Guest Blog: David Lan On A Theatrical Life Richly LivedMay 27, 2021During the time I was running a theatre my boyfriend used to say that the difference between Monday to Saturday and then Sunday was that all the days of the week were the same, except that on Sunday there was somebody on the sofa fast asleep. And so it was that after eighteen years and something like 200 shows I decided enough was enough, it was time to go.
Guest blog: Sound Designer David Collison Looks Back on His Singular Theatrical LifeMay 25, 2021'Namedropping in the Wings' is intended as a lighthearted memoir of how someone in his early twenties with no technical knowledge or training whatsoever became celebrated as a sound expert. It began when a very green 17-year-old got a job in a small London theatre where the artistic director was a young Peter Hall, the genius who went on to found the Royal Shakespeare Company.'
Guest Blog: Nick Bromley On Bringing Stage Ghosts To LifeMay 10, 2021Nick Bromley has been a West End company manager for the past half-century, but also happens to be a member of the Ghost Club and the Society for Physical Research. So he is perfectly poised to write Stage Ghosts and Haunted Theatres, a guided supernatural tour that offers an all-access pass to the phantoms past and present of London theatreland. Bromley here sets out his vision for the book, which has a foreword by Richard O'Brien of Rocky Horror Show renown.
Guest Blog: Guy Woolf On Making 'Money' Out of an Ethical DilemmaApril 26, 2021A few years ago, I had a meeting with an industry professional about our company represent. At this meeting, I was told about a sizeable donation that had been received from an ethically dubious source. The entire board of directors was assembled as to whether to accept the donation or not. Instantly, the idea for 'Money' was born.
Guest Blog: 'Phantom' Alum Lara Martins Spreads Her Wings On DiscApril 13, 2021The Portuguese performer Lara Martins played the opera diva Carlotta in The Phantom of the Opera on the West End nearly 1700 times - a record-breaking run in that role - before exiting the London production in 2018. She rejoined the show for its Greek premiere last year when the pandemic hit, and is now expanding her range with a debut album, Cancao, that extends her skill-set yet further.
Guest Blog: The Designer Tom Piper on Helping Nurture the Next GenerationApril 6, 2021Tom Piper is at the forefront of British stage design, having worked over the years for a sizable swathe of theatres up and down the UK. Piper had a long and fruitful association with the Royal Shakepeare Company as well as a longstanding relationship with Indhu Rubasingham, artistic director of the Kiln, where he is that playhouse's new associate designer, Among his initiatives at the Kiln has been the launch of two nine-month resident assistant designer positions so as to abet people early in their careers.
Guest Blog: Jenny Caron Hall On A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAMMarch 29, 2021On Wednesday, we're due to give a one-off, live, online performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, Luisa Omielan, and Wendy Morgan and I'm cautiously excited about what we're making here!
Guest Blog: Mark Ravenhill On Turning Life Into Art With 'Angela'March 23, 2021Mark Ravenhill has written such era-defining plays as Shopping and F***ing, Mother Clap's Molly House, and The Cane, and has now turned the pandemic to advantage to pen Angela, his most autobiographical play to date. Telling of his late mum, who died in 2019 age 84, the audioplay stars Pam Ferris in the title role alongside Toby Jones as the author's dad and Joseph Millson as Mark himself. The playwright sets this especially personal piece of writing in context below.
Guest Blog: Amir El-Masry On Self-Indentity and Hanging With MENA Arts UKMarch 4, 2021The Friday Hangout talk series at the Arab British Centre is back in partnership with MENA Arts UK, the organisation of arts professionals from the Middle East, North Africa and surrounding areas who have been gathering on an informal basis to discuss their work and answer live questions from the public. Guests this year have included the filmmaker Sally El Hosaini and playwright Abi Zakaria; the British Egyptian actor Amir El-Masry is up next and sets his appearance in context below.
Guest Blog: RYAN METCALFE Talks Romeo And JulietFebruary 5, 2021With Romeo & Juliet, starring Emily Redpath and Dear Evan Hansen Olivier Award-winner Sam Tutty, we set out to produce a piece of work that broke through the ceiling of creativity one finds at present with technologically limited readings of plays via Zoom and similar mediums.