The Play Podcast

Episode 110: Our Town by Thornton Wilder Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Howard Sherman Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We'll discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. Playwright Edward Albee described Thornton Wilder's Our Town as "the greatest American play ever written." In fact Wilder's quintessential portrait of rural America in a bygone time has somehow transcended its iconic American setting to become a universal meditation on mortality, community, and how we live our individual lives, wherever that may be. The play premiered on Broadway in 1938, winning Wilder the Pulitzer Prize, and it has been a staple of school, amateur and stock performance ever since. In fact, according to critic John Lahr writing in the introduction to the text of the Penguin edition, "the play is performed somewhere in the world every day." Howard Sherman, author of Another Day's Begun – Thornton Wilder's Our Town in the 21st Century, joins me to explore this American classic.

Episode 109: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Dr Hester Lees-Jeffries Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We'll discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is arguably the most famous love story of all time. The tragic tale of their ecstatic young love has become iconic, not only in the theatre, but in the countless forms it has been retold, in musicals, dance, opera and film. As we record this episode a daring new production is playing in London's West End, directed by Robery Icke, and starring Sadie Sink and Noah Jupe as the "star-crossed lovers". I'm delighted to be joined to explore the play by Dr Hester Lees-Jeffries from Cambridge University, author of the introduction to the New Cambridge Shakespeare edition of the text.

The Play Podcast - 057 - Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Iavn Wise The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays. In each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We discuss the play's origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing. G.B. Shaw's Arms and the Man is both a sparkling romantic comedy and a telling satire of love, war and social pretension. It was Shaw's first public success as a playwright when it premiered in London in 1894, and is currently enjoying an acclaimed revival at the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond, Surrey. I'm joined by Shaw expert Ivan Wise, who is a previous editor of The Shavian, the journal of the Shaw Society.