There have been two American Michaels roaming the streets of the UK over the past few weeks. We last saw them on the stage, but now they have stepped from the boards in front of the cameras proving that it’s not only the bright lights of the theatre scene that are a big draw for Hollywood talent.

Michael C Hall and Michael Esper appeared on stage together last year in the musical Lazarus, which played to sold out audiences at the temporary space King’s Cross Theatre. Michael C Hall is busy in Manchester filming Safe for Netflix, and Michael Esper has been spotted in and around London filming the Getty’s family saga, Trust for the FX network. It’s great to see them return to the UK in any capacity, cementing that the UK’s entertainment industry is thriving, and vital to the country. I sat down and talked to both Michael’s about their experience in Lazarus when we visited the show on the anniversary of Bowie’s death, and it was clear that one thing that the musical did was remind us how prolific David Bowie was with his songwriting - and how influential an artist he was to whatever he chose to turn his hand to.

Robert Icke has a great track record here in the UK, having had an Olivier Award nomination for 1984 back in 2014 for Best New Play (where he also picked up the Best Director gong at the UK Theatre Awards), but today I want to bring you a little chat we had during the warm up of the play where he won the Olivier Award for Best Director. Oresteia, which showed at Trafalgar Studios a little less than two years ago, also brought a classic story, this time a Greek tragedy, to the stage. And, once again, cameras were a feature of this production. Less CCTV cameras of Big Brother, but broadcast cameras so that the killing of a child could be witnessed by the population as a leader’s sacrifice to help win a war. It was harrowing stuff, and extremely hard to watch, but was riveting theatre – something in which Robert Icke has made a name for himself.

And now, for something completely different. What I thought I would do this week is set a little quiz. The first Curtain Call Theatre Podcast Quiz: “Guess the Warm Up”.

You are going to hear a series of warm ups in the podcast, and we are going to give a book to the person that can guess which show up goes with which warm up.

Sounds easy, but there are definitely some tricky ones in there. But hopefully you’ll have a lot of fun guessing. The trick is to listen to the acoustics of the sound, recognizable names or characters names, and I may just give you a hint or two.

And there you have it. The very first Curtain Call Theatre Podcast Quiz. Send your answers as to which shows you heard to [email protected], or send us messages via Twitter or Facebook, and the person that guesses the most correctly will win a copy of Curtain Call: A Year Backstage in London Theatre. If there is a tie, we will draw a name from a hat.

On Friday the 7th of April, we heard the incredibly sad news that the BAFTA award winning and Tony and Olivier Award nominee Tim Pigott-Smith passed away at the age of 70. It came as a huge shock on both sides of the Atlantic, not to mention the entire theatre world.

Having built a steady theatre career, he was brought to the nation’s consience when he starred as Ronald Merrick in a career-defining screen performance in ITV’s “The Jewel in the Crown.” Garnering him a BAFTA for Best Actor.

In this week’s podcast, we bring you the first person we ever recorded on our Curtain Call journey – one of the hardest working people in theatre - Emma De Souza, Head of Media and Marketing at the Society of London Theatre, or SOLT as it is now known. But just wait to hear what the actual acronym used to be. Take a wild guess…and enjoy it when you hear.

We’re going to celebrate another Olivier Award Nominee this week. We last saw Florian Zeller in the West End when his play “The Father” ended up on not one, but TWO West End stages, not to mention the multiple theatres visited on their UK tour. He was back in 2016 with the brilliantly scathing “The Truth” – nominated for Best New Comedy.

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This week I talk to the company of Amadeus, recently at The National Theatre, about the process of rehearsing with musicians who never had the opportunity of getting out from behind their instruments. But also had a chance to talk to the musicians about having to get out of their comfort zones and get comfortable with telling the story though movement as well as music.

Running Order:

00:30 - Intro

00:45 - Curtain Call Exclusives

01:10 - Introduction to Amadeus

02:30 - Adam Gillen

04:30 - Beth Higham-Edwards

05:30 - Fleur de Bray

06:10 - The Boys: Everal A Walsh, Geoffrey Beevers, Nicholas Gerard-Martin, Michael Lyle

07:15 - Lucian Msamati

07:55 - The Boys Part II

08:30 - Tom Eddon

09:40 - Karla Crome

10:10 - The Girls: Sarah Amankwah, Eleanor Sutton

10:55 - Tom Eddon Pt II

11:55 - Fleur de Bray Part II

12:25 - The Boys Part III

13:00 - Lucian Msamati Part II

14:00 - Curtain Call Pro Membership

14:30 - The Socials @curtaincall

14:45 - Exclusive deets / Curtain Call Insider

15:00 - Get in touch

15:10 - Thank you!

15:25 - Adios!

This week, we talk to Michele Dotrice, currently on stage in "The Girls" about her time on both "The Importance of Being Earnest" and "Nell Gwynn".

Michele is one of my favourite people to chat to.  She's just so funny, warm, inviting, smiley, happy...insert your own positive words here.

Debbie Chazen, Sophie-Louise Dann, Michele Dotrice, Claire Machin, Claire Moore and Joanna Riding have all been nominated for their roles as The Girls in Gary Barlow and Tim Frith's new musical "The Girls".

This week, we bring you Ruth Wilson.  Ruth has been nominated for Best Actress in a play for her portrayal of the titular character in Hedda Gabler.  An all out career-defining performance, Ruth is deservedly nominated and talks to us about her rehearsal process with Olivier Award winning director, Ivo Van Hove, and just what brings her back to theatre time and time again.