The Play Podcast
@theplaypodcast.bsky.social
Exploring the greatest new and classic plays.
www.theplaypodcast.com
Hosted by DouglasSchatz.bsky.social
www.theplaypodcast.com
Hosted by DouglasSchatz.bsky.social
“Any group of strangers can become a choir.”
Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe on the community that comes together in the theatre in ‘Every Brilliant Thing’.
Duncan and Jonny join me to talk about their brilliant play in our latest episode.
‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is @sohoplace until 8 November.
Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe on the community that comes together in the theatre in ‘Every Brilliant Thing’.
Duncan and Jonny join me to talk about their brilliant play in our latest episode.
‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is @sohoplace until 8 November.
September 25, 2025 at 9:50 AM
“Any group of strangers can become a choir.”
Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe on the community that comes together in the theatre in ‘Every Brilliant Thing’.
Duncan and Jonny join me to talk about their brilliant play in our latest episode.
‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is @sohoplace until 8 November.
Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe on the community that comes together in the theatre in ‘Every Brilliant Thing’.
Duncan and Jonny join me to talk about their brilliant play in our latest episode.
‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is @sohoplace until 8 November.
“They’re gambling with their happiness.”
Director Matthew Dunster on the men putting it on the line in Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/096-dealers-...
And you can still catch the cracking production @donmarwarehouse.bsky.social
Director Matthew Dunster on the men putting it on the line in Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/096-dealers-...
And you can still catch the cracking production @donmarwarehouse.bsky.social
096 - Dealer's Choice by Patrick Marber - The Play Podcast
Matthew Dunster, the director of 'Dealer's Choice' at the Donmar Warehouse, joins me to explore Patrick Marber's play.
www.theplaypodcast.com
May 29, 2025 at 9:10 AM
“They’re gambling with their happiness.”
Director Matthew Dunster on the men putting it on the line in Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/096-dealers-...
And you can still catch the cracking production @donmarwarehouse.bsky.social
Director Matthew Dunster on the men putting it on the line in Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/096-dealers-...
And you can still catch the cracking production @donmarwarehouse.bsky.social
The core themes of conformity and group think in Ionesco’s absurdist satire, ‘Rhinoceros’, remain as frighteningly relevant as ever.
Omar Elerian, who directed the play at the Almeida, joins me to explore Ionesco’s classic.
www.theplaypodcast.com/095-rhinocer...
📷 Sopé Dirisu by Andy Gotts
Omar Elerian, who directed the play at the Almeida, joins me to explore Ionesco’s classic.
www.theplaypodcast.com/095-rhinocer...
📷 Sopé Dirisu by Andy Gotts
May 12, 2025 at 10:46 AM
The core themes of conformity and group think in Ionesco’s absurdist satire, ‘Rhinoceros’, remain as frighteningly relevant as ever.
Omar Elerian, who directed the play at the Almeida, joins me to explore Ionesco’s classic.
www.theplaypodcast.com/095-rhinocer...
📷 Sopé Dirisu by Andy Gotts
Omar Elerian, who directed the play at the Almeida, joins me to explore Ionesco’s classic.
www.theplaypodcast.com/095-rhinocer...
📷 Sopé Dirisu by Andy Gotts
‘Oedipus and the Sphinx’ by Ingres.
What was the riddle that Oedipus solved? Answer is in the Footnotes to our latest episode on Sophocles’ tragedy.
Become a patron to access all Footnotes at www.patreon.com/theplaypodcast
Listen free now to the full episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
What was the riddle that Oedipus solved? Answer is in the Footnotes to our latest episode on Sophocles’ tragedy.
Become a patron to access all Footnotes at www.patreon.com/theplaypodcast
Listen free now to the full episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
April 8, 2025 at 10:16 AM
‘Oedipus and the Sphinx’ by Ingres.
What was the riddle that Oedipus solved? Answer is in the Footnotes to our latest episode on Sophocles’ tragedy.
Become a patron to access all Footnotes at www.patreon.com/theplaypodcast
Listen free now to the full episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
What was the riddle that Oedipus solved? Answer is in the Footnotes to our latest episode on Sophocles’ tragedy.
Become a patron to access all Footnotes at www.patreon.com/theplaypodcast
Listen free now to the full episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
“As for marrying your mother, you’re not the first to have dreamed that dream.” Sigmund Freud was struck by this line when he saw a production of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King in France.
