Curtain Call Podcast

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.

With the announcement a couple months ago that Emma Rice was going to bring back Nell Gwynn to Shakespeare’s Globe this year and that Laura Pitt-Pulford was stepping into Gemma Arterton’s shoes, I thought it’d be a good idea to let you listen to the actors backstage as they got ready for their respective shows that we covered.

Flying with Peter!

In any production of Peter Pan worth its salt, there’s plenty of flying. Achieved with great success in this production by Sally Cooke, with many cast members both flying and counter-weighting, I wanted to know how comfortable the cast were after strapping into the harnesses. Suffice to say, it wasn’t all smooth “gliding” getting to grips with floating 30 feet above the Olivier stage floor. But once they got the hang of it, it was all fun!

Running order:

Madeleine Worrall

Saikat Ahamed

Anna Francolini

Marc Antolln & John Pfumojena

Amaka Okafor & Laura Cubitt

John Leader & Dan Wheeler

On Tuesday we dropped Episode 30, when we took you backstage to Lazarus at the Kings Cross Theatre. And what you didn’t get to hear were the incredible team of understudies that I met, so I thought it was high time that Curtain Call bring you another Understudy Special bonus episode to get you through the weekend. So sit back and listen to John Boydon, Alexandra Da Silva, Trina Hill and Paul Westwood take you through their journey on David Bowie’s extraordinary “Lazarus.”

Running Order:

John Boydon & Paul Westwood

Alexandra Da Silva & Trina Hill

To say that last Tuesday’s visit to London transfer of The New York Theatre Workshop’s “Lazarus” was a privilege is an understatement for Matt Humphrey and I. For Curtain Call to be invited backstage on such an occasion shows just how far we have come in the last year or so. I had a fantastic time talking to the company of Lazarus at King’s Cross Theatre, including the associate producer Zelda Perkins and Musical Director Tom Cawley. Also the fantastic cast such as Amy Lennox, who you have heard on the Kinky Boots podcast, as well as Broadway star Michael Esper and Dexter & Six Feet Under Star Michael C Hall, making his London Theatre debut.