Play Ground
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 Twitter, @playgroundpoddy
Episodes
27 episodes
26 - Mr Burns by Anne Washburn
Step 1) Nuclear MeltdownStep 2) Gang Warfare Over Simpsons QuotesStep 3) ????Step 4) The Greatest Story Ever ToldIf you're not familiar with the play of post-apocalyptic pop-culture mythology, prepare to have your mind blown...
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Season 1
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Episode 27
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57:50
25 - Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams
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 peopl...
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Season 1
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Episode 26
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44:20
24 - Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind
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 mu...
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Season 1
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Episode 25
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57:30
23 - Cymbeline by William Shakespeare
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 thei...
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Season 1
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Episode 24
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50:04
22 - You Stupid Darkness! by Sam Steiner
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 experie...
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Season 1
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Episode 23
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44:16
21 - The Flick by Annie Baker
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 ...
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Season 1
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Episode 22
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53:45
20 - The Hothouse by Harold Pinter
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 sin...
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Season 1
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Episode 21
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51:12
19 - Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 20
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48:20
18 - The Woods by Robert Alan Evans
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 figur...
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Season 1
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Episode 19
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43:15
17 - The Brothers Size by Tarell Alvin McCraney
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 brot...
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Season 1
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Episode 18
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35:45
16 - The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project
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...
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Season 1
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Episode 17
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45:07
15 - The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman
This 1930s play is about two single women who run a girls' school together, and how their lives are brought crashing down when a student accuses them of lesbianism. We discuss the play's treatment of queer issues, its place (or not) on to...
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Season 1
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Episode 16
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48:17
14 - Oresteia by Robert Icke
Part 2 of an Oresteia double bill, this time we take a look at Robert Icke's totally new adaptation of last episode's classic. We talk altering plot points, phycological complexity, and the time period-fluid setting of Icke's plays.Have...
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Season 1
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Episode 15
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43:07
13 - The Oresteia by Aeschylus
First part of an Oresteia double bill, this time we take a look at a straight translation of the original. We talk gender representation, off-stage gore, and the complexities of justice (which is funner than it sounds)Have some feedback...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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54:35
12 - Wild Swimming by Marek Horn
Crazy stage directions? Form-breaking? Super long and in depth but somehow still entertaining discussions on female empowerment and the male role in society? YES PLEASE! Discussion includes: Scripts that don't tell you everything, gender-revers...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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44:06
11 - Hansel and Gretel by Carl Grose + Kneehigh Theatre
It's time for some children's theatre! In this delightful, dark, funny, fantastic, terrifying tale for all ages, Kneehigh theatre does what they do best with collaborative and innovative re-telling of a classic story. Discussion includes collab...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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41:54
10 - Yen by Anna Jordan
This episode Nancy & Sam discuss the shocking and powerful play drama Yen by Anna Jordan. The audio of the first half got mangled by the internet, so this one jumps in partway through - in this epic half-discussion, however, is covered them...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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32:53
9 - Gloria by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (with guest Molly Farley!)
This episode Nancy & Sam are joined by co-director of Coast to Coast Theatre Company and producer from the Norwich Fringe, Molly Farley, to discuss the intense and thought-provoking drama Gloria by Branden Jacob's Jenkins. Not only is it an...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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48:48
8 - Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. by Alice Birch
Nancy and Sam smash the patriarchy (or at least try to understand just how massive and far-reaching it is) with a look at this form-smashing play. Okay, so we don't smash the patriarchy, and 50 minutes is no time at all to cover everything, but...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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48:27
7 - Lights Over Tesco Car Park by Jack Bradfield & Poltergeist Theatre
In a first for the podcast, we look at a play that involves some heavy audience interaction and can change wildly from night to night depending on what the audience does. How do you script something like this? We're about to find out.(A...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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46:07
6 - Crazyhorse by Parv Bancil
Another episode of the eternal journey to read and analyse every play ever (or at least a few good ones, as our time on this earth is limited). This time we take a look at something neither of us have read before - a strangely structured magica...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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38:18
SPECIAL: Worst 10 Theatre Gifts
Oh go on then, have a little Christmas treat on us! Nancy & Sam drop their usual policy of finding the best in things for this bonus festive episode - they bring to you their top 10 list of the worst theatre-related things one could receive...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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28:38
5 - The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen
Another episode of the eternal journey to read and analyse every play ever (or at least a few good ones, as our time on this earth is limited). This time we take a dive into our first of the great Naturalistic plays of the 1800s - featuring sor...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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47:55
4 - Blue Heart by Caryl Churchill
Welcome back for another episode of Play Ground! This week we discuss the experimental diptych of short plays 'Heart's Desire' and 'Blue Kettle' by Caryl Churchill.Formally stranger but with a solid emotional core, Churchill proves again (d...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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48:21
3 - The Twilight Zone as adapted by Anne Washburn
Welcome back, listeners! For our first episode post-launch, we revisit the sci-fi genre (it won't all be sci-fi, we promise) with Anne Washburn's fantastic adaptation of The Twilight Zone. For a change both Nancy AND Sam have seen this play. Fo...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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57:25