@edithmayhall.bsky.social explores Sophocles’ tragedy in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
@edithmayhall.bsky.social explores Sophocles’ tragedy in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
March 29, 2025 at 10:11 AM
“As for marrying your mother, you’re not the first to have dreamed that dream.” Sigmund Freud was struck by this line when he saw a production of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King in France.
@edithmayhall.bsky.social explores Sophocles’ tragedy in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
@edithmayhall.bsky.social explores Sophocles’ tragedy in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
“No one has ever invented a better plot than the detective looking for the murderer, and all along it is himself.” @edithmayhall.bsky.social on Sophocles’ seminal thriller, Oedipus, in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
📷 Manuel Harlan @oldvictheatre.bsky.social
📷 Manuel Harlan @oldvictheatre.bsky.social
094 - Oedipus the King by Sophocles - The Play Podcast
In this episode Professor Edith Hall joins me to explore Sophocles's great tragedy, 'Oedipus the King'.
www.theplaypodcast.com
March 27, 2025 at 5:01 PM
“No one has ever invented a better plot than the detective looking for the murderer, and all along it is himself.” @edithmayhall.bsky.social on Sophocles’ seminal thriller, Oedipus, in our new episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/094-oedipus-...
📷 Manuel Harlan @oldvictheatre.bsky.social
📷 Manuel Harlan @oldvictheatre.bsky.social
“It’s one of the best two-handed scenes ever written.”
Rory Mullarkey on Tuzenbach taking his leave of Irina in Three Sisters.
Listen now to our latest episode on the play, wherever you get your podcasts or at www.theplaypodcast.com/093-three-si...
📷 Johan Persson
#chekhov
#threesisters
Rory Mullarkey on Tuzenbach taking his leave of Irina in Three Sisters.
Listen now to our latest episode on the play, wherever you get your podcasts or at www.theplaypodcast.com/093-three-si...
📷 Johan Persson
#chekhov
#threesisters
March 14, 2025 at 11:32 AM
“It’s one of the best two-handed scenes ever written.”
Rory Mullarkey on Tuzenbach taking his leave of Irina in Three Sisters.
Listen now to our latest episode on the play, wherever you get your podcasts or at www.theplaypodcast.com/093-three-si...
📷 Johan Persson
#chekhov
#threesisters
Rory Mullarkey on Tuzenbach taking his leave of Irina in Three Sisters.
Listen now to our latest episode on the play, wherever you get your podcasts or at www.theplaypodcast.com/093-three-si...
📷 Johan Persson
#chekhov
#threesisters
“Chekhov is interested in the vanishing point where comedy and tragedy are the same thing.” Playwright Rory Mullarkey on Three Sisters in our latest episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/093-three-si...
📷 by Johan Persson at the Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
📷 by Johan Persson at the Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
093 - Three Sisters by Anton Chekhov - The Play Podcast
In this episode we explore Anton Chekhov's symphonic study of the search for purpose and love, 'Three Sisters'.
www.theplaypodcast.com
March 11, 2025 at 3:15 PM
“Chekhov is interested in the vanishing point where comedy and tragedy are the same thing.” Playwright Rory Mullarkey on Three Sisters in our latest episode: www.theplaypodcast.com/093-three-si...
📷 by Johan Persson at the Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
📷 by Johan Persson at the Globe’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.
“Never before…had so much of the truth of black people’s lives been seen on stage.”
James Baldwin on Lorraine Hansberry’s play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’.
Director Tinuke Craig talks about the play in our new episode.
📷 by Ikin Yum @lyrichammersmith.bsky.social
www.theplaypodcast.com/092-a-raisin...
James Baldwin on Lorraine Hansberry’s play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’.
Director Tinuke Craig talks about the play in our new episode.
📷 by Ikin Yum @lyrichammersmith.bsky.social
www.theplaypodcast.com/092-a-raisin...
092 - A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry - The Play Podcast
In this episode we explore Lorraine Hansberry's landmark family drama of personal dreams and public prejudice, 'A Raisin in the Sun'.
www.theplaypodcast.com
February 11, 2025 at 12:43 PM
“Never before…had so much of the truth of black people’s lives been seen on stage.”
James Baldwin on Lorraine Hansberry’s play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’.
Director Tinuke Craig talks about the play in our new episode.
📷 by Ikin Yum @lyrichammersmith.bsky.social
www.theplaypodcast.com/092-a-raisin...
James Baldwin on Lorraine Hansberry’s play ‘A Raisin in the Sun’.
