The London Theatre Review

This week Nick Clark and producer Tim are holding the fort while Nancy and other Nick are away, but to be fair to them they managed to bag some pretty great interviews before they disappeared...

First up, Nick Curtis sat down with Aaron Sorkin — yes, the extraordinary writer of The West Wing, A Few Good Men, The Social Network, The Newsroom — ahead of his To Kill a Mockingbird adaptation returning to the West End. They talk about why his first draft was really bad, and whether the man who gave us Jed Bartlet's America still believes in it.

Tim reviews The Oresteia at the Bridge Theatre, Simon Stone's long, blood-smeared, gleefully melodramatic update of the Greek tragic trilogy, set inside a glass box with David Morrissey, Mary-Louise Parker (also of West Wing fame!) and a scene-stealing Rosie Sheehy.

Plus Nancy talks to John Studzinski about 25 years of the very influential and very necessary Genesis Foundation, the organisation that supported Ava Pickett in writing 1536, among many other early career artists and musicians...he also reveals what Katharine Hepburn told him about stage fright.

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This week Nick, Nick and producer Tim (filling in for Nancy who's on the other side of the Atlantic) sort the divine from the infernal in London theatre, starting with the resurrection of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium, starring Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder alongside Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) as the first in a roster of celebrity Herods.

Then it's over to the Royal Court for Archduke, Rajiv Joseph's tragicomic fever dream about the teenage assassins who accidentally started the First World War.

Grace Mouat, alumna of Six the Musical and currently appearing in Death Note at the Barbican, answers our five questions including an off-tune on-stage mishap.

And Nick Curtis sits down with the legendary Harry Shearer - best known for his 23-odd voices in the Simpsons and for playing Derek Smalls in This Is Spinal Tap - alongside veteran sitcom writer Tom Leopold of Cheers and Seinfeld fame to talk about their new comedy musical Here Comes J. Edgar. There may be an appearance from C Montgomery Burns himself...

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This week Nick, Nick and Nancy head to the National Theatre's Dorfman for Pride, Steven Beresford and Matthew Warchus's musical adaptation of the beloved 2014 film about the unlikely alliance between gay activists and Welsh miners during the 1984 strike. Then it's off to the Noël Coward for the RSC's transfer of Cyrano de Bergerac, with Adrian Lester in glorious form and Susannah Fielding turning Roxanne into something the gang have never seen before - hear her interview in episode three of this season. Nick Curtis talks to Anna Zavelson, the 22-year-old Texan who had never left North America before landing the role of Christine in Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty's Theatre. And Henry Lewis from Mischief Theatre answers our Five Questions ahead of The Comedy About Spies returning to the West End.

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For this special bonus episode of the pod, Nancy went to talk to writer/performer Jordan Luke Gage and director Paul Foster about the new musical Redcliffe running at Southwark Playhouse. Jordan has spent the last three years writing the show, and he also stars in it - musical theatre fans will have seen his amazing performances in Bonnie and Clyde, Heathers, &Juliet and Titanique.

Set against the backdrop of 18th Century England, the musical is based on the true story of William Critchard and Richard Arnold who met in Redcliffe, Bristol. It's an epic, funny and moving tale of forbidden love during the persecution people faced for hundreds of years.

Plus you can hear Jordan sing one of the beautiful songs from the show, Void of Love.

You can find out more about the show on Instagram @redcliffemusical and find us @thelondontheatrereview.
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This week is French translation week as Nick, Nancy and Tim took refuge in the blissful air conditioning of London's theatres to review The Misanthrope at the National — Martin Crimp's rhyming-couplet update of the Molière play with Sandra Oh on ferocious form — and The Truth at the Apollo, Florian Zeller's gleefully French sex comedy starring Stephen Mangan, Janie Dee, Ardal O'Hanlan and Sarah Hadland. Plus Nick spoke to playwright Rajiv Joseph about Archduke at the Royal Court and working with Robin Williams. And Desmonda Cathabel answered our five questions ahead of playing Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar.

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