The Play Podcast

The Play Podcast - 047 - Middle by David Eldridge

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: David Eldridge

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

David Eldridge's new play Middle, now playing at the National Theatre, follows on from his 2017 play Beginning. It is the second in what will be a "triptych for the theatre", capturing epochal moments in couples' relationships. I'm delighted to welcome David back to talk about the important dramatic trilogy he is building.

The Play Podcast - 046 - All My Sons by Arthur Miller

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Douglas Rintoul

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

Arthur Miller's breakthrough play All My Sons is both a searing family tragedy and an exploration of the moral challenges that Miller believed were inherent in the American Dream. Douglas Rintoul, who has recently directed a wonderful production at the Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch, joins me to share his insights of this devastatingly powerful play.

The Play Podcast - 045 - Top Girls by Caryl Churchill

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Elaine Aston

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

Caryl Churchill's play Top Girls was a powerful critique of Thatcherite Britain when it was written in 1982. It's rightly renowned for its theatrical invention and innovative structure, and remains relevant for its enduring questions about the opportunities, and opportunity costs, for women acorss the ages. Professor Elaine Aston joins me to survey this modern classic.

The Play Podcast - 044 - Clybourne Park

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Oliver Kaderbhai

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

It is 1959 and Russ and Bev have sold their 3-bedroom bungalow in the all-white neighbourhood of Clybourne Park in Chicago to a "coloured family". The sale sparks heated debate between neighbours in Bruce Norris's Pulitzer Prize winning play Clybourne Park. Oliver Kaderbhai, director of the current revival at the Park Theatre in London, joins me to discuss this provocative and corruscatingly funny play.

The Play Podcast - 043 - Faith Healer by Brian Friel

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Joe Dowling

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

Brian Friel's play Faith Healer is a literary and theatrical masterpiece, acclaimed for the beauty of its language, its innovative form, and the bathetic yet tragic tale of its eponymous character and those tethered to his misfortunes. My guest, Joe Dowling, directed the seminal producation at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1980 and returned there to revive the play more than 40 years later.

The Play Podcast - 042 - Blasted by Sarah Kane

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Graham Saunders

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

Sarah Kane's explosive play Blasted outraged critics on its debut in 1995 with its disturbing depictions of sex and violence. It's since become a landmark in modern drama for its innovative form and raw honesty. Professor Graham Saunders helps us explore this profoundly challenging play.

Episode 041: Doubt by John Patrick Shanley

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Monica Dolan

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

Sister Aloysius Beauvier, principal of St Nicholas Catholic school in the Bronx in 1964, has her doubts about the school pastor, Father Flynn, and his relationship with 12-year-old Donald Muller. Her crusade to confirm her suspicions rocks the church community and her own certainties in John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Prize winning play Doubt – A Parable.

Award-winning actress Monica Dolan shares her insights from playing Sister Aloysius in a new production at the Chichester Festival Theatre.

Episode 040: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time adapted by Simon Stephens

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Simon Stephens

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

Simon Stephens's magical adaptation of Mark Haddon's bestselling novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time has been a smash hit around the world, loved for its innovative theatrical form and for its unique hero, 15-year old Christopher Boone, who teaches us to see the world differently. As the play embarks on a nationwide UK tour, I'm delighted to talk with Simon.

Episode 039: Best of Enemies by James Graham

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: James Graham

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

James Graham's new play Best of Enemies re-enacts the explosive TV debates between American political pundits Gore Vidal and William F Buckley from 1968, and in so doing turns the lens on the corrosive nature of political discourse in our media today. The Playwright James Graham joins us to talk about his fascinating new play.

Episode 038: Macbeth by William Shakespeare

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Professor Emma Smith

The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

William Shakespeare's Macbeth is a tragedy of love, ambition and betrayal, propelled by relentless energy and shocking violence, and infused by an air of the supernatural. It has some of the most memorable scenes in all of theatre: the witches chanting over their cauldron, the ghost of the murdered Banquo haunting Macbeth, Lady Macbeth sleepwalking and wringing her bloodless hands.

Professor Emma Smith from Hertford College, Oxford, joins us to explore Shakespeare's notorious 'Scottish play'.