The WhatsOnStage Podcast
By Sarah Crompton & Alex Wood
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Image by Sarah Crompton & Alex Wood
Category: Performing Arts
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Subscribers: 11
Reviews: 0
Episodes: 187
Description
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 what’s happening on stage (and in film and on television) now, in the past and in future. From musicals, to plays, to immersive shows, to interviews with the biggest stars, there's something for everyone!
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| Episode | Date |
|---|---|
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Giants and horses and bears – why do puppets cast such a powerful spell?
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Dec 12, 2025 |
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Bonus episode exclusive: Meet agents from the Operation Mincemeat tour!
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Dec 08, 2025 |
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Maria Friedman on the great risk of her Merrily We Roll Along movie and her dear friend Stephen Sondheim
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Dec 05, 2025 |
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A warm welcome for Paddington
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Dec 01, 2025 |
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Meeting John Le Carré, writing about death and some advice for young writers
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Nov 28, 2025 |
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Paul Hilton on finding his own Scrooge, saving the Oldham Coliseum and why it’s good to cry at the theatre
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Nov 26, 2025 |
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Is Wicked: For Good good or bad?
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Nov 21, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: The Wicked movie's casting directors explain the secrets to their success
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Nov 19, 2025 |
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Alan Cumming on his Pitlochry season, being a voluntary artistic director and experiences on the all-male Company
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Nov 17, 2025 |
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The Hunger Games - and Ian McKellen, Helen Mirren and some hopes for the future of arts in education
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Nov 14, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Caissie Levy and Jack Wolfe have a perfect loving family reunion
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Nov 10, 2025 |
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The pick of the best Christmas shows - and a celebration of Richard Burton
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Nov 07, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: We meet the team behind Paddington Bear!
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Nov 03, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: West End producer Colin Ingram reflects on 20 years of his company, the star casting debate and how the West End ecosystem is changing
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Oct 31, 2025 |
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Exclusive interview: John Proctor is the Villain, Tilda Swinton and a huge 70th birthday party – David Byrne on his new Royal Court season
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Oct 28, 2025 |
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Chris Pine, Keanu Reeves and the effects of star casting
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Oct 24, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Andy Nyman and Marc Antolin have a very special announcement...
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Oct 20, 2025 |
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The report the theatre world can't ignore: Women's health in the spotlight with special guest Emily Vaughan-Barratt
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Oct 17, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: How to adapt a classic musical into a film
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Oct 15, 2025 |
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What is the secret to Les Misérables' success?
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Oct 10, 2025 |
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How one venue is bringing Hope to regional theatres
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Oct 08, 2025 |
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The magic of rain on stage, the greatness of Brendan Gleeson and the start of the National Theatre’s new regime
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Oct 03, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Rachel Zegler, Lea Michele, Aaron Tveit and Nicholas Christopher join us for a red carpet special!
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Sep 30, 2025 |
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Why Jane Austen finds herself at home in modern Essex
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Sep 26, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Rob Madge and Sophie Drake bring a classic into the 21st century
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Sep 24, 2025 |
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Exclusive: Indhu Rubasingham and Nima Taleghani on why they’ve put the god of theatre on stage at the National Theatre
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Sep 19, 2025 |
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Children will listen: Kate Fleetwood talks playing the Witch in Into the Woods
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Sep 16, 2025 |
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The best autumn theatre part two
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Sep 12, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Podcast chaos with Lucie Jones, David Hunter and the writers of 13 Going On 30
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Sep 10, 2025 |
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Emma Rice starts a new chapter – and wants to solve the touring problem
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Sep 05, 2025 |
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Kyle Soller talks Romans, bringing Albee to Star Wars and what to do about modern-day men
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Sep 03, 2025 |
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The best autumn theatre part one: from Bacchae to Romans, from Joe Locke to Alicia Vikander
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Aug 29, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Tony Award winner Laura Benanti explains why nobody cares
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Aug 27, 2025 |
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Is stage door etiquette getting worse?
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Aug 22, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: What happens when your press night goes wrong?