Director Tinuke Craig talks about the play in our new episode.
📷 by Ikin Yum @lyrichammersmith.bsky.social
www.theplaypodcast.com/092-a-raisin...
“Perhaps if I had not been so tormented myself it would have been less authentic.” Tennessee Williams on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
This and much more in the Footnotes to our episode on the play: www.patreon.com/theplaypodcast to join.
Listen to @arifa.bsky.social in our deep dive into the play.
This and much more in the Footnotes to our episode on the play: www.patreon.com/theplaypodcast to join.
Listen to @arifa.bsky.social in our deep dive into the play.
Get more from The Play Podcast on Patreon
A podcast that explores the greatest new and classic plays.
www.patreon.com
January 31, 2025 at 1:27 PM
“Perhaps if I had not been so tormented myself it would have been less authentic.” Tennessee Williams on Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
This and much more in the Footnotes to our episode on the play: www.patreon.com/theplaypodcast to join.
Listen to @arifa.bsky.social in our deep dive into the play.
This and much more in the Footnotes to our episode on the play: www.patreon.com/theplaypodcast to join.
Listen to @arifa.bsky.social in our deep dive into the play.
“The victory of a cat on a hot tin roof is just staying on I guess, as long as she can.”
Maggie hangs on in her marriage and in the succession battle.
Arifa Akbar joins me to review the domestic carnage in Williams’s play:
www.theplaypodcast.com/091-cat-on-a...
📷 Marc Brenner
Maggie hangs on in her marriage and in the succession battle.
Arifa Akbar joins me to review the domestic carnage in Williams’s play:
www.theplaypodcast.com/091-cat-on-a...
📷 Marc Brenner
091 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams - The Play Podcast
In this episode we explore Tennessee Williams's blistering drama of family conflict and repressed sexuality, 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'.
www.theplaypodcast.com
January 28, 2025 at 11:30 AM
“The victory of a cat on a hot tin roof is just staying on I guess, as long as she can.”
Maggie hangs on in her marriage and in the succession battle.
Arifa Akbar joins me to review the domestic carnage in Williams’s play:
www.theplaypodcast.com/091-cat-on-a...
📷 Marc Brenner
Maggie hangs on in her marriage and in the succession battle.
Arifa Akbar joins me to review the domestic carnage in Williams’s play:
www.theplaypodcast.com/091-cat-on-a...
📷 Marc Brenner
“The play is about the importance of being yourself”.
Director Max Webster on Wilde’s serious comedy in our latest episode:
www.theplaypodcast.com/090-the-impo...
Ncuti Gatwa
@nationaltheatre.org.uk
📷 Marc Brenner
#oscarwilde
#theimportanceofbeingearnest
Director Max Webster on Wilde’s serious comedy in our latest episode:
www.theplaypodcast.com/090-the-impo...
Ncuti Gatwa
@nationaltheatre.org.uk
📷 Marc Brenner
#oscarwilde
#theimportanceofbeingearnest
January 8, 2025 at 10:32 AM
“The play is about the importance of being yourself”.
Director Max Webster on Wilde’s serious comedy in our latest episode:
www.theplaypodcast.com/090-the-impo...
Ncuti Gatwa
@nationaltheatre.org.uk
📷 Marc Brenner
#oscarwilde
#theimportanceofbeingearnest
Director Max Webster on Wilde’s serious comedy in our latest episode:
www.theplaypodcast.com/090-the-impo...
Ncuti Gatwa
@nationaltheatre.org.uk
📷 Marc Brenner
#oscarwilde
#theimportanceofbeingearnest
“They’re all live streaming their lives on Insta!”
Director Max Webster on the performative lives of the modern characters in The Importance of Being Earnest @nationaltheatre.org.uk in our latest episode about Wilde’s enduring classic.
www.theplaypodcast.com/090-the-impo...
📷 Marc Brenner
Director Max Webster on the performative lives of the modern characters in The Importance of Being Earnest @nationaltheatre.org.uk in our latest episode about Wilde’s enduring classic.
www.theplaypodcast.com/090-the-impo...
📷 Marc Brenner
090 - The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde - The Play Podcast
In this episode we explore Oscar Wilde's classic 'The Importance of Being Earnest' with director Max Webster, whose joyous production is at the National Theatre.
www.theplaypodcast.com
January 7, 2025 at 9:54 AM
“They’re all live streaming their lives on Insta!”
