The WhatsOnStage Podcast

By Sarah Crompton & Alex WoodTV & Film Society & Culture Arts Performing Arts

The WhatsOnStage Podcast episodes

July 21, 2023 36. (ATASTTC) Before and after Brideshead- ft Diana Quick - part two on women and great roles
Nancy and Sarah continue their conversation with the award-winning actress Diana Quick about her career beyond Brideshead Revisited, in which she went from playing alluring women, to women with nervous breakdowns to bonking grannies. She talks about her favourite roles, the importance of children to art, and why the most interesting parts are often monsters.
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36 min
July 04, 2023 35. (ATASTTC) Before and after Brideshead - ft Diana Quick - part one
Nancy and Sarah quiz Diana Quick about her career, which began when she was a student and is still going strong. She has paved the way for so many women, but her most famous role remains that of Julia Flyte in Granada's legendary television version of Brideshead Revisited. That's where our conversation begins. It goes on to take in life as an actress in the 1960s, singing a weekly song on TV, starring in Ridley Scott's first film, why Albert Finney had the right attitude to work - and what it was like being called the most beautiful woman in the world. Part Two next week.
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45 min
June 18, 2023 34. (ATASTTC) Groundhog Day, Tom Stoppard - and why actors make art
Nancy has been curating an exhibition of art made by actors; Sarah has been watching musicals including Groundhog Day at the Old Vic and 42nd Street on tour. While on Broadway, Tom Stoppard and Patrick Marber, subject of a previous podcast, have taken prizes at the Tony Awards. All are the subject of this week's freewheeling conversation.
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42 min
June 06, 2023 33. (ATASTTC) Succession and acting on screen vs stage
Inspired by Sarah's obsession with Succession and the way in which actors with both screen and stage backgrounds combine to make a perfect whole, Sarah and Nancy talk about screen acting and screen writing and Nancy reveals that the difference between the two is not quite what you think.
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34 min
May 22, 2023 32. (ATASTTC) The power of Puppets - ft Finn Caldwell
Finn Caldwell is the Olivier-award-winning movement director and director of puppetry behind Life of Pi and Ocean at the End of the Lane and many other hits. He started out as the man manipulating the goose in War Horse. He talks to Nancy and Sarah about the way you design a puppet, how they come to life - and how they are changing what theatre can do. "It needs to be capable of anything," he says.
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39 min
May 10, 2023 31. (ATASTTC) Dancing at Lughnasa and Brian Friel - ft Jo Stone-Fewings
To celebrate the National Theatre's wonderful new production of Brian Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa, Nancy and Sarah talk about what makes the play such a classic and so full of feeling - with the help of Nancy's husband Jo Stone-Fewings, who met Friel when he appeared in the 2009 revival at the Old Vic.
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33 min
April 30, 2023 30. (ATASTTC) Richard Burton and the appeal of Hamlet
The Motive and The Cue by Jack Thorne is about to open - inspired by the time Richard Burton played Hamlet in New York, directed by John Gielgud, with Elizabeth Taylor watching things from the wings. It inspired Nancy and Sarah to talk about why great and famous actors would want to take on those huge Shakespearean parts - and what it takes out of them.
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27 min
April 16, 2023 29. (ATASTTC) Violence on stage
As Ivo van Hove's ultra-violent version of A Little Life starring James Norton opens on stage, Nancy and Sarah take a look back at some of the history of violence on stage - the plays that have shocked people most, the purpose of stage violence, and the most violent play Nancy has ever starred in. Warning: there are discussions of subjects that some people may find upsetting including violence, bloodshed, self-harm and thoughts of suicide
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42 min
April 03, 2023 28. (ATASTTC) In praise of the matinee
Inspired by Jamie Lee Curtis, and Nancy's matinees at the Menier Chocolate Factory in Marjorie Prime, Sarah and Nancy take a gentle look at the pleasure of a mid-afternoon performance. And suggest that perhaps we should be considering shows at midnight too!

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32 min
March 24, 2023 27. (ATASTTC) Losing - and finding - your voice
Nancy, currently on stage in Marjorie Prime, completely lost her voice thanks to bacterial laryngitis - which prompted Sarah to ask whether actors' voices have changed down the years, and what you can do to change and alter your voice. With special reference to Richard Burton, Benedict Cumberbatch - and Sting!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
37 min

About The WhatsOnStage Podcast

From the publisher's feed

WhatsOnStage managing editor Alex Wood and chief theatre critic Sarah Crompton host a weekly podcast on all things theatrical. News, views, frank exchanges and lists offer an unmissable guide to…