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Aug 20, 2025 |
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Why Liam Gallagher is wrong about festivals
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Aug 15, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Bridgerton star Luke Newton talks returning to the stage – and why it is his safe space
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Aug 12, 2025 |
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Who’s getting married in the morning?
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Aug 08, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Rosalie Craig talks Good Night, Oscar, working alongside Sean Hayes and an actor-musician Company with Jonathan Bailey
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Aug 06, 2025 |
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Has the New York Times sent shockwaves through the theatre world?
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Aug 01, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: How do we build theatre audiences of the future?
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Jul 30, 2025 |
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Burlesque's turbulent arrival in the West End – and directors arguing with their reviewers
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Jul 25, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Three Elphabas talk the new world of Wicked – and what the show’s legacy means
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Jul 23, 2025 |
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What are the hits and who are the stars of tomorrow?
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Jul 18, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Natasha Hodgson and Alex Young go head-to-head in an Operation Mincemeat special
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Jul 16, 2025 |
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What's the point of an interval? And why are we spraying vodka backstage?
|
Jul 11, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: What does an actor-musician musical even mean?
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Jul 09, 2025 |
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Rachel Zegler, Andrew Lloyd Webber and more discuss Evita's secrets
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Jul 04, 2025 |
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Is Evita the show of the summer? And if not, what is?
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Jul 02, 2025 |
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Why seeing a play from the cheap seats can change your life - with special guest playwright Beth Steel
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Jun 27, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Special guest Katie Brayben on the magic of returning to a role
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Jun 20, 2025 |
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Will social media be the end of theatre critics? And are there too many standing ovations?
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Jun 18, 2025 |
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Behind the scenes at Jamie Lloyd’s Evita
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Jun 13, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: What happens when you win a Tony Award? With Sarah Snook, Jak Malone, Andrew Lloyd Webber and more
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Jun 11, 2025 |
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Special guest Sonia Friedman talks career-firsts, the hardest shows she's worked on and why Broadway's model is broken
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Jun 06, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: A gigantic new London theatre made for musicals, with special guest Rosemary Squire
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Jun 04, 2025 |
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A final theatre season to rule them all
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May 30, 2025 |
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Why British theatres are on the brink of going bust
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May 23, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Special guest Hadley Fraser on juggling a West End show, solo concert and gardening!
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May 21, 2025 |
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How do you stage an unfinished musical?
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May 16, 2025 |
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The best shows to see this summer - from Stereophonic to Jesus Christ Superstar
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May 09, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Jamie Lloyd, Tom Francis and Jak Malone discuss their Tony nominations!
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May 02, 2025 |
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The National Theatre begins a huge new chapter – but what should audiences expect?
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Apr 29, 2025 |
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Greatest theatre feuds in history, warm-up games and swings, covers and more decoded in our latest Q&A episode
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Apr 25, 2025 |
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How Oklahoma! changed my life - with special guest Anoushka Lucas
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Apr 18, 2025 |
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Is London theatre in rude health?
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Apr 16, 2025 |
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Everything you didn't see at the Olivier Awards
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Apr 11, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Michael Sheen and Russell T Davies discuss their latest collaboration
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Apr 07, 2025 |
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Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss talk Six The Musical Live - the new film of their hit show
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Apr 04, 2025 |
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Special guest Sir Tim Rice talks Chess returning to Broadway, writing songs with Elton John - and what it’s like to be working with Andrew Lloyd Webber again
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Mar 28, 2025 |
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Special guest Samantha Barks talks Les Mis, Frozen on Disney Plus and Oliver!
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Mar 24, 2025 |
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Special guest James Graham on Gareth Southgate, male role models and why his next play is about the collapse of the global economy
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Mar 21, 2025 |
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What’s hot on Broadway?
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Mar 14, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: the cast of Operation Mincemeat on their Broadway debuts
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Mar 11, 2025 |
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Why are there never enough loos in theatres and do shows close in previews?
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Mar 07, 2025 |
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We need to talk about the Oliviers nominations
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Mar 05, 2025 |
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Are stars ruining - or saving - the theatre?
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Feb 28, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Interviews with Jonathan Bailey, Hayley Atwell, Tom Hiddleston, Mason Alexander Park and Jamie Lloyd in a Shakespeare bonanza!
