We spoke with Caroline Blakiston about her life and career.

West by Steven Berkoff

directed by Steven Berkoff

produced by The Base

Audio play coming soon.

Starring Oliver Bennett, Steven Berkoff, Tim Faulkner, Lily Hardy, Mary Lincoln, Fabrizio Santino, Morgan Watkins and Sam C Wilson Sound recording - James Scott Linville

Nina Power joins us to discuss 'The Father' written by August Strindberg in 1887.

Nina talks with us about the play and Strindberg's turbulent relationships with women. We use this as a jumping off point to discuss some of the challenges in the battles between the sexes over the last two centuries.

Please follow Nina's work, she is really one of the great minds of today.

https://ninapower.substack.com

Today we are joined by historian and author, Justine Brown. Justine is a specialist in the Stuart period and the vibrant world of restoration theatre. Justine's work delves into the political and cultural shifts that shaped drama, from the court of James I to the Puritan firebrands and then the dazzling resurgence of the stage under Charles II. Her recent book, 'The Private Life of James II', explores the personal and political complexities of one of Britain's most fascinating Monarchs.

Please buy Justine's book and follow her on her wonderful social media channels.

https://www.instagram.com/justinebrownsbookshelf/

https://youtube.com/@justinebrownsbookshelf?si=OAF_UCjF-ngJuR3-

https://x.com/brown_bookshelf

This is Part 2 of our discussion with Professor Donald Rayfield.

Professor Rayfield takes us from the mid 1890s until his untimely death in 1904. We ask him end the show with some questions on Anton Chekhov.

Mr Rayfield is the foremost biographer of Chekhov and we were honoured to explore his extraordinary biography with him.

Please buy his book wherever you can to learn more about one of the great dramatists in human history.

⁠https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anton-Chekhov-Life-Rayfield/dp/0810117959⁠

Please support our work wherever you can by liking, subscribing and following.

At our next event we bring you a rare performance of the Calvary, Purgatory and The Resurrection by W.B. Yeats with a response from acclaimed Yeats biographer, R.F. Foster

We hope to see you there.

⁠https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/calvary-purgatory-the-resurrection-by-w-b-yeats-tickets-1252988615679?aff=oddtdtcreator

In this episode Professor Donald Rayfield guides us through the life and times of Anton Chekhov.

In Part 1 he takes us up to the 1890s just before Chekhov writes The Seagull.

Mr Rayfield is the foremost biographer of Chekhov and we were honoured to explore his extraordinary biography with him.

Please buy his book wherever you can to learn more about one of the great dramatists in human history.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anton-Chekhov-Life-Rayfield/dp/0810117959

Please support our work wherever you can by liking, subscribing and following.

At our next event we bring you a rare performance of the Calvary, Purgatory and The Resurrection by W.B. Yeats with a response from acclaimed Yeats biographer, R.F. Foster

We hope to see you there.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/calvary-purgatory-the-resurrection-by-w-b-yeats-tickets-1252988615679?aff=oddtdtcreator

A brief summary of the life of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe by Maximilian Stecher.

Written in response to Anna Sebastian’s paintings, Oliver Bennett's play ‘What We May Also Do’ was performed in the gallery Verdurin in Hoxton in 2024.

An older woman, Gloria, attempts to gain admittance to ‘The City’ – a place of supposed sexual liberation and social climbing, but which breeds a life destroying ennui. An exploration into our contemporary attitudes to sex and repression.

Written by Oliver Bennett

Directed by Oliver Bennett

Produced by Pierre d'Alcancaisez

Sound recording: Cameron Lee and Aimee Armstrong

https://verdur.in/event/what-we-may-also-do-by-oliver-bennett/

Cast

Richard - Oliver Bennett

Gloria - Kristin Milward

Howard Barker is a playwright, poet, painter, director, designer and essayist. He is, in many people's opinion, our greatest living playwright. His work is extremely difficult to categorise. He has coined the term Theatre of Catastrophe and has argued for the reintroduction of the tragic mode. His style is unique - poetic, tragic, speculative, full of wild imagination, contradictions, anachronisms, dangerous ideas, ruptures in character, time and space, and in all of this the position and opinion of the playwright, what we are 'supposed to think', is totally uncertain.

Howard takes us through his work, his thoughts on writing and the history of philosophy.

He helps us understand his writing process and his commitment to the foundation of contradiction and uncertainty in artistic work.

Please follow, like, share and subscribe.

https://www.instagram.com/thebasecreates/

https://x.com/thebasecreates

A reading of East by Steven Berkoff.

Written in 1975

Mike - Morgan Watkins

Les - Oliver Bennett

Sylv - Charlotte Spencer

Mum - Helen Bang

Dad - Alec Newman