Craig Henry joins us to chat about his new play, Her Country,

We chat about the play, it's origins dating back to 2015 and the murder of Jo Cox, and what it is like to finally see the play staged after nine years in the making.

Her Country plays at The Hope Theatre from 27 - 30 January, tickets available here.

When you call your show Thanks For Having Me, well, the intros just write themselves. But the show is more than just a clever title, as we found out when we sat down with writer/ performer

Thanks For Having Me is a comedy about getting over breakups and navigating the rules of modern romance at the end of your twenties. Who is really seducing who?

We discuss why 30something is an important age, what it's like directing the writer, and what's it like spreading your time between theatre and TV.

Thanks For Having Me plays at King's Head Theatre from 3 - 8 February. Further information and tickets available here.

For some of us, October means one thing - the chance to get some good horror stories on the stage. But for the rest of the year, well, we can feel a little neglected. Which is why we were delighted to hear from Monkey Cymbals, the theatre company of Claire Louise Amias and Jonathan Rigby, to let us know that their show Haunted Shadows: The Gothic Tales of Edith Nesbit was making a return to the stage at the end of January.

Georgie Henley, best known for her role as Lucy Pevensie in The Chronicles of Narnia, and more recently, The Diplomat (Netflix) and Partygate (Channel 4), will be performing in the Philip Ridley monologue Tarantula at Arcola Theatre throughout January. She first performed the show online for Southwark Playhouse in 2021, but it is now set for its live premiere.

We caught up with Georgie during rehearsals to chat about the joys of working with Philip Ridley, what it's like coming back to a role she first played during lockdown to an empty theatre and what it will be like to finally have an audience present this time around.

Tarantula plays at Arcola Theatre from 8 - 25 January. Further information and tickets available here.

Lydia Kavanagh and Chloe Cattin join us to chat about their new show Deck The Stalls.

We're always delighted to welcome back previous podcast guests, and that's what we have this week with the return of director Chloe Cattin. And this time around Chloe brings with her writer Lydia Kavanagh, whose latest play is Deck The Stalls. It won't surprise you to know it's directed by Chloe!

Deck The Stalls is set around the office party and all the horrors that come with it. Except that Serena has escaped from it all by hiding in the toilets, where the play is set as she rants about the party and her life.

We discuss the play and its themes of loss and grief, whether it's based on personal experience of office parties, and why RIverside Studios is such a great place to put on a show.

Deck The Stalls plays at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith from 16 to 22 December. More info available here.

Our latest guests are Grace, Hen and Sadie, who together are Full Frontal Theatre. Their latest show, Rodney Black: Who Cares? It's Working is about to hit the stage at Lion And Unicorn Theatre, so it seemed a good time to sit down and chat to the trio.

We discuss the show, cancel culture, being young females in the arts and whether the audience should be naked during the show (spoiler, no, especially not in December!)

Rodney Black: Who Cares? It's Working will play at Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 17 to 21 December, with tickets available here.

Voila! Festival has grown from its humble beginnings back in 2012 when it was a French and English bilingual festival held just at The Cockpit. As a response to Brexit, it initially expanded its remit to include all European languages across three venues.

But after a year off in 2023 to reset, it’s back even bigger and even stronger, now finding itself across nine different venues across London with a whole host of nationalities and languages involved.

So it seemed a good time to two of the festival’s Artistic Directors, Amy Clare Tasker & Katharina Reinthaller, along to tell us more about it.

We discuss what the festival is all about, a little history, why Brexit made them even more determined to bring a touch of Europe to London, and we push them to name a few of their favourite shows.

Voila! plays from 4 – 24 November at venues spread across London. You can find a list of venues along with all the available shows on their website here.

When we were offered the chance to chat with Fred Deakin, well, as soon as we realised Fred was one half of Lemon Jelly, whose CD's adorn many a record collection, how could we not be excited.

Fred has brought his life of the 80s and 90s in and out of clubs to the theatre stage in what could well be a whole new genre; club theatre! It was a big success in Edinburgh, winning 2023 Edinburgh Fringe-First Award for innovation, and now it's making its London debut at Omnibus Theatre in Clapham.

Fred is joined by director Sita Pieraccini, who was vital in helping him move his ideas onto a very different stage to what he was use to in the past.

We discuss what to expect, why audience interaction is absolutely allowed, and what it's like performing to a very different audience that when he was created music for clubs.

Club Life plays at Omnibus Theatre from 12 - 24 November. Further information and tickets available here.

This week's guest is Rio Matchett, Artistic Director of Camden People's Theatre, and in theory, here to chat about CPT's current The State We're In Festival, which is running until 10 November.

However, Rio had only been in post for five days at the time of the interview, and so the conversation found itself going in all sorts of different directions - from what she has planned for the future at CPT to why she is so eager to bring more family orientated shows to the venue.

So whilst we do discuss the current festival, it was also a chance to really delve into the inner thoughts of someone who will be helping to shape a theatre that has been a vital component of London's theatre scene.

The Cast and Crew of Frank's Closet chat about the evolution of the show.

Frank's Closet has been on a journey and is about to 'dip it's glittery toe in the pool' of the West End at the Arts Theatre for two special performances. It premiered in 2009 at the Hoxton Hall, in celebration of this historic venue. It lay dormant until it was unearthed during the Lockdown.

Fast forward to March 2024 and Frank's Closet opened at the Union Theatre where it had great success and an extended run. The next stop on the journey was in September at Wilton's Music Hall, this 'Unmissable!' run opened the door to the West End, on the 3rd and 17th November at the Arts Theatre.

We are in discussion with Luke Farrugia (The Diva), Daniel Walford (Gaiety Girl - Alice Plate) and David Tate, aka Dolly (Head of Wardrobe and original Gaiety Girl) about their experiences of this unique musical ahead of rehearsals for Frank's next chapter.