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Welcome to a special edition of the London Theatre Review in association with Marquee TV, the expert curated streaming platform for arts and culture. We're back for another watch party, plucking a production from Marquee TV's huge catalogue, watching it, and discussing along with your thoughts. This time it's the 2020 production of Vanya, adapted by Conor McPherson and directed by Ian Rickson, which was cut short by the Covid pandemic. The production stars Aimee Lou Wood, Toby Jones, Rosalind Eleazar, Richard Armitage and Roger Allam - an incredible cast for an incredible play. Don't forget you can get a month's free access to Marquee TV at marquee.tv/ltr, or just use the code LTR at the checkout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's power fo art under oppressive regimes week! First up is The Lives of Others at the Adelphi, Robert Icke’s adaptation of the film about a Stasi officer listening in on a playwright and his actress girlfriend in eighties East Berlin. Keira Knightley and Luke Thompson are the couple under surveillance, but it’s Stephen Dillane’s extraordinary performance behind the headphones that really gets the gang talking. Then Nancy and Nick head to the Park Theatre for The Pianist, a new adaptation of Władysław Szpilman’s memoir of survival in wartime Warsaw. His own songs provide the score, but how well do they serve the story? Plus, Nancy talks to Anne-Marie Duff, whose performance in Some Woman at the National Theatre left her awed. And writer Scott Gilmour answers our five questions as Ceilidh, the musical he created with Claire McKenzie, gets audiences dancing at Shoreditch Town Hall. Our second Marquee TV watch party takes on Uncle Vanya starring Toby Jones, with a special review episode coming this Wednesday, 4 November. Watch it and send your thoughts to [email protected] or via Instagram. Get one month free at marquee.tv/ltr or use the code LTR at checkout. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Martin Guerre comes to the Old Vic in a stripped-back, 90-minute version of the 1996 musical from the writers behind Les Misérables. Director Matthew Warchus has radically reinvented the show along with writers Claude Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil, swapping sweeping spectacle for folk horror. Nick Clark has had the songs on repeat ever since. Nancy would quite happily never hear them again. Can Nick Curtis broker a peace? Then Nancy and Nick Curtis head to the Donmar Warehouse for Ilford Boy, Danny Lee Wynter’s play about a mixed-race teenager growing up in nineties East London. Nancy talks to one of the pod's favourite people, the brilliant Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́, about Blood of My Blood at the Royal Court. And Bridgerton’s Isabella Wei answers our five questions as she stars in the horror comedy The Hungry Ghost at the Bush Theatre. Our next Marquee TV watch party is Uncle Vanya starring Toby Jones. Watch it and send your thoughts to [email protected] or via Instagram for our special review episode on 4 November. Get one month free at marquee.tv/ltr or use the code LTR at checkout. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Nick, Nick and Nancy head to the Harold Pinter Theatre for The Cherry Orchard, starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Stephen Mangan. Conor McPherson and Ian Rickson give Chekhov’s crumbling aristocrats a good shake, while Nick Clark makes a confession: he’s somehow never seen a Chekhov play before. Will this one get him hooked? Then Nancy and Nick Curtis review Some Woman at the National Theatre’s Dorfman. Anne-Marie Duff stars in Helen Edmundson’s play about a woman whose confrontation with a boy on a railway platform spirals horribly out of control. It leaves Nancy thoroughly shaken, and Nick feeling rather bad about his gender. Plus, Nick Curtis talks to Doctor Who and The Diplomat star Pearl Mackie about returning to her Brixton birthplace for Baby at Brixton House. Clean Break’s solo show follows a woman fighting to be reunited with her daughter after prison, and Mackie explains how making it has reignited her love of theatre. Nancy talks to Theatre Peckham’s artistic director Suzann McLean about its 40th anniversary, championing young Black voices and why access to the arts matters far beyond the stage. And musical theatre royalty Maria Friedman answers our five questions as Kimberly Akimbo extends its run at Hampstead Theatre. Expect Sondheim, Angela Lansbury and an unfortunate encounter with a horse’s bottom... Our Marquee TV watch party continues with Uncle Vanya starring Toby Jones. Watch it, then send your thoughts to [email protected] or via Instagram for our special review episode on 4 November. Get one month free at marquee.tv/ltr or use the code LTR at checkout. And catch up with our first watch party episode on Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to a special edition of the London Theatre Review in association with Marquee TV, the expert curated streaming platform for arts and culture. This is our first ever watch party in which we pick a production from Marquee TV's huge catalogue, watch it, and discuss along with your thoughts. What better way to start than with one of the greatest plays of all time, starring two of our country's finest actors? Macbeth was at the Donmar Warehouse in London in 2023 starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo. How well does the jump from stage to screen work? Don't forget  you can get a month's free access to Marquee TV at marquee.tv/ltr, or just use the code LTR at the checkout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the gang gets to grips with economics, ballet and the Bloomsbury set as James Graham’s new play The Standard of Living comes to the Theatre Royal Haymarket. Rory Kinnear plays John Maynard Keynes, with star ballerina Natalia Osipova as his wife Lydia Lopokova. Producer Tim joins Nancy and Nick Curtis for the review, but does it all add up? Then it’s back to nineties New York for Rent at the Tom Stoppard Theatre, 30 years on from Jonathan Larson’s musical taking Broadway by storm. Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo stars, with Paddington director Luke Sheppard bringing the show to life. Nick Curtis talks to another Stranger Things star, Linnea Berthelsen, about making her stage debut in Darkling at the Bush Theatre, a one-woman show set around the Bhopal disaster. They discuss leaving drama school for a Netflix phenomenon, giving everything on stage and having an emotional climax interrupted by a packet of crisps. And Jamel Westman answers our five questions as he stars in Table 17 at the Kiln, including what happens when you forget your words in Hamilton and have to improvise... Our first Marquee TV watch party is coming on Wednesday and it's the Donmar’s Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo. Keep an eye out on the feed. There are more watch parties to come: get one month free at marquee.tv/ltr or use the code LTR at checkout. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, two starry openings in the West End: Christine Baranski and Richard E Grant bring Noel Coward's frothy classic Hay Fever to the Wyndham's and Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup slug it out in Edward Albee's masterpiece Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Plus Game of Thrones star Wilf Scolding and Orange is the New Black star Lorraine Toussaint talk about The Story at the National Theatre - with another excellent onstage mishap. And Liv Andrusier, about to appear in the reworked version of Martin Guerre at the Old Vic, answers five questions. Don't forget to sign up to Marquee TV for our first watch party, where we'll be chatting about Macbeth featuring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo. Sign up at marqueetv.com/ltr or use code LTR at checkout for a month's free access, watch the show, and send your thoughts by email to [email protected] or Instagram @thelondontheatrereview by Wednesday 7 October and we will include them in our discussion. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, the team travels from ancient Troy via modern Essex to the boxing rings of Depression-era New York. First up is Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy at Theatre Royal Stratford East. Ava Pickett relocates the aftermath of the Trojan War to a Towie-style living room, with Michelle Dockery playing a bloodied and deeply complicated Helen. After the huge success of 1536, can Pickett produce another modern classic? Then it’s Golden Boy at the Almeida, starring Josh O’Connor as a gifted young violinist forced to choose between his music and the money, danger and broken fingers of professional boxing. It's got a formidable supporting cast including Daniel Mays, Hayley Squires and the deeply unsettling Zubin Varla. Plus, Sierra Boggess celebrates 40 years of The Phantom of the Opera. She has appeared as Christine Daae several times over the years, and is now seen as the 'mother goose' of Christines. She tells producer Tim about being part of this show for half its lifetime, and returning to the show not as Christine this time, but as Carlotta for the 40th anniversary West End cast. Also the great Greg Hicks answers our five questions ahead of starring in The Master Builder at the Arcola. And we launch our Macbeth watch party with Marquee TV. Get one month free at marquee.tv/ltr or use the code LTR, watch Macbeth with David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, then send us your thoughts by 7 October. Find us on Instagram and YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’ve got a new way for London Theatre Review listeners to watch, discuss and rediscover some brilliant theatre. The London Theatre Review is partnering with Marquee TV, the streaming platform for arts and culture, to introduce the London Theatre Review Watch Party. Our first pick is David Tennant and Cush Jumbo’s acclaimed 2023 Donmar Warehouse production of Macbeth. Watch it on Marquee TV, send in your thoughts by Wednesday 7 October to [email protected], and we’ll bring your comments into a special review episode the following week. London Theatre Review listeners can also get one month of Marquee TV free at marquee.tv/LTR, or by using the code LTR at checkout. Once you’re in, you’ll also find theatre, dance, opera, classical music, documentaries and more from around the world. So head to Marquee TV and join the party! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The London Theatre Review is back with a brand new season, and back in front of a live audience! Kicking off season seven in style, Nancy and the Nicks are coming to you from the Saatchi Gallery as part of the Chelsea Arts Festival. We're joined for a very special episode by two very special guests. National Theatre artistic director Indhu Rubasingham reveals what’s in store during her star-studded new season and reflects on taking charge of one of the world’s most important theatres. And the brilliant Samuel Barnett, star of The History Boys and Dirk Gently, talks all about queer joy and history as he prepares to star in Pride the Musical ahead of its transfer to the Bridge Theatre. We've also got reviews of course. Of two of London's biggest openings in fact: Thelma & Louise at the Young Vic, based on the iconic film, and starring Rachel Tucker and Amy Lennox, and Tilda Swinton’s long-awaited return to the stage in Man to Man at the Royal Court. Drop us a line at [email protected] or on Instagram @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re back very soon, and kicking off our new season LIVE at the Chelsea Arts Festival. Join Nancy and the Nicks at the Saatchi Gallery on 19 September for the London Theatre Review LIVE. We’ll be reviewing two of the season’s biggest openings: the new musical adaptation of Thelma & Louise at the Young Vic, and Man to Man at the Royal Court, with Tilda Swinton returning to the role she first played 30 years ago. Plus, we’ll be joined by two very special guests: Indhu Rubasingham, Artistic Director of the National Theatre, and Samuel Barnett, ahead of his return to Pride the Musical at the Bridge Theatre. Come and be part of the live audience on 19 September, 12.15pm, Saatchi Gallery. Tickets available now at chelseaartsfestival.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Surprise! We told you it wouldn't be long before another episode dropped into your feeds, and here it is – a special bonus pod from a busy bar in the centre of Edinburgh, where Nancy and producer Tim grab 20 minutes of chat time before plunging back into the frenzy of a city filled with 4,000 Fringe shows, alongside the Edinburgh International Festival, the art festival, the film festival, the book festival and the TV festival... Tim talks us through some of the best things he's seen so far, including clowns and singing dogs, and what he's looking forward to. And Nancy chats to one of the most influential theatre producers in the world, Francesca Moody, who brought Fleabag and Baby Reindeer to Edinburgh before nurturing them to become global success stories. She tells Nancy about the changing nature of the festival, the ethos behind her brilliant new venue Shedinburgh, and how she spots a hit. Don't forget you can still get tickets to our live show on 19th September at chelseaartsfestival.com! And follow us on Instagram for all the latest LTR news @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the series six musical finale, and the team go out with a bang -- well, a damp squib and then a bang. First up, Nick, Nick and Tim review Trainspotting the Musical at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Irvine Welsh's adaptation of his own epoch-defining novel, now given the West End musical treatment...and possibly one of the most misconceived shows any of them have seen in a very long time. Then it's across town to the Menier Chocolate Factory for Midnight at the Never Get, starring Tony Award winner Ben Platt, and the verdict couldn't be more different. Nick Curtis also speaks to the brilliant Phelim McDermott, Olivier Award-winning director of My Neighbour Totoro, co-founder of Improbable, whose new show Tao of Glass is a love letter to Philip Glass and to theatre itself. And Natalie Kassanga answers our Five Questions ahead of the Jonathan Larson Project at Southwark Playhouse. Now we're on a break! The London Theatre Review will return in September for our live show at the Chelsea Arts Festival. But there may be a bit of surprise podding before then... Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Nick Clark and producer Tim are holding the fort while Nancy and other Nick are away, but to be fair to them they managed to bag some pretty great interviews before they disappeared... First up, Nick Curtis sat down with Aaron Sorkin — yes, the extraordinary writer of The West Wing, A Few Good Men, The Social Network, The Newsroom — ahead of his To Kill a Mockingbird adaptation returning to the West End. They talk about why his first draft was really bad, and whether the man who gave us Jed Bartlet's America still believes in it. Tim reviews The Oresteia at the Bridge Theatre, Simon Stone's long, blood-smeared, gleefully melodramatic update of the Greek tragic trilogy, set inside a glass box with David Morrissey, Mary-Louise Parker (also of West Wing fame!) and a scene-stealing Rosie Sheehy. Plus Nancy talks to John Studzinski about 25 years of the very influential and very necessary Genesis Foundation, the organisation that supported Ava Pickett in writing 1536, among many other early career artists and musicians...he also reveals what Katharine Hepburn told him about stage fright. Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Nick, Nick and producer Tim (filling in for Nancy who's on the other side of the Atlantic) sort the divine from the infernal in London theatre, starting with the resurrection of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium, starring Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder alongside Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) as the first in a roster of celebrity Herods. Then it's over to the Royal Court for Archduke, Rajiv Joseph's tragicomic fever dream about the teenage assassins who accidentally started the First World War. Grace Mouat, alumna of Six the Musical and currently appearing in Death Note at the Barbican, answers our five questions including an off-tune on-stage mishap. And Nick Curtis sits down with the legendary Harry Shearer - best known for his 23-odd voices in the Simpsons and for playing Derek Smalls in This Is Spinal Tap - alongside veteran sitcom writer Tom Leopold of Cheers and Seinfeld fame to talk about their new comedy musical Here Comes J. Edgar. There may be an appearance from C Montgomery Burns himself... Follow us on Instagram and watch us on YouTube @thelondontheatrereview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.