Following a performance of ANIMAL at the Park Theatre, I was joined by star Christopher John-Slater, playwright Jon Bradfield, cast member Matt Ayleigh, and Joshua Hepple, whose brilliant initial idea made the whole thing happen.
New post-show Q&A: Join Terri Paddock to discuss Under the Kundè Tree’s story of colonialism, identity & freedom
After One Who Wants to Cross at the Finborough in February, I’m thrilled to chair the post-show talk for another new play care of Clarisse Makundul Productions, Makundul’s own Under the Kundè Tree at Southwark Playhouse Borough.
VIDEOS & PHOTOS: ABBA, friendships, the joys of fandom & paying tribute to Paul O’Grady – Terri Paddock hosts a The Way Old Friends Do post-show Q&A
Following the news of Paul O’Grady’s unexpected death, this specific performance of The Way Old Friends Do at London’s Park Theatre was dedicated to the comedian and drag legend, whose voice opens the show. Writer and star Ian Hallard paid tribute to O’Grady before curtain-up, and we started the post-show talk with Ian and director Mark Gatiss recalling how enthusiastically O’Grady recorded his voiceovers – despite not loving ABBA.
NEWS: Peter Pruyn brings his autobiographical play Up: One Man’s Journey to Feminism across the pond to the London Fringe
What does it take for a man to become a feminist – and why does it matter? In seven diverse and poignant vignettes from his own life, Peter Pruyn (pronounced “prine”), an American trauma therapist who works with female survivors, takes the audience on his journey in Up: One Man’s Journey To Feminism on the afternoons of 31 March and 1, 2, 7 and 9 April 2023 at London’s Hen & Chickens Theatre.
‘It was crying out to be turned into a big, silly, glittery musical’: Felix Hagan & Zoë Roberts on the West End transfer of Operation Mincemeat
Recently crowned winners of the Best Musical Production at the Off West End Awards, SpitLip is set to move their hit show Operation Mincemeat to the West End for a limited run this spring; they take over at the Fortune Theatre, following The Woman In Black‘s haunting 33-year run.
New post-show Q&A: Terri Paddock digs out her platforms for a chat with The Way Old Friends Do cast & creatives at the Park Theatre
Calling all ABBA and new writing fans! I’m delighted to return to the Park Theatre for the premiere of The Way Old Friends Do, written by and starring Ian Hallard and directed by Mark Gatiss.
VIDEOS & PHOTOS: From Feydeau & farce to internationalism and inclusivity, there’s lots to discuss in the A Tailor for Ladies post-show Q&A
This new production of Georges Feydeau’s early 1886 farce A Tailor for Ladies, which Penny Tomai has translated and co-adapted with director Lee James Broadwood, marks Medley Theatre Company’s debut, with a two-week season at London’s Cockpit Theatre where an international ensemble switches up halfway to allow actors to take on different roles.
New post-show Q&A: Find out more about Feydeau’s rarely seen farce A Tailor for Ladies at the Cockpit Theatre
Following the 5.30pm performance on Sunday 12 March 2023 at London’s Cockpit Theatre, Terri Paddock talks to cast and creatives of A Tailor for Ladies. Georges Feydeau’s early 1886 comedy A Tailor for Ladies is getting a rare London outing in a new modern adaptation performed by an international ensemble cast.
VIDEOS & PHOTOS: Clever parallels revealed in Terri Paddock’s post-show discussion at Southwark Playhouse Elephant’s opening show The Walworth Farce
For the first full production at Southwark Elephant, artistic director Chris Smyrnios has cleverly programmed this slick revival of leading Irish playwright Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce, which is set nearby, in a council flat on the Walworth Road.
VIDEOS & PHOTOS: Terri Paddock negotiates her way around her post-show Q&A with Winner’s Curse creatives Clive Anderson & Dan Patterson
Winner’s Curse at the Park Theatre, conceived by former diplomat and veteran of countless Middle East negotiations Daniel Taub, is a highly topical piece. It not only lifts the lid on what happens behind closed doors during peace talks but also educates the audience on negotiation theory and allows us to put some of that theory into practice.
‘What does it mean to be political? It’s a vital question for everyone’: Martin Edwards on This Bitter Earth
Martin Edwards stars in the UK premiere of the Black Lives Matter-inspired American play This Bitter Earth. He talked to us about performance and political activism.
‘The fiction is enhanced by the facts’: Andrew Bruce-Lockhart tackles the issue of road safety in improv drama What’s Driving You? – & his first acting role
Producer, writer and director Andrew Bruce-Lockhart talks passionately about What’s Driving You?, the improv drama about the impact of speed on driving he has co-devised with A G Anderson, running at London’s Applecart Arts from 28 February to 4 March 2023.
Ukraine’s Hooligan Art Community reprise their show Bunker Cabaret in London
“There was a feeling that people all around me turned from fear to ‘We will win’” The first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine affords a rare opportunity to get the inside theatrical scoop on what it felt like to be living in the country at a time of indiscriminate shelling, slaughter, danger […]
The post Bunker Cabaret – Ukrainian theatre from the civilian frontline appeared first on Critical Muse – Dominic Cavendish.
‘The fact that it’s actually coming to fruition is crazy’: Owen Chaponda & Merryl Ansah take over the iconic roles of Simba & Nala in The Lion King
Emma Clarendon chatted to Owen Chaponda and Merryl Ansah about returning to the West End production of The Lion King to star as Simba and Nala, having previously been in the ensemble.
VIDEO & PHOTOS: Terri Paddock hosts the One Who Wants to Cross post-show Q&A & asks how migrant matters are being manipulated
A note in the programme for One Who Wants to Cross cites a sobering statistic: according to the 2020 IOM World Migration Report, the number of international migrants, as of June 2019, had reached almost 272 million. That’s 51 million more than were estimated nine years earlier in 2010.
VIDEOS & PHOTOS: Hamlet without the adults? Terri Paddock’s post-show Q&A with Lazarus Theatre explores the youthful version
How central are Gertrude, Claudius and Polonius to the story of Hamlet? If you remove those adult characters – the prince’s mother, uncle/stepfather and the father of his one-time girlfriend, respectively – and the scenes that revolve around them, what are you left with?
‘It’s like you establish a playful volley together’: Jemma Kahn shares her storytelling in We Didn’t Come to Hell for the Croissants
Emma Clarendon chatted to Jemma Kahn about bringing We Didn’t Come to Hell for the Croissants to the Riverside Studios.
New post-show Q&A: Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce is homeward bound via Southwark Playhouse Elephant
Following the 7.45pm performance of Enda Walsh’s acclaimed 2006 play The Walworth Farce on Tuesday 28 February 2022 at Southwark Elephant, I’ll talk to creatives and cast. Any questions? Join us!
‘He was a star maker, in every sense’: Celebrating the distinctive Broadway art of Al Hirschfeld
Another constant for over 40 years was Al Hirschfeld, whose highly distinctive line drawing caricatures of Broadway accompanied the New York Times reviews of new openings. No one elevated the simple line drawing embodiment of Broadway to an art form in its own right quite as he did.
New post-show Q&A: Terri Paddock discusses the dramatic meditation on migration in One Who Wants to Cross at the Finborough Theatre
I’m at London’s Finborough Theatre in February for the UK premiere of Marc-Emmanuel Soriano’s multi-award-winning French play One Who Wants to Cross (Un Qui Veut Traverser), directed by Alice Hamiton.