Theater & Stage Podcasts

In MickeyJoTheatre's Inter Alia (Wyndham's Theatre, West End) - ★★★★★ REVIEW, Mickey-Jo stops on an apron. Rosamund Pike's judge wears a comedy apron printed with judge's robes, at home and then into a scene at work, and he reads it as a woman still "tethered to this domestic role" on the bench. Good theater podcasts do this kind of work. They take something you might have glanced past from the back stalls and make it carry the play's argument.

CUNY TV's Theater Talk is the institutional counterweight, heard here from 2018. In Spring 2018 Critics Forum, Jesse Green of The New York Times is among critics who take apart that spring's branded shows, from Frozen to Escape to Margaritaville. One panelist argues that Angels in America works better on a small scale. In TONY Wrap-Up and Season Celebration, the panel complains that the best-play winner's mic was cut off and argues for a separate award for the playwright. The crosstalk is the pleasure. For a critic in the guest's seat, A View from the Box - The Podcast begins with Episode 1 - Aisling Murphy.

Play Ground starts with the text. Nancy Netherwood and Sam Webber read one play and compare notes, sometimes literally. In R.U.R. Rossum's Universal Robots by Karel Čapek, they discover that their translations disagree: the family called Rossum in one copy becomes Reason in the other. In Misterman by Enda Walsh, one host brings notes on how the revised edition differs from the earlier one. Expect spoilers. The show rewards listeners who like a paperback open on their knee.

Interviews move the question from whether a show works to how it was built. On Up Close with Carlos Tseng, Laurie Kynaston: An Evolving Actor covers his first full-scale production in the round, where quiet audiences make him feel "there's 400 people surrounding you." He describes having to lift his thoughts to the people seated above. In Elliot Cowan: An Actor's Actor, Cowan explains how Miller lets one man's memory expose another's lie. He also recalls falling through a trap door that opened five lines early.

STAGES with Peter Eyers goes further into the rehearsal room. In STAGES Episode 611: ANTHONY SKUSE, the director explains why his female second-year students wear corsets and long rehearsal skirts for Chekhov: handling period objects teaches them to inhabit an unfamiliar world. He also recalls an actor handed a cup who called it cold and gave it back, a bit he told her to keep. Eyers mentions that he is in the play Skuse is directing, so this is an insider's conversation. Stagecraft with Gordon Cox records panels from Variety's Business of Broadway. In Stars Shine at Variety's Business of Broadway, which runs 105 minutes, one guest compares learning Beckett to memorizing a piece of music. The Actor & Performer Interviews page gathers more conversations like these.

Some of the most candid talk comes from people who also sell the tickets. Neuse Little Podcast is made by Neuse Little Theatre, a playhouse in a log cabin in Smithfield, North Carolina. In Doubt, a talk with the Director, guest host Caitlin Tarley turns the questions on Matt Gore, who is directing. The talk lands on a scene that came together once the actor playing Sister James gripped the wood with her fingernails. Show dates and audition notices come with that episode, and the sign-off in Neuse Little Podcast - JAG The Dinner Party thanks "all 23 of you."

Mouthing Off, from Bad Mouth Theatre Company in St. Paul, airs on Frogtown Radio. In Hungry Like the Wolf at History Theatre, a cast member talks frankly about typecasting and playing the villain. Stageworthy, hosted by Phil Rickaby, covers Canadian theatre. Emily Jeffers is Making Theatre on Her Terms includes a clown bit built on adding numbers aloud until she can't. These shows include some promotion, and the local detail makes up for it. For musicals specifically, see the Musical Theater & Broadway page. For the wider field, see the Performing Arts guide and the Arts category guide.