British Theatre Guide podcast

David Ireland is an Irish playwright with a reputation for writing hard-hitting drama such as The Fifth Step, Ulster American and Cypress Avenue, but director Max Elton is reviving a very different play by him, Most Favoured, which can be seen at Soho Theatre in London over the Christmas period.

BTG David Chadderton spoke to David about the play and his influences as a writer, as well as how his love of Shakespeare began in a Blackpool guest house at the age of 9 and why he wants to write romantic comedies and feels he couldn't face watching some of his earlier plays now.

Most Favoured, starring Lauren Lyle and Alexander Arnold, will run at Soho Theatre in London from 11 December 2025 to 24 January 2026.

(David Ireland photo credit Tommy Ga-Ken Wan)

Buzz Goodbody was the first female director at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford where she was instrumental in setting up the venue The Other Place.

She died just 50 years ago at the age of 28, and her nephew, Adam Goodbody, has created a new theatre company, Buzz Studios, in her honour. The company's first production is Petty Men at London's Arcola Theatre.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Adam and his co-writer and fellow performer, John Chisham about the play and its creation, adapting Shakespeare's Julius Caesar to create a modern piece, the importance of theatre and Shakespeare education and of course the legacy of Adam's aunt, Buzz Goodbody.

Petty Men runs at the Arcola Theatre in London from 19 November to 20 December 2025.

(Petty Men image of John Chisham and Adam Goodbody, photography by Tom Dixon.)

Steve Marmion is currently in his second season as Chief Executive and Director of Programming for Watford Palace Theatre, but he also ran Soho Theatre in London for eight years and founded PantoCo Ltd.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Steve about the upcoming panto production of Jack and the Beanstalk with the voice of Stephen Fry as the Giant, but he also spoke at some length about the value of panto in general, the challenges of running and programming theatres for diverse communities, why theatres need to conquer TIkTok and how his social media reels resemble Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

Jack and the Beanstalk will run at Watford Palace Theatre from 29 November 2025 to 4 January 2026. Steve also mentioned Werewolf, which will run at the same theatre from 22 November to 24 December 2025, and The Mesmerist, running from 2 to 21 March 2026.

Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole, as Sh!t Theatre, have been making theatre together for fifteen years.

They will be spending the 2025 Christmas season at London's Southbank Centre with their new show Evita Too, set in the presidency of Argentina, like the other Evita, but they are looking at the perhaps more interesting story of Juan Perón's second wife, Isabel, who became president after his death.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Rebecca and Louise about their discovery of the story of "gogo-dancer-turned-president" Isabel, how they turned this into a show and their research in Argentina and Spain, as well as how the company was originally formed and whether there are any regrets about its name.

Evita Too from Sh!t Theatre will be performed in the Purcell Room at London's Southbank Centre from 9 to 31 December 2025.

Border Crossings, a UK-based theatre company that collaborates with artists from around the world, is celebrating its 30th anniversary, formed in 1995 by Artistic Director Michael Walling.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Michael about the history, methodology and extensive catalogue of work of the company over three decades and what he views as the increasing urgency of bringing together people from different nationalities, cultures and backgrounds through theatre.

David and Michael both teach on the online BA in Theatre Studies from UK drama school Rose Bruford College (David was in its first intake of students in 1996, and Michael one of his tutors), which is also celebrating its 30th anniversary. They talk about the innovative and transformative nature of the course, pay tribute to its late founder, Tony Hozier, and lament its recent cancellation.

Jessica Norman is a playwright and screenwriter whose play This Little Earth, which was long-listed for the Women's Prize for Playwriting, will debut at London's Arcola Theatre this autumn.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Jessica a couple of days before the production opened about the play and its development, conspiracy theories and those who believe them and about writing in general.

This Little Earth runs at the Arcola Theatre in London from 22 October to 15 November 2025.

A post-show discussion with Jessica and journalist and author Gabriel Gatehouse, Emeritus Professor of Anomalistic Psychology Chris French and CEO of the UK Antarctic Heritage Trust Camilla Nichol will take place on Thursday 30 October.

The Antarctic Climate Café, allowing people to come and talk about the climate crisis, will be before the show on Thursday 13 November.

Rebecca Atkinson-Lord was Director of Theatre at London's Ovalhouse (now Brixton House) until 2016, but has since moved to the island of Mull in the Scottish Hebrides as Chief Executive and Artistic Director of An Tobar and Mull Theatre.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Rebecca while she was in rehearsals for a stage adaptation of Sarah Moss's novel Night Waking, adapted by Shireen Mula. She explained about the play and the process of adapting and rehearsing it, as well as the challenges of touring to rural venues and to theatres where some of your audience comes by boat and what she misses about working in London.

Night Waking opens at Mull Theatre on 28 and 29 September 2025 before touring to Edinburgh, Stirling, Greenock, Wick, Inverness, Ullapool, Strathcarron, Castle Douglas, Dumfies, Fife, Paisley, Dunoon, Lochgilphead, Oban, Iona and back to Mull, finishing on 31 October.

Playwright Martin Sherman was born in Philadelphia and raised in New Jersey but has lived in London for more than forty years.

His memoir On the Boardwalk is about to be released, covering the first part of his life up to his first major success as a writer with the play Bent at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1979, which starred Ian McKellen, who has written a foreword to the book.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Martin about his life and work including his mother's Huntington's Disease which he feared inheriting, his father's narcissistic personality disorder, his time at Boston University and Lee Strasberg's Actors' Studio, his failed productions before his introduction to Gay Sweatshop in London and the O'Neill in Connecticut, being represented by the great Peggy Ramsey and his success with Bent, where the book ends.

On the Boardwalk will be released by the publisher Inkandescent on 25 September 2025.

Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran's most famous works are TV sitcoms such as Shine On Harvey Moon, Birds of a Feather, Goodnight Sweetheart and The New Statesman.

They have also written for radio and for stage musicals such as Dreamboats and Petticoats, but their latest piece, currently running at London's Upstairs at the Gatehouse, is a play called Dr Freud Will See You Now, Mrs Hitler.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Laurence and Maurice about the play's story, history and long gestation as well as the extensive research that went into it, touching on how they have dealt with controversy over their work in the past, especially for their TV miniseries about Oswald Mosley, their writing process and much more.

Dr Freud Will See You Now, Mrs Hitler opened at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in London on 4 September and runs until 28 September 2025.

Actor and author Emily Woof is best known for her film and TV work such as Mandy in The Full Monty, Shannon in Velvet Goldmine and Nancy in Oliver Twist, but she has also written novels and devised her own theatre pieces.

At this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, she is performing her own solo play, Revolver, directed by her husband, Hamish McColl, writer and co-founder of theatre company The Right Size.

BTG Editor David Chadderton spoke to Emily during her Edinburgh run about the play's subject matter, its predecessor piece at the 1993 Fringe, her devising process and her other writing work.

Revolver, produced by Shared Experience, opened at Pleasance Courtyard on 14 August and runs daily at 2:20PM until 25 August 2025.

(Photo of Emily Woof in Revolver, credit Sheila Burnett)