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Feb 25, 2025 |
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Why is everyone obsessed with awards?
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Feb 21, 2025 |
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How to solve a problem like Ophelia
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Feb 14, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Imelda Staunton, Andrew Lloyd Webber and more talk WhatsOnStage Awards wins
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Feb 12, 2025 |
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Can critics spoil shows?
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Feb 07, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Cameron Mackintosh, Matthew Bourne and more talk Oliver! in the West End
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Jan 31, 2025 |
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Special guests Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey on the RSC's gigantic plans for the year
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Jan 29, 2025 |
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The greatest stage disasters
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Jan 24, 2025 |
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The future of West End musicals, AI reviews and Michael Sheen's next move
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Jan 17, 2025 |
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Britain’s most haunted theatres, ghost lights, the future of the National and stage size headaches
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Jan 10, 2025 |
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Bonus episode: Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lloyd talk Tempest
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Jan 07, 2025 |
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Will 2025 be a game-changing year for theatre?
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Jan 02, 2025 |
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Top tips for shows to see in 2025 - part one
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Jan 01, 2025 |
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Is Wicked the best stage-to-screen movie? What might beat it?
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Dec 27, 2024 |
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The best movies about theatre
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Dec 25, 2024 |
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What are the best stage shows of 2024?
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Dec 20, 2024 |
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Bonus episode! Wilde women Sharon D Clarke, Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́ and Eliza Scanlen discuss the National Theatre's Importance of Being Earnest
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Dec 18, 2024 |
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The ultimate theatre stocking fillers
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Dec 13, 2024 |
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The Sex Education effect
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Dec 06, 2024 |
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Santa vs Scrooge: top Christmas shows for all tastes
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Nov 29, 2024 |
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Bonus episode! The Wicked movie costume designer Paul Tazewell spills his spellbinding secrets
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Nov 27, 2024 |
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164 years, 70 characters. Three actors. Three hours
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Nov 22, 2024 |
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Special guest Mason Alexander Park on The Tempest, The Sandman and The Emcee
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Nov 15, 2024 |
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Noël Coward was an angry young man
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Nov 08, 2024 |
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Return of the Actress
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Nov 01, 2024 |
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Will the West End rule over Broadway in 2025?
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Oct 25, 2024 |
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London theatre enters its tragic era
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Oct 18, 2024 |
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Look back in anger - or dismay?
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Oct 11, 2024 |
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Special guest James McArdle talks Tom Stoppard, Macbeth and how to save regional theatre
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Oct 04, 2024 |
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Ghastly or a joy? End of an era at the National Theatre
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Sep 27, 2024 |
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The wonder of Ian McKellen
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Sep 20, 2024 |
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Special guest Carrie Hope Fletcher talks love, motherhood and taking a new show on the road
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Sep 13, 2024 |
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What happens when critics get it wrong?
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Sep 06, 2024 |
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What are the unmissable shows this autumn?
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Aug 30, 2024 |
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Special guest Francesca Moody talks Fleabag, Fringe and the secret to stage success
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Aug 23, 2024 |
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Our favourite musical revivals
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Aug 16, 2024 |
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Who wins at Edinburgh?
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Aug 09, 2024 |
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Bernadette Peters: the Broadway legend on Sondheim, solo concerts and sharing a dressing room with dames
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Aug 02, 2024 |
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From Edinburgh Fringe to world domination?
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Jul 26, 2024 |
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Is Death of England the great state of Britain play? Ft Roy Williams and Clint Dyer
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Jul 19, 2024 |
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What happens when a show loses its star?
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Jul 12, 2024 |
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Is Andrew Lloyd Webber cool now?
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Jul 05, 2024 |
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Are musicals manipulative?
