The Stage Podcast: Seven Stages

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible. Our eight episode features designer Es Devlin and was released on Friday, July 10, 2020. From fringe theatres to worldwide stadium tours for the likes of Beyoncé and Adele, there are few worlds and scales untouched by designer Es Devlin. Starting as a designer for theatres like the Bush in west London, she quickly became a renowned stage designer, winning three Olivier Awards along the way. Recent stage work includes Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch, The Lehman Trilogy, Chimerica and The Nether. But in parallel to her stage career, she has become the go-to designer for the world's biggest musicians. Kanye West and U2, Lady Gaga and Take That, The Weeknd and Dua Lipa have all called on Devlin to conjure the engrossing, kinetic designs - mixtures of sculpture, language and light - that are her signature. Here she talks about early inspirations from her childhood on the south coast, through to all-night listening sessions with Kanye West.  Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. The Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below. Devlin’s interview is available to listen to now and follows episodes with actor Paul Chahidi, playwright Alan Ayckbourn, actor Noma Dumezweni, choreographer Arlene Phillips, former Young Vic artistic director David Lan, Olivier award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable and Ian McKellen.

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible. Our seventh episode features actor Paul Chahidi and was released Friday, June 26, 2020. Actor Paul Chahidi has had an extensive career on stage, highly regarded for his Shakespearean performances at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe. In 2002, he played Maria in an all-male production of Twelfth Night alongside Mark Rylance, to commemorate the play’s 400th anniversary. That production subsequently went to the West End and then to Broadway, and brought Chahidi an Olivier and a Tony nomination. But more recently, Chahidi has become a familiar face on TV and film, particularly for his role as the kind and patient Reverend Francis Seaton in the phenomenally successful BBC Three mockumentary This Country. In this episode of Seven Stages, Chahidi talks about his early life from his birth in Tehran, to the difficult moment his father was caught up in the Iranian Revolution. He tells stories of getting his chest waxed with Eddie Redmayne and his abiding passion for a certain Andrew Lloyd Webber musical… Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. The Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below. Chahidi’s interview is available to listen to now and follows episodes with playwright Alan Ayckbourn, actor Noma Dumezweni, choreographer Arlene Phillips, former Young Vic artistic director David Lan, Olivier award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable and legendary actor Ian McKellen.

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible. Our sixth episode features playwright Alan Ayckbourn and was released this Friday, June 12, 2020. Alan Ayckbourn has written more than 80 full-length plays, with more than half of them having been produced in the West End.  These include huge hits such as The Norman Conquests, Absurd Person Singular and A Chorus of Disapproval, for which he won Olivier and Evening Standard awards. Seven Stages explores Ayckbourn’s extensive and hugely successful stage career – from his first appearance as an actor in a non-speaking part in Donald Wolfit’s West End company in 1956, right up to his most recent play Anno Domino, which was released for radio last month. Meanwhile, he talks about his time running Scarborough's Stephen Joseph Theatre – named after his great mentor – and reveals that he has just finished writing yet another play, his 84th. Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. The Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below. Ayckbourn’s interview is available to listen to now and follows episodes with actor Noma Dumezweni, choreographer Arlene Phillips, former Young Vic artistic director David Lan, Olivier award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable and legendary actor Ian McKellen.

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible. Our fifth episode features Olivier award-winning actor Noma Dumezweni and was released this Friday, May 28, 2020. Noma Dumezweni is best known for playing Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on stage in the West End and on Broadway. For her performance in the West End production, she won her second Olivier award, while she was also nominated for a Tony in New York. Seven Stages explores Dumezweni’s extraordinary life and extensive stage career - from arriving in the UK as a refugee in 1977 to her beginnings working in theatre in education productions and winning her first Olivier for her performance in A Raisin in the Sun at the National Theatre. She also discusses the life-changing period in 2015 when she had to step in at the last minute to replace Kim Cattrall as the lead role in Linda at London’s Royal Court, before being cast in Harry Potter only a few days later. Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. The Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below. Dumezweni’s interview is available to listen to now and follows episodes with choreographer Arlene Phillips, former Young Vic artistic director David Lan, Olivier award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable and legendary actor Ian McKellen.

