Stage Door Jonny goes live with “the hottest power couple in theatre” (Vogue Magazine). This week’s episode talks to the doyenne of 21st Century playwrights, Jez Butterworth (Jerusalem, The Ferryman, Hills of California) and the leading actress in his last three plays, Laura Donnelly, partners in life as well as art. Act 1 of this live show at London’s Jermyn Street theatre covers: their first meeting in an, ahem, audition room for Jez’s play The River and Laura’s observation that made the future father of her children sit up and take notice; Jez’s myesthesia, 1,000 oranges and the dangers of exaggeration for an actor; the tragic events in Laura’s life that inspired Jez to write The Ferryman; why Laura wouldn’t get on the table and dance when Jez asked her to and why Jez was terrified of writing The Ferryman until an event in both their lives meant he had to.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Act II of Jonny’s chat with Simon they discuss the difference between immersion and identification; how much mystery Simon leaves in his understanding of a play; the director’s 3am thinks; why Simon has no problem with leaving a show; how directing can be like working in HR, his love of first days; Shakespeare’s school of life; what Simon fears most in the theatre- and why A Christmas Carol at The Tabard theatre is so special to him.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s guest is Simon Godwin, one of the finest directors on either side of the Atlantic. Simon sits down with Jonny in majestic surroundings (work with me here) and they discuss how Simon (and Hamlet) came to Jonny’s aid when he was trying to buy a house; how Simon assembled the site-specific Macbeth that is currently playing; his three play collaboration with its star, Ralph Fiennes; the difference between certainty and confidence; why he suddenly stopped his directing career to go and train his body- and what Rupert Goold said to him as he was leaving; the moment that sticks in Jonny’s memory when he was directed by Simon - and Simon’s lockdown Romeo and Juliet starring Josh O’Connor and Jessie Buckley.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week’s chat Jonny takes a stroll down memory lane with acclaimed director Dominic Cooke. They both started at the Royal Shakespeare Company in the early 90’s and Dominic rose to become artistic director of the Royal Court, Olivier-award winner, CBE and now the director of a new blockbuster stage production based on The Biggest TV Show in History. No not Seinfeld. Jonny and Dominic chat about the very particular flavour of the RSC when they met, their problem with stage violence, the “liberating duality of the theatre”, why we don’t talk enough about being bored, the unsung hero of modern British directors, telling an actor “I don’t believe you” and the problem with anger on stage. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second part of Jonny’s chat with director Dominic Cooke they discuss getting the end of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom wrong, some strategies actors use to avoid being vulnerable, Sophie Okonedo and giving her performance up to the gods, experiencing vulnerability as a director and having to be dragged back to see his own shows, his fears for free expression in young writers right now, his long collaboration with Caryl Churchill- and how Caryl was right in her play Seven Jewish Children.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second act of Jonny’s chat with Dame Harriet Walter the conversation ranges over: age in the theatre; Harriet’s extraordinary encounter with her childhood hero, Rudolf Nureyev; being rejected by drama schools and what made her carry on; what she does and doesn’t want from a director; being robbed of time and power by other actors onstage; her search for a great comedy - and how the world expects too much from its mothers.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s guest is none other than a walking trifecta: a Dame, a national treasure and a star of Succession. Dame Harriet Walter sits down with Jonny and powers through a windy chimney and the sound of a little light bricklaying to talk about the unforgettable visual images of theatre; Rebecca Frecknall’s production of The House of Bernarda Alba; how she stays connected to the life of the play night after night; how she wishes a play could always have a live conductor; undressing Hitler; what trying to effect change through the theatre means to her now; being an ensemble player, hiding under her desk to avoid the school play, all-women Shakespeare, sympathy for the overdog and what she thinks of Jonny’s pleas to her to play Macbeth.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the first Act of this week’s conversation Jonny talks to the pride of Nempnett Thrubwell, the internationally renowned director of Mamma Mia on stage and screen, Phyllida Lloyd. Phyllida directed Meryl Streep to an Oscar for playing Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady but her visionary work in the theatre long preceded that. Phyllida’s remembers Jonny in a pond, talks about her most recent stage production at the National Theatre in 2023- a verbatim play based on the testimony of the survivors of the Grenfell fire-and how theatre can play a part in bringing a public outrage to account. They also discuss how Mamma Mia was a cultural disrupter, Phyllida’s problem with spreadsheets, the power of art in prison and what it takes for an actor to endure through a lifetime.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Act 2 of Jonny’s chat with Phyllida Lloyd (unless you left at the interval, like Phyllida sometimes does…). Phyllida discusses her dreams of a Rusisian theatre commune, her relationship with Harriet Walter, and whether it’s always easy to direct a friend, chasing the artistic utopia of her schooldays with her famous trilogy of all-female Shakespeares, the one woman show that changed her and why there’s no excuse for making dull theatre. Not to mention how she wouldn’t direct the Tina Turner musical now and why it’s over for blokes like Jonny.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The most cracked out of all theatre junkies is Jonny’s guest this week. At least 10,000 nights in the theatre and counting after over 50 years as the doyen of British theatre critics, Michael Billington was THE arbiter of critical taste for the entirety of Jonny’s life. In this chat Michael opens up about his trouble with mime, air-kissing C list celebrities, how even critics are joining in the rise in audience participation, spaghetti in the stalls, hearing Laurence Olivier in his head, the “inexhaustible surprise” of the theatre, missing Harold Pinter, never finding Marilyn Monroe, how Chekov understood his 20 year old feelings and the way criticism completes the cycle of creation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.