Stage Door Jonny

In the second half of Jonny’s chat with Lesley Manville, Jonny recalls seeing her onstage for the first time in The Cherry Orchard with Judi Dench, what she learned from Judi, the story about working with her that she won’t repeat (but you should hear it, so here it is ), why some great performers need to be on the verge of laughter, Tony Sher flashing in Tamburlaine the Great, her 13 projects with Mike Leigh, the man who influenced Lesley’s stage work maybe more than any other, playing a hamster at the Royal Court for a 10 year old, the pressure on young actors now, telling Caryl Churchill how she could improve Serious Money, breaking down the method behind Max Stafford-Clark’s rehearsal process, her response to men who take up too much space in the rehearsal room, where her confidence comes from and the magic- and pitfalls- of last shows. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This weeks guest is a gem: Oscar nominee and two time Olivier-award winner, the magnificent Lesley Manville. In her plushly upholstered dressing room at Studio 54, Lesley and Jonny discuss him hunting her like a fox, her upcoming appearance in Marianne Eliott’s Les Liasons Dangereuses, how theatre is a time machine, ending her triumphant run as Jocasta opposite Mark Strong in Robert Icke’s Oedipus on Broadway, her fabled 15 minute monologue, getting ill and wondering whether her lifelong feeling that she didn’t take her characters home with her was really true, wondering if great actors must be private people, Sam Mendes‘s advice about lying and it’s relationship to acting and the all-conquering past that Jonny and Lesley have in common. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

(CONTAINS VERY STRONG LANGUAGE) In the this week’s episode Jonny talks to celebrated theatrical disruptor Tom Morris. They talk about Tom’s most embarrassing moment in the theatre (it’s very embarrassing). His artistic directorship of Battersea Arts Centre and putting on shows without a script; how his work in alternative theatre was incorporated by Nick Hytner at the National; making Jerry Springer: The Opera; making Hytner experience Gay Shame; the genesis of the theatrical mega-hit War Horse; the two types of directors according to Simmo (spoiler: its blockers and wankers); when the floor opens up in front of a director, the paranoia sin-bin and what to do about it; why a puppet and a mirror gave Tom two of his most thrilling experiences at the theatre; why uncertainty in the theatre can provoke the perfect audience state; the creativity of an audience, setting Romeo and Juliet in a care home; what nags at him about the shows he’s done and getting older and less prophetic. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second act of their chat, Sir Greg Doran remembers some of his late husband and leading man, Anthony Sher’s most unforgettable moments; Greg’s theory of “crossroads” and examples of how to meet them; Shakespeare’s radical extremity; Greg’s theory of what plunged the Bard into his late great tragedies; why Ian Mckellen defaces bibles; the comfort to be found after bereavement in Shakespeare’s brutality; the death of Tom Stoppard and Greg’s memories of him- and Tony Sher’s Yahrzeit candle. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonny’s guest for his 100th episode is class on a stick. Sir Gregory Doran is the former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, for 35 years and with the late Sir Anthony Sher one half of one of the most celebrated power couples in British theatre (and possibly the first pair of married Knights). In this episode Jonny and Greg reminisce about meeting on Derek Walcott’s Odyssey, Greg’s padded bra and a portrayal of Lady Anne that silenced his bullies, memories of Tony Sher’s groundbreaking Richard 3rd, being taught a painful lesson by his future husband (that Tony had learned by being kicked up the arse by Jonathan Pryce), how Flaubert helped Greg become a director, killing the laughs at a matinee by announcing the Nobel Prize winner, how new shoes crashed Titus Andronicus’s jeep, throwing crockery at his leading man, Tony Sher’s occasional torment, writing about death as though it were Tony’s next great role and how they are still collaborators after death (on a new book), as they were in life. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second half of Jonny’s chat with Elliot Levey, Elliot makes the case for why good actors submit; how directors reveal themselves through notes and acting that isn’t “mirror-kissing”; the moment Elliot regretted in the theatre and the horrible play that prompted him to nearly leave it mid performance via a fire exit; spending a decade at the National Theatre, how plays stay fresh and why Saturday night shows often smell of farts; what pisses him off about the theatre, the joy of Simon Russell Beale in a tiny part, the many delights of Polonius and a sudden Proustian recall of Jonny at the very beginning of his career. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonny’s guest is the two time Olivier award winner and Loveliest Man in British Equity, Elliot Levey. In his dressing room at the Harold Pinter theatre before his award-winning performance in Mark Rosenblatt’s Giant, Jonny and Elliot begin by lifting the lid on podcasting’s dirty secret and Elliot’s generous superfan. They break down Giant, a play about Roald Dahl’s antisemitism at the time of the real-world horror of the war in Gaza, how Elliot’s view of the play and his character shifts with each days headlines and the catharsis of drama in a moral maze; there’s a delightfully unexpected visit from Rachel Stirling, a memory of working with her mother, Dame Dianna Rigg, and the delivery of a bottle of in-character rosé; Elliot’s memory of being in a play that addressed the aftermath of horror on the night of terrorist attacks on London, why theatre isn’t binary, in praise of being boring, an equally delightful visit from John Lithgow (and an insight into how Jonny seduces future guests) and Elliot’s theory that all supremely talented people are also supremely nice. