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.
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-...
“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
“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
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.
A joyous afternoon at the NT for Max Webster’s gorgeous production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
It is modern and knowing, and respectful of the original. A scintillating version for our times. I suspect Wilde would have loved it.
It is modern and knowing, and respectful of the original. A scintillating version for our times. I suspect Wilde would have loved it.
November 30, 2024 at 6:50 PM
A joyous afternoon at the NT for Max Webster’s gorgeous production of The Importance of Being Earnest.
It is modern and knowing, and respectful of the original. A scintillating version for our times. I suspect Wilde would have loved it.
It is modern and knowing, and respectful of the original. A scintillating version for our times. I suspect Wilde would have loved it.
“Oh no! Not the ironing board!” Pamela Lane exclaimed at the curtain of Look Back in Anger in 1956.
Ellora Torchia and Morfydd Clark do the ironing at the Almeida.
@danrebellato.bsky.social and Atri Banerjee review the domestic battleground: www.theplaypodcast.com/087-look-bac...
📷 Marc Brenner
Ellora Torchia and Morfydd Clark do the ironing at the Almeida.
@danrebellato.bsky.social and Atri Banerjee review the domestic battleground: www.theplaypodcast.com/087-look-bac...
📷 Marc Brenner
November 26, 2024 at 9:35 AM
“Oh no! Not the ironing board!” Pamela Lane exclaimed at the curtain of Look Back in Anger in 1956.
Ellora Torchia and Morfydd Clark do the ironing at the Almeida.
@danrebellato.bsky.social and Atri Banerjee review the domestic battleground: www.theplaypodcast.com/087-look-bac...
📷 Marc Brenner
Ellora Torchia and Morfydd Clark do the ironing at the Almeida.
@danrebellato.bsky.social and Atri Banerjee review the domestic battleground: www.theplaypodcast.com/087-look-bac...
📷 Marc Brenner
Does going to a matinee of The Forsyte Saga betray my age? Maybe so, but it’s a cracking production: wonderful cast, brilliant storytelling, fluently staged, utterly gripping.
November 16, 2024 at 10:58 AM
Does going to a matinee of The Forsyte Saga betray my age? Maybe so, but it’s a cracking production: wonderful cast, brilliant storytelling, fluently staged, utterly gripping.