We came across Bespoke Plays in 2024 when Mimi Collins put on their first London show, a staged reading of her own play The Water Party.

What we soon found out was that Bespoke Plays is a transatlantic venture, having been brought to London by Mimi in partnership with its LA founders.

So the chance to chat about those LA origins with Mimi and one of Bespoke's founders, Ellie Pyle was something we were more than happy to take.

We discuss how Bespoke started, how it was used as a way to get through lockdown for so many artists, the difference between LA and London, and even how arts funding differs between the two countries (spoiler: it's a lot better in the UK than USA!). And we find out about Bespoke's fundraising drive and what they want the money for.

You can read more about Bespoke Plays on their website here.

We do love a good tag line, and that's just what our latest guests are Libby Boyd and Ruby Blue Tansey-Thomas, who make up two-thirds of Themis Theatre, gave us for their upcoming show, Schrödinger's Lesbians.

RIght now they are working on bringing the show to Waterloo's The Glitch, having previously played as part of last year's Camden Fringe.

Structured around the fragmented writings of Sappho's, ‘Schrödinger's Lesbians’ is a joyful, irreverent new play from Themis Theatre about love, lesbians, and how to cope with a history that's written you out of it.

We discuss the play, the important of representation on stage, lessons learnt from Camden Fringe and whether history is still being written by old white men.

Schrödinger's Lesbians plays at The Glitch from 9 - 14 April. Further information and tickets available here.

Synergy Theatre Project is more than just a theatre company. Formed over 20 years ago they work across theatre and the criminal justice system, including within prisons putting on work with prisoners, whilst the shows they put on will often include ex-prisoners in both the cast and creative roles.

That's certainly true of their next show, Providers, a new play about family, money and what we do when we don’t have enough of it. Not only does the cast include ex-prisoners alongside professional actors, but so does the backstage team.

We chat with Artistic Director Esther Baker about why Synergy does what it does, what it's like working in prisons, and quite why in an ideal world the company just wouldn't exist!

Providers comes to Brixton House 25 - 29 March. Further information available here.

Emma Wilkinson Wright and Greg Wilkinson discuss The Last Days of Liz Truss.

Poor Liz Truss, forever to be remembered for her failures and not the amazing work she did in promoting Britain's pork markets! But maybe that's all about to change with Greg Wilkinson's The Last Days of Liz Truss surely here to correct the record on her behalf? Well, ok, maybe not...

The Last Days of Liz Truss joins Liz in her last morning at number 10, taking us on a tragic-comic exploration of the tensions in politics: between ambition and ability, vision and reality, going short and playing it long. Can a fighter ever quit?

We caught up with Greg, along with performer Emma Wilkinson Wright to talk about the show, and find out if they are planning to set the record straight in support of our shortest ever Prime Minister.

The Last Days of Liz Truss plays at White Bear Theatre from 18 - 29 March. Further information and tickets available here.

Chris Fung is about to bring his show, The Society for New Cuisine, to Omnibus Theatre, a show that asks "What would you give for a taste of new understanding?"

Chris will be known to many for his West End work, including roles in Frozen and Cyrano de Bergerac, but as we discuss, this is his first foray into writing. We also chat about the delights of fringe theatre and how it differs from being on a West End stage, performing to just three people at Edinburgh Fringe and how the play was written whilst performing in Frozen.

The Society for New Cuisine will play at Omnibus Theatre from 19 March to 5 April. Further information available here.

Sometimes a show pops up that says it is based on a true story, but well, you have to double check these things when they sound so ridiculous.

And that is exactly what we had to do before we sat down with writer Nikhil Vyas to chat about The Mosinee Project, which is coming to New Diorama Theatre from 11 March.

The Mosinee Project tells the true story of a fake invasion, when in 1950 a small town in America decided to show what would happen should the Russians invade!

We discuss the show, how Nikhil happened upon this surreal story and why playing it straight is the only real way to make it so funny.

You can find out more about the show and book tickets here.

Not heard of Mary De Morgan? Don't worry, we have to admit most of us here at ET hadn't either, but that's all about to change as we chat to Claire Parker about her show The Vegan Tigress.

Mary De Morgan was a writer, a woman of independent means, a socialist and an activist. She wrote several volumes of fairy tales, tearing up the rule book on expected outcomes for boys, girls and happy ever afters.

The Vegan Tigress tells the story of De Morgan through one of her own fairytales, reimagining the moment a formidable ghost from Mary’s past forces her to re-evaluate her own story as she finds herself on the cusp of a life-changing journey.

The Vegan Tigress plays at Bread and Roses Theatre from 18 February to 1 March. Further information and tickets available here.

There's an old saying about making the best out of a bad situation, and that's just what the team at MARIA WHO? seem to have done with Miss Brexit.

Framing the show as a beauty contest, with the winner given

We chat to co-director Amaia Mugica to find out about more the show, how it has developed over the last two years, and whether it's story can translate to stages across Europe.

Miss Brexit will play at Omnibus Theatre from 11 to 15 February. Further information and tickets available here.

It's always lovely to chat to old friends, and that's just what this week's podcast is. David Brady, Artistic Director of Lion and Unicorn Theatre and Proforca Theatre, has been a guest at least three times before, but that's no reason not to ask him back because he is always a lot of fun.

This time it's to chat about their latest work And If The Surface Tension Breaks, a show about "the end of the world, living for the moment, and the mother of all goodbye parties". What's not to love?

So we chat about why this is more about people than the end of the world, the importance of music when working on new shows, where that the show title comes from (there's a clue in the title of this episode) and we even find time to ask about new year's resolutions.

And If The Surface Tension Breaks comes to Lion and Unicorn Theatre betwen 11 February and 1 March, more information and bookings here.

You can also find a playlist of songs inspired by the show here.

Our latest guests are Jamie Sefton and Alex McKeon, who together make up Mirror Up Productions.

Jamie has been a guest before, previously to chat about A Thousand Sons, a show about the ongoing battle for veterans of the nuclear testings of the 1950s to receive recognition and acknowledgement of what happened at that time.

He has now formed Mirror Up with Alex, and are just about to put on Reflections, their second Scratch night of new works at Drayton Arms Theatre.

We chat about the scratch nights and why they are an important cog in the theatre machine, their own contribution to the night with an extract from their work in progress show, and look at what else they have planned for the future.

Reflections plays 26 and 27 January at Drayton Arms Theatre. Further information and tickets can be found here.