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible. The fourth episode featuring choreographer Arlene Phillips is released this Friday, April 3, 2020. Choreographer Arlene Phillips is best known to the general public for her appearances as a judge on BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing, but has enjoyed a diverse and hugely successful career in theatre and music: from her beginnings with pop group Hot Gossip to her extraordinary breakthrough as a stage choreographer on Starlight Express and work on productions ranging from Shakespeare to Monty Python. Seven Stages explores Arlene Phillips’ creative journey through dance, beginning with the ‘overnight success’ of Hot Gossip and taking in her 35-year association with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit roller-skating musical, as well as more recent work on shows including Nicholas Hytner’s immersive staging of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Bridge Theatre in London. Phillips explains how John Travolta can help inspire non-movers to dance, shares her insight into how dance training has changed over the years and reveals how babysitting for Ridley Scott led to her big break. Listen below to hear the full interview. Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. The Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below. Arlene Phillips’ interview is available to listen to now and follows episodes with former Young Vic artistic director David Lan, Olivier award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable and legendary actor Ian McKellen.

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible. The third episode featuring playwright and director David Lan is released this Friday, March 20, 2020. David Lan was the Young Vic’s artistic director for 18 years and in that time he transformed the landscape of British theatre, ensuring international collaboration, community outreach and nurturing the next generation of theatremakers. Seven Stages explores David Lan’s creative journey through the arts, a journey that began when he saw a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a park in Cape Town, where Lan grew up, starring celebrated actor and director Leslie French. Lan shares stories about working with Jude Law on Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus (2002), falling out with playwright David Mamet and feigning illness to avoid national service in South Africa so he could study acting and theatre at university. In his final season at the Young Vic, Lan produced five critically acclaimed productions including The Inheritance, which has successfully transferred to Broadway, and The Jungle, which is set to run in New York and Washington this year.  Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. The Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below. David Lan’s interview is available to listen to now and follows episodes with Olivier award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable and legendary actor Ian McKellen.

The second episode of Seven Stages featuring multi-award winning lighting designer Paule Constable What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible.   In 2005 Paule Constable was the first woman to win an Olivier Award for lighting design. She has since won three more Oliviers, along with two Tonys and three ABTT Knight of Illumination awards. In her exclusive Seven Stages interview, she reminisces about how she first stumbled across lighting design. She tells host Tim Bano how she got her first lighting job when a follow spot operator friend fell madly in love and ran away to Spain. She took the friend’s job at the Hackney Empire, caught the lighting bug and worked with the company on club events during the acid-house rave scene. Constable shared her lighting debut with actors David Tennant and Ashley Jensen, in their performance debuts, in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui with 7:84 Theatre Company in Scotland. She has since gone on to light some of the most iconic shows in theatre including Warhorse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Les Misérables. Listen below to hear the full interview. Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below. Paule Constable’s interview follows legendary actor Ian McKellen.

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible. The first episode is released this Friday, February 21, 2020, featuring Ian McKellen. Ian McKellen topped The Stage 100 as the most influential person in theatre this year and boasts one of the most extraordinary, long-lasting careers in theatre. In the inaugural episode of Seven Stages, he tells our host, award-winning journalist Tim Bano, about the impact pantomimes and amateur dramatic groups have had on his work – and shares an amusing tale about his debut performance. In a wide-ranging conversation, the intimate conversation covers stories from behind the scenes of major productions throughout McKellen’s career, such as Macbeth alongside Judi Dench (1978), the original Royal Court production of Bent (1979) and his much-loved recent one-man show Ian McKellen On Stage, for which he travelled to more than 80 theatres across the UK to mark his 80th birthday. Listen below to hear the full conversation. Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. 

In our June episode, Tim Bano meets the four members of exciting musical theatre troupe Spitlip, who tell him how they created their first full-length show Operation Mincemeat – a madcap, wartime espionage thriller that recently opened to five-star raves at the New Diorama Theatre in London. Meanwhile, Ian Charleson Award-winning actor Bally Gill talks about working with Steven Berkoff, representation on stage, and being the first Sikh actor to play Romeo at the Royal Shakespeare Company. The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com    

In our March episode, Tim Bano talks to magician Ben Hart about making heads spin in The Exorcist and how he summoned up Marley's ghost in The Christmas Carol for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Meanwhile, Desmond Jordan from Performing Pets tells our roving reporter Fergus Morgan about his trials with pigs, goats and pooing Corgis, and tries to train him to become an animal wrangler. The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

In our January episode, critics Tim Bano and Lyn Gardner reveal their top picks of of 2019 ranging from major West End musicals to emerging fringe shows and with shows across the UK. We interview Vault Festival's head of theatre and performance Gillian Greer about this year's programme and the London fringe festival's huge growth in recent years.   Meanwhile, after previous disappointing attempts to learn an American accent and become an acrobat, reporter Fergus Morgan reveals a surprising aptitude for improvisation when he has a masterclass with The Showstoppers and learns how to create a West End musical on the fly. The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

