Curtain Call Podcast

2021 had felt like a beacon of hope, and the new year promised the restart we were all waiting for. But as the year ticked over, shows programmed for the new year, for Spring for Summer even well into the future that started to feel uncertain, then impossible, and inevitably, they were cancelled too.

According to current government guidelines, supposedly, theatres will be able to reopen in a few weeks time. But the closer we get to reopening, how likely is it that we will get what our theatrical ancestors were longing for: Restoration. 

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In the attempt to resurrect live theatre while navigating constantly shifting terrain, how far can hope get you? How do you make theatre when the world keeps changing, when time keeps collapsing, when the earth beneath your feet keeps sinking into bog? And how do you communicate with a government who seems to be operating on a different frequency somewhere in a separate universe? 

In order of appearance:

Kwame Kwei-Armah (Director)

Adele Thomas (Director, Presenter)

Sunita Hinduja (Stage Manager)

Jessica Hung Han Yun (Lighting Designer)

Roy Williams (Writer)

Clint Dyer (Director)

Produced by Curtain Call

Presented by Adele Thomas  

Written by Adele Thomas and Freddie Crossley

Sound engineered by John Schwab 

Music by Freddie Crossley

Support for this episode and original concept for the Freelancers Make podcast from Sally Beck Wippman

Special thanks for this episode goes out to Athena Stevens and Alistair Cope

Transcription by Kelsie Acton.

Freelancers Make Theatre Work is a community for the 200,000 self-employed theatre makers in the UK - it is currently run by a team of incredible volunteers from around the industry.

Follow us @freelancersmaketheatrework  

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While we wait for Episode 3 to drop (20th April 2021), we'd like to know if you were taking part in a "Ghost Show"

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Enjoy your Easter Holiday. Stay safe. Be kind.

Listen next week for details on how you can get involved in a very special episode of Ghost Shows.

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Ghost Shows follows the shows that were conceived, programmed and even rehearsed in 2020 but were closed down before they’d even opened. 

This is not a historical document - this is an emotional record of the first few months of lockdown.

This is our untold story. 

If you haven’t listened to the first episode, we'd really encourage you to do so. In Episode 1, we chronicled the lead up to the mass closures of theatres in March last year, and some of the individual shows that never made it to the stage.

In this episode, we look at what happened next: the emotional and creative chasm that comes from finding yourself adrift in a wilderness. 

Cast (in order of appearance):

Lauren Grace - Actor

Adele Thomas - Director (Narrator)

Sharon D Clarke - Actor

Maria Aberg - Director

Ruby May Martinwood - Actor

Atri Banerjee - Director

Emma Baggott - Director

Jessica Hung Han Yun - Lighting Designer

Sunita Hinduja - Company Stage Manager

Rona Munro - Writer

Gemma Smith - Company Stage Manager

Rona Munro - Writer

Freelancers Make Theatre Work website

CurtainCall Website

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A year on from theatres closing their doors, ‘Ghost Shows’ asks what happened to the shows that were created, rehearsed and tech'ed but never lived in front of audiences?

Presented by freelance opera director, Adele Thomas, the series features interviews with freelance performers, stage technicians, creatives and production staff from a variety of productions across the UK.

From ‘the announcement’, through the confusion of government updates, in and out of lockdown, ‘Ghost Shows’ explores the unheard voices and impact of the pandemic on the day to day jobs and livelihoods of the freelance workforce. 

Cast (in order of appearance):

Sunita Hinduja - Company Stage Manager

Adele Thomas - Director (Narrator)

Maria Aberg - Director

Lauren Grace - Actor

Rona Munro - Writer

Jessica Hung Han Yun - Lighting Designer

Ruby May Martinwood - Actor

Atri Banerjee - Director

Emma Baggott - Director

Gemma Smith - Company Stage Manager

Freelancers Make Theatre Work website

CurtainCall Website

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Sally Beck Wippman, an American Director, had just moved back to the UK a few months before the pandemic sent the country into lockdown. 

Far from family, and without an established place in the UK theatre community, she found solace in Freelancers Make Theatre Work - and the Migrants in Theatre movement.

In this episode, Sally takes us into an empty Tobacco Factory Theatres in Bristol, England to reminisce on past productions and dreaming of future ones... She is joined by actor Joe Tweedale.

Freelancers Make Theatre Work Website

Curtain Call Website

Episode Narrated by Leo Wan

"Getting Better Every Day" arranged by Tom Johnson

Episode Music Composed by Freddie Crossley

Edited by John Schwab

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In this episode, Lighting Designer Prema Mehta returns to Storyhouse during the pandemic to reflect on previous experiences there, and also to show what a theatre freelancer feels like when they are no longer able to go into work with theatres shut. Prema has designed the lighting for over 200 productions, and works across the UK. Recent work includes productions at The Royal Court, Sheffield Theatres, Shakespeare’s Globe, Storyhouse, and The Young Vic. She has also designed for Madame Tussauds, The O2 Arena and Westminster Hall.

She founded Stage Sight to widen the theatre workforce in offstage roles, and encourage those who are under represented backstage, so that our industry more accurately reflects our society.

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We thought we’d bring you a little bit of cheer in the form of our annual Christmas podcast.

This year we turn our ears towards the creator of the world of The Wizard of Oz which, of course, begat the megahit musical “Wicked”.  In this slightly different Christmas tale by L Frank Baum, Santa encounters an unfortunate series of events that may or may not prevent him from delivering his presents.  

Baum’s short story “A Kidnapped Santa” has it all.  Santa. Elves. Pixies. Knooks and Rils (don’t worry...if you don’t know, you will get to know) and Daemons....not just one of them.

And to bring us this fantastical and fantastic story is none other than The Walking Dead and Wonder Woman actress Eleanor Matsuura.  So pour yourself a mug of eggnog, hot apple cider, mulled wine or just a simple good old cup of tea and let Eleanor whisk you away to the Laughing Valley.

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Paule is an Olivier and Tony award-winning freelance lighting designer. She is an associate director of the National Theatre and of Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures.  She has worked on shows like Ocean at the End of the Lane, Angels in America, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Les Mis, Warhorse and Follies.  Her designs have transported audiences and characters to heaven, deep into the ocean, through the inner workings of a child's mind, through wars, and into dreams.  She is a passionate believer in collaboration - both onstage and off. 

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