundson on her stage version of SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS
Helen Edmundson is a multi-award-winning playwright with a string of stellar hits to her name, including adapting Jamila Gavin’s novel Coram Boy for the National Theatre, and winning the John Whiting Award (Best New Play) for The Clearing. Her latest venture – bringing Arthur Ransome's classic novel Swallows and Amazons to life for the stage … Continue reading Helen Edmundson on her stage version of SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS
Charles Dickens’ THE HAUNTING: I Wants to Make Your Flesh Creep!
Hugh Janes’ spine-tingling play The Haunting is adapted from several original ghost stories by Charles Dickens, and toured extensively throughout the UK in 2010/11. Here, the author explains how the play was inspired by Dickens’ long-held fascination with the supernatural... Whether we believe in them or not, ghosts appear to be everywhere: in churches, cemeteries … Continue reading Charles Dickens’ THE HAUNTING: I Wants to Make Your Flesh Creep!
Spotlight: TOM WELLS on THE KITCHEN SINK
Talented Yorkshire playwright Tom Wells tells us a little about his hilarious new play The Kitchen Sink – ‘comic, poignant and utterly gripping... outstanding’ Evening Standard – that premiered this week at the new Bush Theatre. A play set entirely in the kitchen of an eccentric Yorkshire family, it's about big dreams and small changes, … Continue reading Spotlight: TOM WELLS on THE KITCHEN SINK
LAGAN: Writing Northern Ireland – by Stacey Gregg
Stacey Gregg is a Belfast-born playwright whose new play – Lagan – marks her UK debut, premiering tonight at Ovalhouse, South London. A kaleidoscope of stories from post-Troubles Belfast, Lagan is an intimate and absorbing portrait of a city with a past like no other. Stacey reveals her desire to 'write' her hometown... Lagan sprang … Continue reading LAGAN: Writing Northern Ireland – by Stacey Gregg
WE ARE THREE SISTERS: with author Blake Morrison
Poet, playwright and novelist Blake Morrison grew up in striking distance from Haworth, the village once home to the Brontë family, and describes his latest play for Northern Broadsides, We are Three Sisters, as 'a kind of homecoming'. Here he explains the enjoyment of dramatising the Brontë's lives, lifting the gloom and misery so often … Continue reading WE ARE THREE SISTERS: with author Blake Morrison
THE GOD OF SOHO Special: with director Raz Shaw
In part two of our special feature on The God of Soho, director Raz Shaw tells us what it was like bringing Chris Hannan's wild and raucous script to life for Shakespeare's Globe. You have previously directed productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet for the Shakespeare's Globe, but this is your first … Continue reading THE GOD OF SOHO Special: with director Raz Shaw
THE GOD OF SOHO Special: with author Chris Hannan
Chris Hannan's new play for Shakespeare's Globe, The God of Soho, is a wickedly funny morality tale for the modern world. Sexy, feisty and real, it is a story about love at its dirtiest, maddest and most bittersweet. Here, the author talks about writing the play specifically for the Globe's unique stage. When the Artistic … Continue reading THE GOD OF SOHO Special: with author Chris Hannan
Edinburgh Festival Fringe special: with Gareth Armstrong and HighTide’s Steven Atkinson
Rounding off our Edinburgh Festival Fringe special, our third and final post features writer, director, actor and Edinburgh regular Gareth Armstrong, whose newly published book So You Want To Do A Solo Show? is an essential resource for both aspiring and seasoned solo performers, especially those wanting to make it big on the Fringe. Also … Continue reading Edinburgh Festival Fringe special: with Gareth Armstrong and HighTide’s Steven Atkinson
Edinburgh Festival Fringe special: with Lynda Radley
In part two of our Edinburgh Fringe special, in which a handful of our authors involved in some way in this year's Festival Fringe frenzy tell us what it all means to them, we hear from 'rising star in Scottish theatre' (Scotsman) Lynda Radley, whose latest play Futureproof premieres at the Traverse Theatre this week. … Continue reading Edinburgh Festival Fringe special: with Lynda Radley
The Prompt Book 