Curtain Call Theatre Podcast

Latest Episodes:

086 - Alex Hassell and The Factory Theatre Company May 29, 2018

Show notes

Alex Hassell is a veteran of the London stage. Curtain Call have covered two shows with him in the shape of Henry V at The Barbican and Death of a Salesman at the Noel Coward Theatre. But before that, Alex's career and the people he has worked with is like a "who's who" of the industry including directors John Dove, Tim Caroll and Gregory Doran and on stage talent such as Dame Harriet Walter, Antony Sher and Mark Rylance.

But there's a project that Alex has been involved with for the last 10 years, and one that he is intensely proud of (as you can tell when you're listening to him). The Factory is a theatre company like no other. No sets, no props, no blocking, no set cast, no auditions, open rehearsals...you name the theatrical convention and they are tearing it down.

085 - Building the Wall May 22, 2018

Show notes

I went to go see a show, as they say in the business. And that show was "Building The Wall" at The Park Theatre. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Robert Schenkkan's hard-hitting piece, imagining a world where, after a terrorist attack set in the very near future, President Trump imposes martial law with all immigrants "legal or otherwise" rounded up and put into internment camps.

This play is exactly the kind of play that I love to watch. Vital and current and one that needed to be written. I got to speak to Angela and Trevor about their thoughts on the play at the Park Theatre, performing in front of major theatre stars, the immediacy of this new piece and what keeps bringing them back to the theatre.

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084 - An American in Paris May 15, 2018

Show notes

Earlier in the year, we had the pleasure to visit the incredible show An American in Paris. I don't think we have covered a show that was so full of triple threats… and maybe even quadruple threats - singing, acting, dancing, and stage management / technicians. There was so little in the way of automation of set pieces coming on, it was dazzling to see so much movement from the company, pushing and pulling, in between incredibly complicated singing and even more complicated dance numbers….

An American in Paris Curtain Call Show Page

083 - Save Stage Lighting May 01, 2018

Show notes

The EU are bringing in regulations that will stop theatres from using bulbs and fixtures that don't comply with new regulations that is being brought into law in September of this year. And I'm not just talking London and regional theatres, but sports halls, community theatres, lecture halls and more…

Curtain Call co-founder, Matt Humphrey, sat down with multiple award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable to talk about the proposed regulations and explain in simple terms what it means for the industry here in the UK and across Europe.

Read more about the proposals here.

Association Lighting Designers Website

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082 - The Grinning Man Apr 24, 2018

Show notes

We had the pleasure of making a show visit to The Grinning Man, currently playing at The Trafalgar Studios. Based on the novel 'The Man Who Laughs" by Victor Hugo, the musical was created by War Horse director Tom Morris at the Bristol Old Vic. He brought together Tim Philips and Mark Teitler, a book by Carl Grose and all four of them collaborated on the lyrics.

We sat down with Sean Kingsley, Sanne Den Besten and Louis Maskell about how hard it is to place and describe The Grinning Man, the transfer from The Bristol Old Vic, working with puppets and keeping the voice in fine working order in one of toughest sings on stage at the moment.

The Grinning Man Curtain Call Show Page

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081 - Long Day's Journey's Journey Apr 10, 2018

Show notes

In this episode Lesley Manville, Jeremy Irons, Rory Keenan, Matthew Beard and Jessica Regan talk about their experience of bringing the classic Eugene O'Neill play Long Day's Journey Into Night from the Bristol Old Vic to the Wyndham's Theatre in the West End before their trip across the Atlantic to BAM in New York and the Wallis Centre in Los Angeles.

Curtain Call Show Page

080 - World Theatre Day Mar 27, 2018

Show notes

This week, we celebrate World Theatre Day by bringing you some of our favourite chats starting way back in 2015 when we visited the company of Three Days in the Country all the way up to last week when we spent the evening with the company of A Long Day's Journey into Night.

On this episode Mark Gatiss, Olivia Williams, Matt Cardle, Denise Gough and Lesley Manville talk about their love of the theatre and why they'll keep coming back.

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079 - The Bat Boys Mar 20, 2018

Show notes

Meatloaf is coming back. Bat Out of Hell The Musical returns to the London stage after a brief hiatus across the pond in Toronto over the winter, where it went down like the proverbial "Beast From the East."

When we saw this show last year, I was simply blown away by the music, performed by an exuberantly energetic company on a completely wild set designed by John Bausor.

This week, I wanted to give you guys the experience that we at Curtain Call had backstage during our visit. And no better an example to be in one of the boys' dressing rooms of Giovanni Spano, Patrick Sullivan and Dom Hartley-Harris during a quick break while "Paradise by the Dashboard Light" is blaring out of the tannoy. And although they are "taking a break" in air quotes, they are busy keeping themselves warm. You can hear mid-show vocal chord steaming, working out and having a light snack…this is what it takes them to get through this huge sing of a show.

Listen to the full chat here

078 - Phil Ridley's Angry§ Mar 08, 2018

Show notes

Tyrone Huntley and Georgie Henley are currently on stage at the Southwark Playhouse in Phil Ridley's "Angry" – not so much a play as a theatre piece with Huntley and Henley performing what Ridley describes as "vespers" or stand-alone monologues.

This is a powerful piece with even more powerful performances. There were laughs, gasps, cheers and tears.

Director Max Lindsay deftly makes his London directing debut getting not only one performance out of his actors…but two. You see, Huntley and Henley swap these non-gender specific roles on alternate nights, making a return visit a must.

I sat down with Huntley, Henley and director Max Lindsay to talk all things "Angry".

077 - The HandleBards Feb 20, 2018

Show notes

If you haven't heard of The HandleBards yet, you are in for a treat. As they describe on their website, they are "charmingly chaotic bicycle-powered Shakespeare". A roving company of bards who travel the country (and beyond), bringing a particular type of fun, fast and dare-I-say "furious" theatre that has seen them grow from a band of four "brothers" into a full-blown company with 15 members...and growing.

Listen to Tom Dixon, a founding HandleBard and one of their producers, as he discusses the company's history, vision, views on sustainable theatre, burst tyres and so much more...

HandleBards Website

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