In our sparkly pantomime special, Doctor Who star Sharon D Clarke and her wife, panto expert Susie McKenna, discuss their enduring love for the art form and recall how they first met on a show at the Hackney Empire 20 years ago.   Lyn Gardner and Tim Bano try to convince Christmas grinch Rosemary Waugh to embrace her inner Buttons.  Plus, after a failed bid to run off and join the circus, Fergus Morgan tries his hand at becoming a pantomime dame, with some (very patient) help from the Lyric Hammersmith's Carl Mullaney.  The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

In our October episode, critics Tim Bano and Lyn Gardner discuss Marianne Elliott's new gender-swapped production of Company by Stephen Sondheim with comedian Tom Allen. Plus, we go backstage to talk to Steph Parry, the 42nd Street understudy who made headlines when she stepped in to save Mamma Mia! in the West End. Meanwhile, after last month's failed attempt to learn an American accent, reporter Fergus Morgan runs off to join the circus, with some help from circus company Mimbre.   The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

The Stage critic Tim Bano and associate editor Lyn Gardner discuss the National Theatre's latest major opening – Antony and Cleopatra starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo – with Time Out theatre editor Andrzej Lukowski. What was the highlight: Fiennes, Okonedo, the live snake? We recap on The Stage Debut Awards and hear from some of the great emerging and established talent who joined us on the night.  In the first of a new series, The Stage critic Fergus Morgan visits the Royal Shakespeare Company's head of voice Kate Godfrey, who tries to teach him how to enunciate. And speak in an American accent.  The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

In the third and final of our weekly podcasts from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018, The Stage critic Tim Bano and associate editor Lyn Gardner discuss all the big shows and key issues of the festival. In episode 3, they are joined by cabaret star Le Gateau Chocolat, The Stage reviews editor Natasha Tripney and critic and theatremaker Ben Kulvichit. Our critics discuss some of the best shows from emerging theatre companies at this year's festival, Lyn Gardner reveals what she thinks makes a good Edinburgh Fringe PR, and Le Gateau Chocolat tells us what he gets up to in the shower. The Stage Podcast is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

  In the second of our weekly podcasts from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018, The Stage critic Tim Bano and associate editor Lyn Gardner discuss all the big shows and key issues of the festival. In episode 2, they are joined by actor Julie Hesmondhalgh and reviewer Fergus Morgan, plus Helen Monks, who shares some stories of Edinburgh Fringe disasters that she has collected for her show You’ve Been Fringed. Find out what the critics thought of four Edinburgh plays focussing on the NHS, why Hesmondhalgh left Coronation Street to return to theatre, plus lots of horror stories from the festival - most involving bodily fluids. The Stage Podcast is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

In the first of our weekly podcasts from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018, The Stage critic Tim Bano and associate editor Lyn Gardner discuss all the big shows and key issues of the festival. In episode 1, they are joined by theatremakers Chris Thorpe and Rachel Chavkin, actor and playwright Yolanda Mercy and The Guardian reviewer Kate Wyver. Find out what the critics thought of controversial play Ulster American, whether Thorpe and Chavkin manage to walk Edinburgh's Royal Mile and be interviewed at the same time and what Lyn Gardner's favourite fringe foodstuff is. The Stage Podcast is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

As he collects The Stage Special Award, part of The Stage Edinburgh Awards 2016, Mark Thomas talks to Thom Dibdin about discovering Brecht, the difference between comedy and theatre, how he deals with phones in the auditorium and his show at the Traverse Theatre, The Red Shed.

In our sixth Edinburgh episode, we catch up with Sarah-Louise Young, who is juggling three shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. How does she do it? "My day is boringly military." The cabaret performer – who is appearing in Cabaret Whore Presents... La Poule Plombee, Roulston and Young: Songs for Lovers (and Other Idiots) and Royal Vauxhall, as well as guest spots throughout the month – also discusses tips to preserve your voice and talks about the difference between Edinburgh and London audiences. Meanwhile, on the critics' sofa, Tim Bano has caught up with Henry Naylor's Angel, while Paul Vale has been to see Buzz, a new musical about vibrators...

In our fifth Edinburgh-specific podcast episode, Mark Thomas talks about his show The Red Shed at the Traverse Theatre, and how his work has increasingly moved from stand-up towards theatre in a bid to reflect the truth. He also talks about performance, journalism, audience participation and why he nearly voted Leave in the EU referendum. Meanwhile, our critics pick some of their top shows. This week things take an immersive turn as Tim Bano and Paul Vale discuss the relative merits of an immersive musical, an immersive dance piece and one of Edinburgh's most talked-about immersive theatre shows, Counting Sheep.