Our guests this week on our Runn Radio show were Stephen Smith (from ThreeDumb Theatre) and Scott Le Crass. Stephen and Scott are currently putting the finishing touches to their production of Harry's Christmas, which will open at King's Head Theatre from 6 December (playing thru to 24 December). 

Stephen is someone we know well at Everything Theatre having picked up a catelogue of 4 and 5 star reviews for his previous work. He has now teamed up with director Scott to put on this Steven Berkoff play about lonliness and isolation. It's a play that, as we discuss, is as timely now as ever as it explores something that can be so easily overlooked at Christmas time, those people who spend it alone. 

As well as talking about such themes and why the past couple of years has made this play even more relevant, we also chat about working together, and how easy it is for Stephen to hand over the directing to someone else, having self-directed much of his recent works. 

The show plays at King's Head theatre throughout December, more info here.

This week's guest on our Runn Radio show was Aini Javaid. Aini is a 2022 Ambassador for SPID Theatre's Estate Endz Exhibition. 

Over the last 12 weeks the young participants (13-25 year olds) on their ‘Estate Endz’ programme have been gaining skills in audio- visual with the guidance of industry professionals specialising in audio-visual and architecture. With social housing heritage and solidarity at the heart of the project, the participants have been curating audio-visual material which will contribute to an exhibition taking place on the iconic Alexandra Rd Estate, London (26th Nov-Tenants Hall) and the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum, London (27th Nov- Learning Centre/Art Studio). 

We chat to Aini about the exhibition and her involvement, why SPID is such a vital organisation and fantastic in giving voice to youth, and why everyone should get involved with projects like this.

For our latest podcast, we’re chatting to Lemon Squeeze’s Sarah Archer. Sarah Is writer and director of Crunch!, which asks that age old question, what do you get when you cross a dead iguana, an employee with a very rare medical condition and the HR department in a high-end toilet factory?

We chat to Sarah about the play and how it came about from hearing of a bizarre employment tribunal case. Which obviously leads us to discuss how those involved in the real life case might react should they know they were the basis for this comedy drama! We also hear about why they are so excited to be bringing the show to Penge’s Bridge House Theatre, and why the model of that venue is one they hope to replicate by opening a new venue in Hove in the future.

Crunch! Plays at Bridge House Theatre 15 – 19 November, before heading to Royal Wootton Bassett on 2 December. Full info and booking links can be found on Lemon Squeeze’s website here.

We spoke to Jamie Sefton, writer and performer of A Thousand Sons back in 2021, just before the show played at Camden Fringe. It was a fascinating chat about this true story set over seven decades, charting the effects that being present at the atomic bomb testings in the 1950s has had on the men involved, and their families. 

Since then we have reviewed the show on two occasions. Firstly at Camden Fringe 2021, and more recently at EdFringe 2022. Both times we were taken by its powerful narrative, stating that "it is clear that A Thousand Sons is achieving its goals: both theatrically and politically."

So when Jamie got in touch to say the show was back in London for a week at Camden People's Theatre, we thought it would be a great time to catch up with him to talk not so much about the show itself, but what's happened since we spoke last year. We chat about playing in front of just six people for one performance, why Edinburgh was such a success, and how nerve wrecking it was to put this show about veterans in front of a room full of them!

The show plays Camden People's Theatre 1 - 5 November, tickets available here.

This week's guest is Helena Collins O’Connor from We Are Bosstress. Helena joins us to chat about her show Auto-Engrain, which is described as "a harrowing and blunt re-telling of a woman’s experience of a past relationship and how she got to now. No sugar coating allowed."

We chat with Helena about the play's themes of toxic relationships, coercive behaviour and what theatre's role is in starting conversations on such subjects. We also chat about female masturbation, another theme addressed within the play, and why British audiences can be a little prudish when it comes to such topics.

Auto-Engrain is heading to King's Head Theatre between 15 - 19 November, tickets can be found here. 

This week's guests are writer Nina Atesh, along with actors Andrew Callaghan and Jack Flammiger. Nina's play, The Drought, was the winner of 2021's London Horror Festival playwirght competition. From there it had its first run at King's Head Theatre in September, and is now preparing for a second run, this time as part of Old Red Lion Theatre's GrimFest season.

The Drought is a psychological horror/ thriller, set aboard a naval ship in the Victorian era. Except the ship is now on the seabed, as the sea has vanished. It's a fascinating premise, which we discuss in the interview, asking where it came from and why Victorian times? We also discuss what it is like as actors when you are involved in such an intense play, how do you unwind, and what happens when you forget your next line!

You can find our review of the play from it's King's Head run here, and book tickets for its Old Red Lion run between 1 - 4 November here.

For this week's chat on Runn Radio we had the immense pleasure of Linus Karp, making his third appearance. This time out we chat about his new show, Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story, which as you can guess, is very loosely based on Princess Diana. As Linus tells us, the untrue part of the title is the most telling!

As ever, it was a great pleasure to chat with Linus about the show, its origins, whether he fears any backlash from the easily offended, and how on earth he manages to look spookily like Diana in the show's trailer (which you will find on our website should you wish to check it out). Plus we talk touring, and his recent Edinburgh run.

Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story opens at The Pleasance in London on 8 November, before heading on a national tour thru to April, all the dates for which you will be able to find here.

Admit it, we've all done it, laid in bed in the middle of the night and thought to ourselves, what we really need is a potato based retelling of Faustus? What do you mean, you've never thought that? You must be on your own then.

So imagine our absolute joy when we came across Freddie Hayes's Potatohead at this year's EdFringe Festival. Because yes, this is what we'e been calling out for, this is Faustus, told by potatoes, with the help of other potato based foods. And as Freddie is now taking the show on a little tour of the country, we couldn't resist asking her along for a chat.

Find out just how she got the inspiration to dress up as a potato for her show, hear about her love of puppets and why she could be found crying in her potato suit one evening at Edinburgh! 

You can find out more about the show and its upcoming dates on our website here.

This week’s guests are writer/ performer Andrew Houghton and director, Sami Sumaria from Pink Milk Theatre.

The pair joins us to chat about their show, Naughty, which is coming to The Hen and Chickens Theatre soon (27 Sept to 2 Oct), before heading to Salford (6 Oct), Hull (7 Oct) and Cardiff (8 & 9 Oct).

The play, a darkly comic, queer coming-of-age tale, had a successful run at 2021’s Camden Fringe, and is now back after some rewrites and further development.

In Naughty, we meet Andrew, just days after ending his seven-year relationship with college sweetheart, Jake, when he is messaged out of the blue by a former ‘friend’. This unwelcome advance triggers an emotional spiral as Andrew recounts his unstable first steps into the world of gay sex and queer identity; all under the increasingly imposing guidance of Kevin, a teacher at his drama academy.

Tickets for the London run can be found here.

For this week's interview, we went big. And by big, we mean we had five guests all at the same time. Those five consisted of the four cast members of upcoming musical, The Last Sales Conference of the Apocalypse, along with the show's choreographer. Remarkably, we didn't spend half the interview talking over each other.

The musical is the latest from Skitzoid Productions, in which Sam has just accidently initiated a nuclear missile countdown. How we just don’t know as Sam apparently works for a new start-up company. But we’re sure all will be explained in the show. And if that opening sounds bizarre, we have a feeling that is only the start of the madness, as from there, Sam passes out and we enter his subconscious, where he sees everything as a TV franchise and he is the showrunner. It’s certainly a show we are eager to see!

But for now, we get to talk to its four strong cast and choreographer, to find out more about their characters and how they got involved with the show in the first place.

The show plays at Waterloo East Theatre from 4 to 30 October, bookings here.