Guest blogging on Jane Nightwork

I’ll be guest-blogging for the Jane Nightwork gang (www.janenightwork.com) for the foreseeable future. This opportunity has come about via my colleague, Robert Gillespie, who heads Jane Nightwork Productions. You can see various interviews I’ve conducted with Robert about his extraordinary career under the Entertainment Focus section.

My first blog piece is about The Stage’s Critic Search 2015. As a theatre critic myself, I’ve distilled my thoughts about the most egregious errors in criticism.

The golden rule is: keep your ego out of it….

 

My name in print for Oedipus Retold

OedipusTwo

I was, putting it mildly, thrilled to see my name connected in any way, shape or form with Oedipus Retold, a show that runs at the Tristan Bates Theatre until mid-February.

Written by Jeremy Kingston, directed by Robert Gillespie, and starring Jack Klaff, Clare Cameron and David Shaw-Parker amongst others, it’s a terrific production with considerable talent in every department.

My very small contribution was to interview actor Jack Klaff as well as director Robert Gillespie for Entertainment Focus.

At the show, press were given a copy of the play text, published by Playdead Press. Flicking through it the following morning as I started my review, I spotted this:

Robert Gillespie interviews

Oedipus RetoldHere are a few more links to my interviews with Robert Gillespie.

You can see the second part of my in-depth discussion with him about his career here, in which Robert talks about his life in situation comedy.

The third and final part is about his time with the RSC in the 1990s up to the founding of his company, Jane Nightwork Productions.

More recently I did a video interview with him about the play for one actor Portia he has written and directed, which starred Clare Cameron.

Robert Gillespie interview – Beginnings

It was a real privilege to be able to spend a few hours recently with actor/director Robert Gillespie and talk to him about his career.

His honesty and intelligence come through clearly, especially when he recalls his unhappy time at RADA and the problems he found with rep theatre.

I’ll be posting more soon about his The Consumer’s Guide To Religion sketch for That Was The Week That Was, his TV career, and his more recent stage work, including his two years with the RSC.

The first part of the interview can be seen here:

http://www.entertainment-focus.com/featured-slider/robert-gillespie-interview-beginnings/

My Interview With Jeremy Kingston

Well-known as a theatre critic for The Times, and formerly for Punch, Jeremy Kingston is also a playwright. His recent play Making Dickie Happy, about a fictitious weekend in which Dickie Mountbatten, Noel Coward and Agatha Christie stay at the same hotel, won rave reviews on its London debut.

There’s a revival of the show in March 2013, which will also be directed by Robert Gillespie.

I spoke to Jeremy about his career, focussing on Making Dickie Happy.

You can read my interview with him here.