Director Max Webster on the performative lives of the modern characters in The Importance of Being Earnest @nationaltheatre.org.uk in our latest episode about Wilde’s enduring classic.
www.theplaypodcast.com/090-the-impo...
📷 Marc Brenner
Director Max Webster on the performative lives of the modern characters in The Importance of Being Earnest @nationaltheatre.org.uk in our latest episode about Wilde’s enduring classic.
www.theplaypodcast.com/090-the-impo...
📷 Marc Brenner
Top shows of 2024- 10, December: Rebecca Frecknall’s striking rendition of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof @almeida.co.uk
Fabulous performances by Daisy Edgar-Jones as the cat, and especially Kingsley Ben-Adir, whose slow decline into profound drunkenness is utterly devastating.
📷 Photo @marcsbrenner
Fabulous performances by Daisy Edgar-Jones as the cat, and especially Kingsley Ben-Adir, whose slow decline into profound drunkenness is utterly devastating.
📷 Photo @marcsbrenner
December 31, 2024 at 3:11 PM
Top shows of 2024- 10, December: Rebecca Frecknall’s striking rendition of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof @almeida.co.uk
Fabulous performances by Daisy Edgar-Jones as the cat, and especially Kingsley Ben-Adir, whose slow decline into profound drunkenness is utterly devastating.
📷 Photo @marcsbrenner
Fabulous performances by Daisy Edgar-Jones as the cat, and especially Kingsley Ben-Adir, whose slow decline into profound drunkenness is utterly devastating.
📷 Photo @marcsbrenner
Top shows of 2024 - 9, December: Max Webster’s joyous production of The Importance of Being Earnest @nationaltheatre.org.uk
I suspect Oscar Wilde would have loved it.
📷 @marcsbrenner.bsky.social
#oscarwilde
#theimportanceofbeingearnest
I suspect Oscar Wilde would have loved it.
📷 @marcsbrenner.bsky.social
#oscarwilde
#theimportanceofbeingearnest
December 31, 2024 at 10:43 AM
Top shows of 2024 - 9, December: Max Webster’s joyous production of The Importance of Being Earnest @nationaltheatre.org.uk
I suspect Oscar Wilde would have loved it.
📷 @marcsbrenner.bsky.social
#oscarwilde
#theimportanceofbeingearnest
I suspect Oscar Wilde would have loved it.
📷 @marcsbrenner.bsky.social
#oscarwilde
#theimportanceofbeingearnest
Top shows of 2024 - 8, November: The Forsyte Saga at the Park theatre.
An impressively economic adaptation of Galsworthy’s aristocratic melodrama, inventively staged by Josh Roche, with a first rate cast in multiple roles. Riveting stuff.
#theforsytesaga
#galsworthy
#johngalsworthy
An impressively economic adaptation of Galsworthy’s aristocratic melodrama, inventively staged by Josh Roche, with a first rate cast in multiple roles. Riveting stuff.
#theforsytesaga
#galsworthy
#johngalsworthy
December 31, 2024 at 10:36 AM
Top shows of 2024 - 8, November: The Forsyte Saga at the Park theatre.
An impressively economic adaptation of Galsworthy’s aristocratic melodrama, inventively staged by Josh Roche, with a first rate cast in multiple roles. Riveting stuff.
#theforsytesaga
#galsworthy
#johngalsworthy
An impressively economic adaptation of Galsworthy’s aristocratic melodrama, inventively staged by Josh Roche, with a first rate cast in multiple roles. Riveting stuff.
#theforsytesaga
#galsworthy
#johngalsworthy
Top shows of 2024 - 7, November: Robert Icke’s modern adaptation of Oedipus. Even if we knew what was coming, the tension was terrible as we counted down to the awful denouement. Lesley Manville and Mark Strong were excellent, as always.
📷 Manuel Harlan
#oedipus
#sophocles
📷 Manuel Harlan
#oedipus
#sophocles
December 30, 2024 at 11:30 AM
Top shows of 2024 - 7, November: Robert Icke’s modern adaptation of Oedipus. Even if we knew what was coming, the tension was terrible as we counted down to the awful denouement. Lesley Manville and Mark Strong were excellent, as always.
📷 Manuel Harlan
#oedipus
#sophocles
📷 Manuel Harlan
#oedipus
#sophocles
Top shows of 2024 - 6, October: Lorraine Hansberry’s ground breaking play A Raisin in the Sun, in a lucid and moving production at the Lyric Hammersmith, directed by Tinuke Craig. The racism is still shocking, but the power of their dreams lifts the heart.
