The Play Podcast

Episode 024: Consent by Nina Raine Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: Nina Raine and Adam James Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. The main characters in Nina Raine’s play Consent are barristers contesting a brutal rape case. As the case unfolds the lawyers’...

Episode 023: Footnotes Volume 2 Host: Douglas Schatz Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Footnotes Volume 2 is a selection of facts and observations culled from the library of information that we’ve compiled to accompany each of the plays in the past ten...

Episode 022: Shook by Samuel Bailey Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: Samuel Bailey and George Turvey Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Samuel Bailey’s play Shook is set in a young offenders institution, where three young men are taking an unlikely...

Episode 021: The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: John Tiffany Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Tennessee Williams breakthrough play The Glass Menagerie is a very personal portrait of Williams’ own flawed family. It...

Episode 020- Bonus: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee - A short addendum on the film Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: John Mitchinson and Andy Miller Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. This is a short addendum extracted from our conversation in...

Episode 020: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee Host: Douglas Schatz Guests: John Mitchinson and Andy Miller Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. It is 2:00 am, and George and Martha have invited a young couple for after-party drinks to their...

Episode 019: The Welkin by Lucy Kirkwood Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Lucy Kirkwood Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. It is 1759 in East Anglia. A child has been murdered and a young woman has been convicted to hang for the crime. She ‘pleads her belly’...

Episode 018: Copenhagen by Michael Frayn Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Michael Frayn Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth without expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. It is September 1941. German physicist Werner Heisenberg is visiting his friend and former colleague, Danish physicist Niels Bohr at his...

Episode 017: The Duchess of Malfi by John Webster Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Professor Emma Smith Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. John Webster's 400-year-old play The Duchess of Malfi is a potboiler of courtly love, intrigue and murder. It has...

Episode 016: Oleanna by David Mamet Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Lucy Bailey Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. David Mamet's play Oleanna about the abuse of patriarchal power caused intense controversy and divided audiences when it was first produced in...

Episode 015: The Father by Florian Zeller, translated by Christopher Hampton Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Sir Christopher Hampton Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Florian Zeller’s disturbing and moving play The Father presents a piercing portrait of a...

Episode 014: Rockets and Blue Lights by Winsome Pinnock Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Winsome Pinnock Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Winsome Pinnock's powerful new play Rockets and Blue Lights explores...

Episode 013: Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Dr Stephen Marino Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Arthur Miller’s portrait of an ordinary American family in post-war...

Episode 012: Footnotes 1 Host: Douglas Schatz Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. This episode is a recorded ragbag of selected extra Footnotes that we've compiled during the research and conversations from...

Episode 011: Beginning by David Eldridge Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: David Eldridge Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. In David Eldridge’s wonderful two-hander, Beginning, we eavesdrop on a funny,...

Episode 010: Albion by Mike Bartlett Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Victoria Hamilton and Nicholas Rowe Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Mike Bartlett's major new play Albion is a funny and moving portrait...

Episode 009: Nigel Slater's Toast by Henry Filloux-Bennett Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Henry Filloux-Bennett and Nigel Slater Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Nigel Slater’s Toast is an innovative...

Episode 008: The Deep Blue Sea by Terrence Rattigan Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Dan Rebellato, playwright, journalist and Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London. Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For...

Episode 007: Lungs by Duncan Macmillan Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: George Spender, former editorial director at Oberon Books. Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. A young couple navigate the age-old debate...

Episode 006: Betrayal by Harold Pinter Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Mark Taylor-Batty, senior lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Leeds. Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play, which we talk about it in more depth than you will find in the reviews of any one production. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Pinter’s modern...