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A fortnightly theatre bookclub hosted by Nancy Netherwood and Sam Webber. Every other Thursday we take a deep dive into a different play from a range of genres, writers, times and places - join in the conversation over on Instagram @playground_pod
36 Episodes
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Send us a text 'The trashiest play we've ever done.' Content Warnings: Murder/Drugs/Classism Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go find @rootlingtheatre for his puppet antics) Theme music this episode: Spooky music by Victor_Natas -- https://freesound.org/s/560181/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
Send us a text After an infamously terrible debut, this classic Russian play went on to define naturalism, changing how we make theatre in the West forever. It is also full of sad theatre makers, which may go some way to explain its enduring popularity with theatre makers. We talk 3D characters, endurance, and theatres first goth icon. Content Warnings: Suicide/Ageism/Infant death/Mortality Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various Chat to...
Send us a text A travelling 'Odditorium' is struggling to make ends meet, and as a change of tactic the performers start trying to make themselves as normal as can be. If you can see how bleak this is about to get, then congratulations on having more insight than Riley, the owner of this circus. We talk fables, otherness, and the futility of trying to fit in. Content Warnings: Domestic abuse/Transphobia/Ableism/Child Abuse/Forced Surgery Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Cha...
Send us a text Cillian Murphy somehow remains looking beautiful through this deeply intense and gruelling play - first performed in 1999 by Walsh himself, we very specifically take a look at the revised/updated 2011 version which took the intimate one-person show and blew it up to National Theatre size. We talk the victim mentality, routine as self-expression, and bootleg theatre recordings. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various Chat t...
Send us a text Is this a play? Performance art? Essay? Real or not real? This play/text/email chain was originally presented as a live performance and digital experience combination, then printed onto paper, and now thrust back onto the internet by us in the form of audio podcast exploration. Heavy. We talk chronic illness, the digital body, and the horrors/freedoms that the internet brings. Also, how cool Eve Leigh is in general. Eve Leigh we love you, if you see this please hit us up....
Send us a text East coast round 2! We talk aliens, village gossip, and the strange prescience of this play written in 1973 about 1907 when being read in 2025. FAIRYTALE UPDATE: I have searched and can find nothing substantial about this fairytale or why it is the birth of drama in children. If anyone has any ideas please get in touch. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go fin...
Send us a text Once again we dive into a time bending play about sad women. This time it's Lucy Kirkwood's 2020 play The Welkin; set in 18th century Suffolk/Norfolk, 12 women must decide the fate of another in this epicly jam-packed courtroom(ish) drama. We talk oppression, class solidarity, and jokes about Lowestoft. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go find @rootlingtheatre for ...
Send us a text Time. Ghosts. Violence. Hope. Academia. We return to pod favourite Alistair McDowall for his incredible 2022 play The Glow. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go find @rootlingtheatre for his puppet antics)
Send us a text We recorded this 3 years ago and then forgot to make more podcasts. It holds up!!! Declaring this the end of season 1, we'll be back with certified fresh content in 2 weeks time. Sam Shepard's True West is about two things: truth and the wild west. Oh, and two brothers. Oh, and Picasso. And coyotes. It's pretty famous. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go find @root...
Send us a text Step 1) Nuclear Meltdown Step 2) Gang Warfare Over Simpsons Quotes Step 3) ???? Step 4) The Greatest Story Ever Told If you're not familiar with the play of post-apocalyptic pop-culture mythology, prepare to have your mind blown, as we discuss Anne Washburn's play all about The Simpsons and the fusion of high/low art. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood Chat to host Sam @Samwe...
Send us a text Despite the characters explicitly talking about the cold all the time, prepare to hear about some very hot and sweaty goings on in this William's classic. When a young hot guy walks into a Southern town that's afraid of hot people, there's prejudice and hatred to deal with on top of all the wild animal metaphors that Tennessee loves so much. We discuss why the town is so afraid of hot people, what it might be like to be a bird with no legs, and themes of isolation in one...
Send us a text Up front: 1) TW, this episode contains quite frank discussions of a variety of grisly topics, including sexual assault and suicide. 2) This podcast is about the original play, NOT the musical version (though we do of course mention the musical as how could you not!? In particular the recent Almeida production which, spoiler alert, we love) Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood Ch...
Send us a text It was inevitable that at some point we'd bump into the bard on our ever winding theatrical-textual journey, and we do so what in our un-researched opinion is 'one of the more obscure ones.' Cymbeline is a play about a young couple who vow their love to each other but then hate each other but then don't really and also this horrible man named Cloten who is an idiot and a criminal and also some brothers who are gay for their sister but don't worry it all works out in the finish....
Send us a text You Stupid Darkness! takes us into the world of Brightline, a call centre for those who need to talk to someone about their problems, and the 4 volunteers who answer those calls late at night. Meet Frances, Angie, Jon, and Joey the work experience boy, as they navigate life and each other. Oh, and also the apocalypse is in full swing. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood Chat to...
Send us a text The Flick is a 2013 play set in a cinema, in which you the audience sit where the screen is and watch as three employees get into some serious sweeping. This often silent and uneventful play is brim full of sad heartfelt characters, musings on what it means to be a grown up, and terrible opinions about films. Also discussed: - The power of celluloid film - Monkeys Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy Chat to ho...
Send us a text The Hothouse (so called because the house is...hot?) is a 1980 play by Harold Pinter which was actually written in 1958, but still has his signature style of heightened language, biting edge and yes, lots of famous pauses. It's been a while since we did one of these, so there's lots of catching up to do on theatre and genre-based theatre, as well as a deep dive into the characters and unspecified horror that this play provides. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover...
Send us a text Six Characters is a modern classic. Or maybe just a classic. It's hard to know where the age boundaries for those things are. Either way in this play Pirandello brings an early example of going full meta in theatre, introducing a rehearsal room full of actors (and maybe the real director, stage manager and technician) to a group of fictional characters that have come to life and need help in finishing their dramatic arc. We talk play structure, Mussolini and Byker Grove. Have...
Send us a text The Woods is poetry on the stage. Okay, so all plays are poetry on the stage, but this one even more so. Inhabiting an American woodland and also a British kitchen, our protagonist 'The Woman' is continually haunted by 'The Wolf,' an evil figure who may be her son that was, or an abusive partner, or her inner psyche, or the outside world, or probably all of these rolled into one. It's really good. As promised in the episode, you can find Nancy's dubbed over cameo in a Phoebe W...
Send us a text This is the second in McCraney's 'Brother Sister Plays' trilogy, though is the first one he wrote. Drawing on Yoruba cosmology transposed into present day Louisiana, The Brothers Size is a poetic yet brutally grounded story of two brothers trying to reconnect after one returns from a stint in prison. Emotions abound. Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover? Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood Chat to host Sam @Samwebb...
Send us a text This 2000 play is a landmark text in verbatim theatre. Documenting the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Laramie, Wyoming resident Matthew Shepard, The Laramie Project is a collation of almost 2 years of interviews with Laramie residents. All at once it is a portrait of a town, a stark warning, an examination of everyday human hypocrisy, an advocation for gay rights, an exploration of loss, and a meta-investigation into make sure verbatim theatre is 'done right.' Find more infor...
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