Curtain Call Podcast

Curtain Call Podcast

From the dresser in the wings the A-list star in the dressing room; from the production manager putting the tour together to the sound mixer out front at Glastonbury...hear what it really takes to make an event happen and immerse yourself into the world of entertainment across the cultural landscape from London’s West End to the American desert and Burning Man. Experience a creative's life as you never have before with unparalleled access to the events you love.

Episodes

March 15, 2024 18 mins
Today, we have both a returning guest and a returning show…although not what you’d expect. Listeners of this podcast will remember Jonathan Andrew Hume from the original London Cast of the Olivier Award winning best musical “Come From Away” as one of the Kevins. He was brilliant in that show…and when I was offered a chance to speak to the incoming cast for the revival of Guys and Dolls at The Bridge Theatre right near Tower Bridge ...
Mark as Played
This is PART ONE of a TWO-PARTER. Listen to The Wrong Cat Died via the links below for the companion episode to this episode. Mike Abrams is the creator and host of the theatre podcast “The Wrong Cat Died’. Originally conceived as a 10-part mini series, he’s now over 150 episodes in and going strong. We’ve decided to have each other on…well…each other’s podcasts. It’s something neither of us have done, but thought it would be gre...
Mark as Played
February 20, 2024 30 mins
This is an attempt to answer the age old theatre questions; “Is it possible to remove expectations and worry over results and create theater that is pure execution? Is there a way to insure that every artist works only from their instinct in creating a play?” Hmm… So what if an evening was created by randomly pairing artists and have them create new plays under a nearly impossible timeline. Would it remove the luxury of thinking an...
Mark as Played
This week, i chat to Olivier Award nominee Anoushka Lucas - actree, playwright, singer, songwriter, composer...I mean, she's defining multi-hyphenate We first had Anoushka on the podcast in 2016 when she starred in Jesus Christ Superstar at Regents Park Open Air Theatre - a critically acclaimed production which I saw twice, as once wasn't enough. And she's about to be heard again in Part II of a musical that started life in lockdo...
Mark as Played
January 16, 2024 34 mins
To kick off 2024, and what seems like a year of non-stop elections…USA Presidential elections, General Election here in the UK as well as a Russian Election (if you can actually call it that)...less of that, the better, I watched 1979 at the Finborough Theatre. A scathing satire of the Canadian political landscape, and a snapshot of the 6 month reign of the infuriatingly righteous Prime Minister Joe Clark - who, in an effort to not...
Mark as Played
December 20, 2023 22 mins
This week, we bring you another dose of cheer in the form of our annual Christmas podcast. In the past, I have asked some of my theatrical friends to read out a classic Christmas story, with past readers such as West End stalwart Siobhan Harrison and The Walking Dead star Eleanor Matsura. This year, we have a special treat.   On the 1st of December, my family was asked to put together a series of readings as part of a Christmas Car...
Mark as Played
This week I’m chatting with a dear friend of mine Lourdes Faberes. You may have seen Lourdes in Sandman or The Power or No Time to Die or Good Omens or…I could go on!!!! She’s an incredible actor. Lourdes is currently appearing in untitled f**k m*ss s**gon play at The Young Vic in London. Kimber Lee’s hard-hitting, but hilarious play is running now until the 4th of November. The play had its initial run at the Manchester Internati...
Mark as Played
August 25, 2023 29 mins
This week, I sat down with Sharlene Hector, who plays Thought 1. But you may recognize the voice as Sharlene is the lead vocalist for the band Basement Jaxx and appeared in the West End production of Hairspray.. But Sharlene can also be heard providing backing vocals for artists such as Alicia Keys, Primal Scream, Josh Groban and many, many more.  We were joined by Tendai Humphrey Sitima (Thought 4) who is also a musician in his o...
Mark as Played
This week I am talking to a photographer who really is changing the game when it comes to headshots and self-tapes.  When I came across Charlie Frances and his AKTA photography, that is A-K-T-A and their model of a “pay what you can” for those who see a professional headshot as a barrier to entry, I had to do some research. And if their website aktaphotography.com is anything to go by, Charlie and his team are only going to go from...
Mark as Played
There’s a new show in town, but born a few years ago… pretty much like the main character in this astonishing musical. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse: Elephant (not to be confused with the Southwark Playhouse Borough) . First appearing in London in 2019 at its sister theatre, Jethro Compton and Darren Clark’s musical is a fresh take on an old tale by F Scott Fitzgerald. From the ...
