Theatre Interviews
theartsdesk Q&A: Playwright Simon StephensSunday, 29 July 2012
Simon Stephens (b 1971) is the most prolific British playwright of his generation. Born and brought up in Stockport, he began writing as a student in York University and had produced seven plays before his Bluebird was produced at the Royal Court in 1998. Read more...
|
theartsdesk Q&A: Playwright Martin CrimpSaturday, 10 March 2012
Playwright Martin Crimp is one of British theatre’s best-kept secrets. Although his neon-lit name appears in the theatre capitals of Europe, with his work a big hit at festivals all over the continent, here he is better known to students - who love his 1997 masterpiece Attempts on Her Life - than to ordinary theatregoers. Read more... |
Interview: Director Peter GillWednesday, 29 February 2012
There is a simple explanation to why Cardiff-born Peter Gill has never directed in his home city, despite the fact that many of his own plays are set in the Catholic, working-class Cardiff of his youth. “I’d never been asked,” states Gill matter-of-factly; “it’s just a trade; it’s not a magical world. You have to ask me to do things.” Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Actor Zach BraffSunday, 12 February 2012
Zach Braff (b 1975) is overwhelmingly known as the star of Scrubs, the hugely popular American hospital comedy which came with a side order of surrealism. But fans of low-budget indie cinema will also cherish fond memories of Garden State, which he wrote, directed and starred in alongside Natalie Portman. Read more... |
The King's Speech: From Screen to StageSaturday, 11 February 2012
George VI had been my hero since childhood because I was such a terrible stutterer. We had been evacuated from England to the US and during the war, particularly the latter stages, my parents would encourage me to listen to the King’s speeches on the wireless. “Listen, David,” they’d say, “he was a far worse stutterer than you, and listen to him now. He’s not perfect but he can give these magnificent stirring speeches that really work. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Director Barrie RutterSunday, 29 January 2012
In 1992 Northern Broadsides, the Halifax-based theatre company founded by Barrie Rutter, staged its first production, Richard III. Rutter (b 1946), an established actor who had worked with some of the most distinguished names in theatre such as Jonathan Miller, Terry Hands, Peter Hall and Trevor Nunn, directed the show and also played the title role. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Actress Siân PhillipsSaturday, 07 January 2012
Siân Phillips (b 1933) belongs to a remarkable generation of British actresses. They include Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Vanessa Redgrave, Joan Plowright and Sheila Hancock. Although just as indomitable a presence on stage and screen, Phillips is set apart from them not only by dint of her Welshness – Welsh was her mother language as a child – but also by the curious shape of her career. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Dramatist Lee HallSunday, 02 October 2011
Like his most famous creation, Billy Elliot, Lee Hall left his native North East to pursue what turned out to be a glittering career in the arts. Although I can’t speak for the fictitious Billy, Hall has certainly never forgotten his working-class roots, which continue to inform and inspire his work. Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Director Mike LeighTuesday, 20 September 2011
There is somewhere called Leighland, where people may be ineffably sad or existentially cheerful, old or young, live in a high rise or a semi. But they are all recognisably inhabitants of the world famously conjured up over a long period of clandestine development in the now time-honoured fashion. Nothing and everything changes in the work of Mike Leigh (b 1943). Read more... |
Q&A Special: On Recreating South PacificSaturday, 13 August 2011
It was early in 1949. South Pacific, the follow-up to Rodgers and Hammerstein’s huge wartime hit Carousel, had entered the try-out phase before hitting New York. Read more... |
Pages
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 10,000 pieces, we're asking for £3.95 per month or £30 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take an annual subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
latest in today
Blood Knot, Orange Tree Theatre review - defining apartheid-...
London's impromptu mini-season devoted to the work of Athol Fugard picks up real steam with Blood Knot, Matthew Xia's transfixing take on...
Vasari Singers, Backhouse, St Bride’s Fleet Street review -...
London performances of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto for Choir are like Meaningful Votes: you wait a long time for one, then they come in...
The Best Films Out Now
There are films to meet every taste in theartsdesk's guide to the best movies currently on release. In our considered opinion, any of the titles...
CD: Edwyn Collins - Badbea
Edwyn Collins is in a good mood. Perhaps it’s his 2014 move back to his native...
La forza del destino, Royal Opera review - generous voices,...
When "Maestro" Riccardo Muti left the Royal Opera's...
Pose, BBC Two review - transgender goes mainstream
NYC, 1987. AIDS is ravaging the city, Reagan’s in power,...
Emilia, Vaudeville Theatre review - shouting for change
Emilia Bassano Lanier is not a household name. But maybe she should be. Born in 1569, she was one of the first women in England to publish a book...
Minding the Gap review – profound musings on life
Where would you go for a devastating study on the human condition? The home ...
DVD/Blu-Ray: La Vérité
For admirers of Henri-Georges Clouzot or Brigitte Bardot, this Criterion restoration of their rarely seen 1960 collaboration is a must have. ...