British Theatre Guide podcast

Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro meets 1970s Britain, Yorkshire poetry and Indian classical music in a new production for Bradford Opera Festival with a rewritten libretto by Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan and a score reworked by composer Ben Crick.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Ian and Ben about why they started this project and how they have gone about writing it, as well as about subtle variations in Yorkshire dialect, passing creativity on to children and grandchildren, how long a theatre show should be and why classical music isn't just for the upper classes, plus a hint about a future collaboration.

The Marriage of Figaro opens at Bradford Arts Centre in West Yorkshire on 17 and 18 November before moving to Slung Low in Leeds on 20 November, Skipton Town Hall on 21 November and Wilton's Music Hall in London from 23 to 25 November 2026.

(Photo of Kauser Mukhtar, Ben Crick and Ian McMillan, credit Lorne Campbell)

Tristan & Yseult, said to be Cornwall's oldest love story, has had numerous retellings, including the opera Tristan and Isolde by Wagner and Kneehigh Theatre Company's 2003 production directed by Emma Rice with a script by Carl Grose and Anna Maria Murphy.

The Kneehigh production is being revived by the Emma Rice Company for a tour in 2026 and 2027 with a cast including John Leader as Tristan and Nandi Bhebhe as Yseult.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to them both when the show was still previewing in Bath about restaging the famous Kneehigh production of this 5,000-year-old story, what it is like to be in Emma Rice's rehearsal room, taking the production to New York and more.

Tristan & Yseult from the Emma Rice Company opened at Theatre Royal Bath on 11 September 2026 and will tour to Theatr Clwyd in Mold, Citizens Theatre Glasgow, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, St Ann's Warehouse in New York City, Oxford Playhouse, Nottingham Playhouse, Theatre Royal Plymouth and York Theatre Royal, where it will end on 17 April 2027.

(Photo of Nandi Bhebhe as Yseult & John Leader as Tristan, credit Steve Tanner)

The work of multi-award-winning lyricist Don Black spanning more than five decades is to be celebrated in From The Heart, which had a short, sold-out run last year and returns to London's Garrick Theatre this October.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Clive Rowe, who stars in the production alongside Caroline O'Connor and Michael D Xavier, about performing these famous songs and a few new ones with music by composers including Gary Barlow, Natasha Bedingfield, David Arnold, Debbie Wiseman and Mike Batt.

He also spoke about how being backstage at an amateur theatre as a young lad in Shaw, a small town near Oldham, set him off on a journey to, eventually, the West End, and how much he loves the job he has been doing for nearly forty years.

From The Heart, directed by Nick Winston with musical direction by Joe Church and arrangements by Nick Barstow, will run at London's Garrick Theatre from 8 to 18 October 2026.

"Alfred Hitchcock meets Monty Python in a fast-paced comedy spy thriller packed with theatrical magic". That's how Derby Theatre and Hull Truck are describing their co-production of The 39 Steps which is inspired by John Buchan's classic novel and Alfred Hitchcock's film. BTG Midlands Editor Steve Orme spoke to director Cal McCrystal, "the country's finest comedy director", as well as two of the cast, Ryan Starling and Sophie Bloor. The 39 Steps will run at Derby Theatre from Tuesday 29 September until Saturday 17 October before transferring to Hull Truck from Wednesday 21 October until Saturday 14 November. (Pictured from left: Ryan Starling, Cal McCrystal and Sophie Bloor)

Anthony Almeida, the only person to have received both the Royal Theatrical Support Trust Sir Peter Hall Director Award and the European Opera Director Prize, is directing his first Shakespeare play, Othello, for a co-production between Northern Stage in Newcastle, HOME Manchester and Citizens Theatre in Glasgow in association with Royal and Derngate in Northampton.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Anthony about his concept for the play, the motivations and contemporary resonances of its characters and events and its 1980s setting.

Othello will run at Northern Stage in Newcastle 11–26 September 2026 then tour to HOME Manchester 30 September–10 October, Royal & Derngate in Northampton 13–17 October, Theatr Clwyd in Mold 20–24 October, Citizens Theatre in Glasgow 27 October–7 November, Derby Theatre 10–14 November and New Theatre Peterborough 17–20 November.