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second half of Jonny’s chat with Mark Strong, his guest describes feeling hated during Ivo van Hove’s A View From the Bridge; the strong conviction he had about the playing of Eddie Carbone; becoming a movie actor (not star), what he learnt from the camera and taking it back to the stage; working with Ivo before he became the global theatrical influencer he is now, his mischief,and how he fought the great director over what turned out to be strokes of genius; his sheer terror before he started performing View and the joy of conquering fear; creating “the right to be looked at”; building a character through the body; what he needs from a director and what he doesn’t; his “rant” about the business; two aging actors talk about innovations in sound; his worries about Macbeth and Jonny’s theory of the murderous king’s intrinsic sweetness; what pisses him off about the theatre and what he still wants from it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonny is joined this week by the actor who is the current toast of Broadway for his portrayal of Oedipus in Robert Icke’s updating of the great tragedy, Mark Strong. They start off by talking about Simon Russell Beale, original inspiration for SDJ and the way talent is sometimes undecodable. Being told what Mark’s “thing” was at drama school, the attraction of charm, his very unusual origin story, the importance of Steven Berkoff and fronting a punk band in making him a performer; the difference between being an artist and an artisan, working with the late Helen McCrory and Ian McKellen, a debate about Al Pacino- and uncontrollable crying as Oedipus. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In a second half lightly underscored by the Wagner seeping in from Glyndebourne’s Parsifal, Jonny hears how the doyenne of modern lighting designers spent her formative years in the creative ferment of Theatre de Complicité, the tough love from another designer that propelled her, what makes an experience on a show great for her, the two types of directors, splitting up with Katie Mitchell, what makes light walk into a room, the change in the aesthetic she championed in the modern theatre, why she’s retiring, her relationship with fear, bothering Nathan Lane, missing her kid’s birthdays, why she’s never wanted to be a cinematographer, the fundamental change in the culture and what she wants for young artists today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Stage Door Jonny gets well classy this week, with a double episode recorded in the gilded environs of Glyndebourne. One of the greatest influences in the modern theatre on how we see and experience a world onstage, Paule Constable is the nonpareil of modern lighting designers. The most nominated artist in Olivier Award history (17 nominations, 6 wins, 2 Tony awards) Paule has defined a visual aesthetic in modern theatre. War Horse, Curious Incident, Wolf Hall, His Dark Materials, the 25th anniversary production of Les Mis, Paule has her fingerprints all over modern theatre. But she’s retiring! Jonny goes in search of why. They talk rock’n’roll lighting, running over the South Downs to work, learning to look, torturing a performer with light, what happens sometimes when you put light to music, the loneliness of the long-distance lighting designer, how to make an actor glow and the spirit of her fighter pilot father that made her bold enough to pull off the audacious lie that started her career. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The second half of Jonny’s conversation with Ewan McGregor kicks off with reminiscences of Oscar Isaac’s covid-era Oedipus. What Ewan needs from a director like Michael Grandage and their most recent partnership, Lila Raicek’s My Master Builder; scenes with Kate Fleetwood that felt like dancing and giggling together in the wings afterwards; Ewan’s battle with fear, drying onstage and being willed on by supernumeraries; drying in the middle of a song in Guys and Dolls; seeking the utopia of relaxation; being put in a chokehold on the set of Black Hawk Down and the insight it gave him into Iago; his admiration for Alan Cumming; what pisses him off about theatre and the tantalising plans he has to get back to it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back! A slightly lengthy hiatus comes to a close with this, the first episode of Jonny’s Festive Season. And what more festive guest to kick off with than Ewan McGregor? There’s a distinct frisson with the Stage Manager, the question of whether actors should just shut the fuck up, being frustrated by some theatre interviews, Ewan’s three plays with Michael Grandage, learning his lines before rehearsals begin (and crying over Iago), how acting has changed for him over time, starting his career working backstage, sticking pornography in a senior actors folder, the huge influence of his uncle, Denis Lawson. How being beaten up in Glasgow gave him a key to unlock his acting, Little Malcolm and his Struggle Against the Eunuchs, naked and slipping (arse-first) towards an elderly matinee audience in Salisbury, his farting co-star and how he learned to steer an audience to make a play land. