Simon Russell Beale and Don Warrington talk to us about playing one of the greatest roles of all time, to help us unpick the complex relationship between acting and ageing. Plus, we talk to theatre company Improbable about teaching actors in their 80s to improvise for the first time.

Please note this episode contains strong language.

4.  Old Lear

If all the world’s a stage, we’re the programme notes.
 
The National Theatre Podcast explores how theatre connects to the big issues of our time: sex, death, politics, and everything in between. We take you behind the scenes to investigate the artists and the ideas behind some of today’s most interesting productions, and go out into the world to find theatre at play in our everyday lives.
 
It’s a show about theatre, without the drama.

Arts

Literature

Performing Arts

Design

Food

Fashion & Beauty

Visual Arts

We’ve all failed at something, but rarely on stage in front of hundreds of people. We ask our favourite guests to share their hilarious stories of on-stage mishaps and malfunctions, and professional embarrassment in its most public form. All to answer the simple question - how do we deal with failure? And why are we are so obsessed with it?

10.  Epic Fail

It’s the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year, so we go on the road to Scotland to ask people from all over the country if it’s still the beating heart of new theatre-making. How has the Fringe shaped the last seven decades of UK culture, and has it become a victim of its own success?

9.  Edinburgh

How does culture shape the character of a neighbourhood, a city, a country? We speak to visual artist Jeremy Deller, DJ Dave Haslam and celebrate the NT’s River Stage festival by looking at art in public spaces, and the impact it’s had on the people who pass through them.

8.  In Public

Does our vote matter? We follow the development of our new interactive show The Majority, which lets the audience cast votes to change the outcome of the performance. But what happens when you give an audience control? We talk to experts in polling and audience behaviour to address the slippery idea of how large groups make decisions, and confront complicated moral choices with real-life consequences.

Please note this episode contains strong language.

7.  The Majority

Cush Jumbo explains how writing a play changed the fortunes of her acting career, and we talk to dramaturgs, directors and a 17-year-old playwright to learn the untold story of how plays really come to life.

4. Old Lear

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