Mark as Played
Cedering Fox is an internationally accomplished voice over artist. However, her most incredible achievement is Founding Word Theatre way back in 2003. Along with Kirsty Peart here in the UK, Word Theatre and Cedering have been casting top film, TV and theatre actors in readings of works by the world’s finest contemporary authors. Theatre talents such as Olivia Williams, Damien Lewis, Elizabeth McGovern, Rae Dawn Chong, Rashan Stone...
Mark as Played
September 20, 2022 26 mins
This week, I’m chatting with cast and some of the creative team behind the world premiere of Eric Henry Sanders’ play Maybe Probably - a play about two couples as they navigate the hilarious waters of preparing to have a baby, or recently having one. We’re all either the product of this or have gone through it ourselves. Sanders isn’t new to London and UK theatre, with his work being seen in London and the Edinburgh Fringe. He’s a...
Mark as Played
August 11, 2022 27 mins
Cottage is a gripping comic drama that has so many themes bubbling underneath the facade of two men meeting up in a public toilet. It goes beyond a queer story and commands the audience’s attention and asks questions of the viewer’s thoughts into human relationships and their deeply complicated makeup - no matter what sexual preference one might have. Cottage’s playwight, Ben Willows, sat down with me, in separate rooms becuase he...
Mark as Played
August 9, 2022 28 mins
Earlier in the year, i was honoured to be asked to judge the 2022 Durham Drama Festival at Durham University in the UK. It was an incredible 3 days of workshops, talks, networking events…but most importantly new theatre written, directed and performed by the incredible talent pool of students at Durham Uni. One of the stand out plays was Em Oliver’s “Beautiful Nothing”. A one-woman show bringing into sharp focus how evil the inter...
Mark as Played
Director Ben Mole has put together an incredible ensemble cast for his latest project, "Code of Silence" - a feature film surrounding the events that led to the arrest and incarceration of the legendary London gangland bosses, the Kray Twins, Imagine my shock at hearing good friend, the American actor Ronan Summers, was the next to follow in some pretty big footsteps in taking on the role of BOTH…yes, BOTH, of the Kray Twins in the...
Mark as Played
in our Pioneer series, we’re going to be highlighting the companies that are getting the live events industries back to business and who’ve been supporting the freelancers and professionals that found themselves unable to make a living in the sector due to the pandemic. Andrew Bishop - of BishopSound - is a fascinating first guest in our Pioneer Series. I do mention in this episode that I could have spoken with him for at least an...
Mark as Played
Alex Parker is a musical director, composer, conductor...you name it, if it has anything to do with music or musicals, Alex is all over it..and now he has his own orchestra, to boot! Alex is the musical director on a massive concert presentation of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s musical Sunset Boulevard in the iconic Royal Albert Hall. Sunset Boulevard is perhaps on of ALW’s most beloved scores, and in my opinion the most complete musical in...
Mark as Played
November 23, 2021 46 mins
Andrew Norlen is a New York-based artist and performer, most recently on stage in the national touring company of Broadway’s Kinky Boots. During lockdown, when Andrew was at a loss as to what his performing career was going to look like when things opened up, if indeed they were ever going to open up, and when he’d ever get back to see the people he loved and worked with...he felt he needed to do something to both get creative, exp...
Mark as Played
October 5, 2021 35 mins
In July 2012, a gunman opened fire on a cinema audience that had just sat down to watch a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora Colorado killing 12. Writer/Director Kate Barton, actors Hannah Schunk-Hockings, David Austin Barnes as well as original designer Matthew Jennings take us through the journey of the verbatim play Screen 9 so far, and how they’re looking forward to their run at The Pleasance Theatre in Londo...
Mark as Played
September 28, 2021 54 mins
The Come From Away team didn’t want to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the events of September 11th 2001, without sitting down with the current West End company and really drilling down into their personal experiences of that day.  Come From Away tells the story of how the inhabitants of a small, rural community on a Canadian Island came to be involved in a musical that transformed one of the most tragic days in human history ...
Mark as Played

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