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second half of Jonny’s chat with actor and writer Denis O’Hare, we hear the harrowing tale of a confrontation at a French airport, its relationship to his investigation of male violence in his play An Iliad , performing it for an audience of soldiers, not understanding what just happened after performing a show, how bad blocking once made him cry, why some plays can’t be left at the curtain call- and the experience of working on Sondheim’s last work. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tony Award-winner, 2,800 year old vampire, bona fide American Horror and one of the most thrilling actors on the modern stage or screen, Denis O’Hare is Jonny’s guest this week. In his dressing room at the National Theatre in London, far too close to the time to go onstage, Denis and Jonny discuss what learning means to an actor, brutalist architecture, why he’s a bad director, saying “why?”, the influence of his friend and virtuoso writer John Logan, the indignity of his first role (a pig), music and poetry in his work, contradicting a legendary director of comedy and celebrating not working with the people he shouldn’t. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second half of their chat, the artistic director of the Old Vic, director of the internationally acclaimed hit musical Matilda and perhaps modern theatre’s pre-eminent master of comedy, Matthew Warchus, discusses laughter, audience noises, not having a plan, the illusion of fusion and the philosophy that it will all work out in the end; the obstacle of fear, the unknowability of an actor’s courage, loving Michael Gambon and not hassling him about his lines; how watching a good rehearsal spikes his blood sugars, being in an elevator with Harvey Weinstein, being trapped in a relentless loop of dissatisfaction, his legacy- and the nights sitting in that beautiful Old Vic auditorium that will stay with him forever. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the titans of the English-speaking theatre joins Jonny for a deliciously insightful chat this week. Sitting in the storied auditorium of the Old Vic, outgoing boss, Olivier and Tony award-winning theatre and film director, Matthew Warchus guides Jonny through a decade of coming into that space to think; why directors should be waiters, Tragedy and whether or not he sees the point of it, under-rehearsing and why vagueness is important, what not to say in America, his foundational relationship with Mark Rylance and the awkward eavesdropping that shaped his approach to being a director; turning mathematics into emotion, using distance onstage and why not all laughs are equal. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second part of their chat Indira reveals to Jonny that she didn’t know she is the Best Reviewed Actor on the British stage: they discuss sharing the boys dressing room, whether or not she thinks chemistry is bollocks, what she makes of her theatrical partnerships with Ralph Fiennes, Andrew Scott and Ramy Malek and whether as a woman she’s ever felt a lack of space onstage or in the rehearsal room. They discuss not playing the title role, learning to talk to the audience from Judi Dench, the thrill of playing non traditional spaces, her very particular butterfly effect, what she absolutely doesn’t need from a director, why she’d make a good acting teacher but a bad director, working with Harold Pinter, the great advice he gave her and the unstinting honesty he showed her in his famous shed. At the end of this gloriously comprehensive chat the discuss leaving a show before its even started, ticket prices, people of colour at the Oliviers and auteur directors. CONTAINS VERY STRONG LANGUAGE! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode Jonny shares grapes, birdsong and theatrical butterflies in the garden of “Britain’s best reviewed” theatre actor (J Cake)- Olivier award-winning star of Game of Thrones, Indira Varma. Indira talks about her calmness under pressure, what she thinks rehearsal should be, what daring to fail actually means, seminal experiences working with Katie Mitchell, the Maly theatre and Martin Crimp. How children teach us to be and not to perform, her desire to an actor of the body and not just the head, trying and failing to please her dad, embarking on Tim Crouch’s experiment in radical storytelling and the challenges of Jamie Lloyd’s production of The Seagull. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Act 2 of their chat, J Smith Cameron talks Jonny through the rich stew of differing ideas that went into making the West End Juno and the Paycock and the difficulty of reconciling different opinions in the rehearsal room, especially when war is waging in the world outside. J ruminates on whether it’s harder for an artist to be soulful when they get successful. She talks about the part that made her feel like a race car driver, acting through grief and the parts that she and Jonny felt like they shouldn’t have attempted after the death of a parent; the weird assimilation that sometimes happens between actors and their characters, how female actors don’t get to take up the space of their male counterparts and Kenneth Lonergan’s genius advice for writers and actors- including how her husband helped her to play the scene in Succession where Roman wants Jerry to be mean to him so he can attain orgasm. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.