Ihsane from Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève and Eastman by double Olivier Award-winning Belgian choreographer and dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, drawing on his Moroccan heritage, will be performed as part of the 2026 Edinburgh International Festival.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Sidi before the Festival about the creation of the show, looking back on life after turning 50, his changing views on the attitudes of his late father, who died 30 years ago, as he has got older, blinkered, stereotypical attitides towards Arab men and queer men in society and much more.

Ihsane will be performed at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre from 18 to 20 August 2026.

(Photo of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, credit Navid Fayaz)

The King's Theatre in Edinburgh, originally built in 1906, closed after the 2022 Edinburgh festivals for a major refurbishment project, and is to reopen in time for the 2026 festival season.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Fiona Gibson, CEO of Capital Theatres, the company that owns the King's as well as the Edinburgh Festival Theatre and the Studio Theatre, about the refurbishment, the new and upgraded facilities, the support they have received from government, arts organisations and the public and the final preparations currently taking place for opening the doors to the public on Thursday 23 July 2026.

For more information about all events, see the Capital Theatres web site, or Edinburgh International Festival for events in the festival programme.

Tim Jackson is a British director, choreographer, musical director, music arranger and performer who recently received his first Tony nomination for directing the musical Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York).

Tim has directed and choreographed a revival of the musical Something Rotten, with music and lyrics by Wayne and Karey Kirkpatrick and a book by John O'Farrell, which has just opened for previews at the Opera House in Manchester starring Jason Manford, Richard Fleeshman and Marisha Wallace.

Tim spoke to BTG Editor David Chadderton about his current show, as well as about his experience at the Tonys in New York and the development of both shows.

Something Rotten opened at the Opera House in Manchester on 16 June and runs until 19 July 2026. For more information and tickets, see somethingrottenthemusical.com.

Pitlochry Festival Theatre in Scotland, is about to open its 75th anniversary season, its first since star of stage and screen Alan Cumming took over as Artistic Director.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Sam Hardie, Associate Director at the theatre, who is directing a revival of Iain Heggie's Wiping My Mother's Arse, and to playwright Douglas Maxwell, whose new play Inexperience will open in June, about the new season and the ways in which the new artistic director and his predecessor, Elizabeth Newman, changed the theatre's focus.

Douglas also shares the best piece of advice he was ever given about playwriting that he thinks about every day, which came from Iain Heggie.

Pitlochry Festival Theatre's 75th anniversary season opens on 23 May 2026 with a revival of the musical Once directed by John Tiffany, followed by Finn Den Hertog's production of Shakespeare's Lear starring Maureen Beattie, a revival of 2024 Edinburgh Fringe hit A History of Paper, Beckett's Happy Days starring Siobhán Redmond directed by Roxana Silbert, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie directed by Vicky Featherstone and My Fair Lady directed by Maria Friedman with Alan Cumming as Professor Higgins.

In the Studio, Douglas Maxwell's Inexperience opens on 13 June, followed by I Can Die Too by Frances Ruffelle, Sally George and Alan Cumming, Wiping My Mother's Arse by Iain Heggie (directed by Sam Hardie) and I'll Be Seeing You by Martin Sherman.

Liverpool's Unity Theatre is the last surviving member of the Unity Theatre movement formed from left-wing workers' drama groups in the 1930s.

The theatre is to present a series of events under the name A Radical Reimagining to celebrate a century of radical theatre in Liverpool, a project conceived by Artistic Director Eli Randle.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Eli about the project, the theatre's history and the changing face of political theatre. Eli also paid tribute to Graeme Phillips, Artistic Director of the Unity for more than thirty years, who died last year.

The various events in A Radical Reimagining will take place through May and June 2026 at the Unity Theatre, including Young Radical Theatre Makers from a new generation of artists and Stage Left, a production that looks back on the company's history, both running from 4 to 6 June.