TheatreVoice

INTERVIEW: MARK RAVENHILL. Mark Ravenhill exploded on to the theatre scene in 1996 at the Royal Court with his uncompromising play about young people in a materialistic world, Shopping and Fucking. Other original work followed, including Some Explicit Polaroids, Mother Clap’s Molly House and, most recently, The Cane. His version of Hitchcock’s Blackmail has just opened […]

ARCHIVE EDITION: Belarus Free Theatre was founded by Natalia Koliada and Nikolai Khalezin in 2005. After falling foul of Belarus’s oppressive political regime, the company has been forced to hold performances in secret for 17 years. In 2021 the whole ensemble left their home country of Belarus and are now in exile. At a critical moment […]

INTERVIEW: FINN AND LEWIS DEN HERTOG.  The sons of actor Ann Louise Ross and production manager Nils Den Hertog, brothers Finn and Lewis Den Hertog spent their formative years in and around Dundee Rep. Finn was quick to join the family business, working first as an actor then as a director. Lewis thought he was […]

INTERVIEW: ABDUL SHAYEK. In August 2020, Abdul Shayek took over the reigns as Artistic Director of Tara Theatre. Following his first 18 months in the role, he talks to Anya Ryan about taking on the legacy of the pioneering South Asian company, and his continued plans to grow its presence both locally and nationally. Recorded on […]

ARCHIVE EDITION: Alecky Blythe is one of the leading practitioners in verbatim theatre, responsible for flexing and breaking the form with works like The Girlfriend Experience, London Road and Little Revolution. As her new play Our Generation opens at the National Theatre we revisit previous TheatreVoice interviews from 2008, 2011 and 2014 to find out about […]

INTERVIEW: LISA SPIRLING. Sam Marlowe met Lisa Spirling, artistic director of Theatre503, in Battersea, South London, at a time of exciting redevelopment for a venue that has made its mark as a home of first-time writers. They talk about surviving the pandemic, and how Spirling and her team are pioneering new ways to bring emerging talent […]

INTERVIEW: STEPHANIE SIRR. For the start of a new series, and in the midst of a time like no other for theatre, we’re looking forward. Stephanie Sirr was recently made joint president of UK Theatre, the membership body that represents theatre across the country. She tells Tim Bano about her predictions for the future of […]

INTERVIEW: GIUSEPPE CANNAS. Sam Marlowe sits down with Giuseppe Cannas, Head of Wigs, Hair and Make-up at the National Theatre, to find out about the extraordinary craft and minute detail involved in creating a production’s special effects. From hand-stitching every single hair, to creating exploding eyeballs, Cannas’ work not only involves a wide range of disciplines, but […]

ARCHIVE INTERVIEW: MUSTAPHA MATURA AND NICOLAS KENT. When Mustapha Matura died in October 2019, he had become one of the most important dramatists in Britain. Matura was born and grew up in pre-independence Trinidad, and his early life and home country shaped his work. His plays often explored colonialism and its legacy, and used humour […]

INTERVIEW: ELIZABETH NEWMAN. Elizabeth arrived at Pitlochry Festival Theatre in 2018 after eight years at Bolton’s Octagon, five as associate director and three as artistic director. Now in her second season as artistic director of the self-styled “theatre in the hills”, she has increased the annual number of productions to nine, a figure in Scotland […]