📷 Ikin Yum
📷 Ikin Yum
December 30, 2024 at 11:29 AM
Top shows of 2024 - 6, October: Lorraine Hansberry’s ground breaking play A Raisin in the Sun, in a lucid and moving production at the Lyric Hammersmith, directed by Tinuke Craig. The racism is still shocking, but the power of their dreams lifts the heart.
📷 Ikin Yum
📷 Ikin Yum
Top shows of 2024- 5, September: Samuel Beckett’s confounding, funny, timeless, inexhaustibly thought-provoking Waiting for Godot at the Haymarket, directed by the inimitable James Macdonald.
Check out our episode on the play with Matt McFrederick.
📷 Marc Brenner
Check out our episode on the play with Matt McFrederick.
📷 Marc Brenner
December 30, 2024 at 11:08 AM
Top shows of 2024- 5, September: Samuel Beckett’s confounding, funny, timeless, inexhaustibly thought-provoking Waiting for Godot at the Haymarket, directed by the inimitable James Macdonald.
Check out our episode on the play with Matt McFrederick.
📷 Marc Brenner
Check out our episode on the play with Matt McFrederick.
📷 Marc Brenner
Top shows of 2024 - 4, May: People, Places & Things. Duncan Macmillan’s unflinching portrait of addiction with an electrifying performance by Denise Gough. Directed by Jeremy Herrin, who came back to talk about the play with Duncan Macmillan.
December 28, 2024 at 5:17 PM
Top shows of 2024 - 4, May: People, Places & Things. Duncan Macmillan’s unflinching portrait of addiction with an electrifying performance by Denise Gough. Directed by Jeremy Herrin, who came back to talk about the play with Duncan Macmillan.
Top shows of 2024 - 3, April: Long Day’s Journey into Night. It was a privilege to see Brian Cox and Patricia Clarkson in O’Neill’s autobiographical masterpiece, and to talk with director Jeremy Herrin on the podcast. 📷 Johan Persson.
December 28, 2024 at 5:13 PM
Top shows of 2024 - 3, April: Long Day’s Journey into Night. It was a privilege to see Brian Cox and Patricia Clarkson in O’Neill’s autobiographical masterpiece, and to talk with director Jeremy Herrin on the podcast. 📷 Johan Persson.
Top shows of 2024 - #2 February: The Hills of California. Jez Butterworth weaves more theatrical magic, with two fabulous performances by Laura Donnelly.
December 24, 2024 at 8:51 AM
Top shows of 2024 - #2 February: The Hills of California. Jez Butterworth weaves more theatrical magic, with two fabulous performances by Laura Donnelly.
Top shows of 2024, 1 - January: The Homecoming at the Young Vic. A vivid staging by Matthew Dunster with a first class cast. Pinter’s take on toxic masculinity is both funny and unsettling.
December 23, 2024 at 2:59 PM
Top shows of 2024, 1 - January: The Homecoming at the Young Vic. A vivid staging by Matthew Dunster with a first class cast. Pinter’s take on toxic masculinity is both funny and unsettling.
Our latest episode asks what is Waiting for Godot about?
Answers we consider include: it’s about waiting, time, purpose, hope, or even love.
Dr Matt McFrederick helps us search for meaning. And by the way, it’s very funny!
www.theplaypodcast.com/089-waiting-...
📷 Marc Brenner
Answers we consider include: it’s about waiting, time, purpose, hope, or even love.
Dr Matt McFrederick helps us search for meaning. And by the way, it’s very funny!
www.theplaypodcast.com/089-waiting-...
📷 Marc Brenner
089 - Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett - The Play Podcast
In this episode we explore Samuel Beckett's landmark drama 'Waiting for Godot', with Matt McFrederick from the University of Reading.
www.theplaypodcast.com
December 16, 2024 at 7:12 PM
Our latest episode asks what is Waiting for Godot about?
Answers we consider include: it’s about waiting, time, purpose, hope, or even love.
Dr Matt McFrederick helps us search for meaning. And by the way, it’s very funny!
www.theplaypodcast.com/089-waiting-...
📷 Marc Brenner
Answers we consider include: it’s about waiting, time, purpose, hope, or even love.
Dr Matt McFrederick helps us search for meaning. And by the way, it’s very funny!
www.theplaypodcast.com/089-waiting-...
📷 Marc Brenner