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Jun 28, 2024 |
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Tonys special: Light in a troubling time for Broadway + Sondheim's supremecy cemented
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Jun 18, 2024 |
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Performing rights, Operation Mincemeat and amateur theatre
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Jun 14, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) And it's goodbye from Nancy
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Jun 08, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Tom Holland's Romeo and Ian McKellen's Falstaff
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May 30, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Food on stage - and guests for the dream dinner party
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May 20, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) The secrets of learning lines - plus Machinal and Love's Labour's Lost
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May 03, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Last word on the Oliviers - and two new plays about friendship
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Apr 20, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Brian Cox, Patricia Clarkson, the Brontes - and why cutting the creative arts is mad
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Apr 07, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) What's the point of critics if they can't agree?
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Mar 30, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Faith Healer, Keir Starmer and the arts, and the popularity of podcasts
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Mar 24, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) A final word on the Oscars
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Mar 15, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Family sagas from Dear Octopus to The Simpsons
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Mar 10, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Hadestown, Matt Smith and the importance of speaking out
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Feb 29, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) One Day and the appeal of romcoms
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Feb 20, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Is British theatre in crisis?
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Feb 12, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Merrily We Roll Along on Broadway ft Jonathan Groff
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Feb 03, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Oscar nominations - and the wonder of Jodie Foster
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Jan 25, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Putting up a fight ft Kombat Kate
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Jan 17, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) The appeal of Father Brown
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Jan 10, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Looking ahead in 2024
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Jan 02, 2024 |
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(ATASTTC) Six top feel-good films to watch at Christmas
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Dec 23, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Love , music and the cold war. Plus the appointment of Indhu Rubasingham to the National Theatre
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Dec 19, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Technical Rehearsals and the power of women on stage
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Dec 07, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) What makes a Christmas show feel good?
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Nov 28, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) What makes a classic?
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Nov 15, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Hurrah for the National Theatre!
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Oct 31, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Noel Coward and Private Lives - ft Patricia Hodge
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Oct 20, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Good news on star ratings - and thoughts on Andrew Scott's Vanya
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Oct 09, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Can star ratings be improved?
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Sep 18, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Feel-everything musicals and why they work
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Sep 05, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) End of summer catch up
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Aug 22, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Before and after Brideshead- ft Diana Quick - part two on women and great roles
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Jul 21, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Before and after Brideshead - ft Diana Quick - part one
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Jul 04, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Groundhog Day, Tom Stoppard - and why actors make art
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Jun 18, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Succession and acting on screen vs stage
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Jun 06, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) The power of Puppets - ft Finn Caldwell
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May 22, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Dancing at Lughnasa and Brian Friel - ft Jo Stone-Fewings
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May 10, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Richard Burton and the appeal of Hamlet
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Apr 30, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Violence on stage
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Apr 16, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) In praise of the matinee
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Apr 03, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Losing - and finding - your voice
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Mar 24, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Putting Women Centre Stage
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Mar 09, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) Dog poo, creatives and critics
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Feb 24, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) What happens in rehearsals?
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Feb 09, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) A visit to the Circus ft Luke Hallgarten of Revel Puck Circus
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Jan 31, 2023 |
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(ATASTTC) What makes a great Christmas show?
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Dec 21, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Why the arts deserve government support
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Dec 09, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Best of Enemies ft Jeremy Herrin
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Nov 26, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Theatre for kids
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Nov 12, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) First Nights - the triumphs and disasters
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Nov 05, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Food for thought ft Sarah Hemming
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Oct 27, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) A life in theatre - ft David Hare
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Oct 12, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) The funny thing about comedy
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Oct 01, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Much Ado About Much Ado
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Sep 24, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) The Queen on stage and screen
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Sep 13, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Previews - what's the point?
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Aug 29, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Theatre in the open air - and on the road
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Aug 13, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) The Edinburgh Festival
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Aug 06, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Closer 25 Years On - ft Patrick Marber
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Jul 20, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) All about Christopher Marlowe
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Jul 08, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) What's the point of theatre awards?
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Jun 10, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Do critics have to weigh their words?
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Jun 03, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) The Ian Charleson Awards
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May 22, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Company, Oklahoma! and other great musicals - ft Rosalie Craig
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May 14, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) Donald Trump and real people on stage
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May 06, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) The Corn is Green
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Apr 29, 2022 |
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(ATASTTC) What's it like to get a no-star review?
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Apr 05, 2022 |