The Stage Podcast: Seven Stages – Détails, épisodes et analyse

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible. Our eight episode features designer Es Devlin and was released on Friday, July 10, 2020.

From fringe theatres to worldwide stadium tours for the likes of Beyoncé and Adele, there are few worlds and scales untouched by designer Es Devlin. Starting as a designer for theatres like the Bush in west London, she quickly became a renowned stage designer, winning three Olivier Awards along the way. Recent stage work includes Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch, The Lehman Trilogy, Chimerica and The Nether.

But in parallel to her stage career, she has become the go-to designer for the world's biggest musicians. Kanye West and U2, Lady Gaga and Take That, The Weeknd and Dua Lipa have all called on Devlin to conjure the engrossing, kinetic designs - mixtures of sculpture, language and light - that are her signature.

Here she talks about early inspirations from her childhood on the south coast, through to all-night listening sessions with Kanye West. 

Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. The Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below.

Devlin’s interview is available to listen to now and follows episodes with actor Paul Chahidi, playwright Alan Ayckbourn, actor Noma Dumezweni, choreographer Arlene Phillips, former Young Vic artistic director David Lan, Olivier award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable and Ian McKellen.

What was the first show you ever saw? Your biggest theatre regret? And which production would you choose to watch on a loop for eternity? These questions and more make up Seven Stages, the new podcast from The Stage, sponsored by Audible. Our seventh episode features actor Paul Chahidi and was released Friday, June 26, 2020.

Actor Paul Chahidi has had an extensive career on stage, highly regarded for his Shakespearean performances at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe. In 2002, he played Maria in an all-male production of Twelfth Night alongside Mark Rylance, to commemorate the play’s 400th anniversary. That production subsequently went to the West End and then to Broadway, and brought Chahidi an Olivier and a Tony nomination.

But more recently, Chahidi has become a familiar face on TV and film, particularly for his role as the kind and patient Reverend Francis Seaton in the phenomenally successful BBC Three mockumentary This Country.

In this episode of Seven Stages, Chahidi talks about his early life from his birth in Tehran, to the difficult moment his father was caught up in the Iranian Revolution. He tells stories of getting his chest waxed with Eddie Redmayne and his abiding passion for a certain Andrew Lloyd Webber musical… Every fortnight, you can join Tim Bano for illuminating, intimate conversations with influential performers and creatives who have lived their lives in theatre. The Seven Stages podcast, sponsored by Audible, is available anywhere you find your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the link below.

Chahidi’s interview is available to listen to now and follows episodes with playwright Alan Ayckbourn, actor Noma Dumezweni, choreographer Arlene Phillips, former Young Vic artistic director David Lan, Olivier award-winning lighting designer Paule Constable and legendary actor Ian McKellen.

In our January episode, critics Tim Bano and Lyn Gardner reveal their top picks of of 2019 ranging from major West End musicals to emerging fringe shows and with shows across the UK.

We interview Vault Festival's head of theatre and performance Gillian Greer about this year's programme and the London fringe festival's huge growth in recent years.

Meanwhile, after previous disappointing attempts to learn an American accent and become an acrobat, reporter Fergus Morgan reveals a surprising aptitude for improvisation when he has a masterclass with The Showstoppers and learns how to create a West End musical on the fly.

The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

In our sparkly pantomime special, Doctor Who star Sharon D Clarke and her wife, panto expert Susie McKenna, discuss their enduring love for the art form and recall how they first met on a show at the Hackney Empire 20 years ago.

Lyn Gardner and Tim Bano try to convince Christmas grinch Rosemary Waugh to embrace her inner Buttons. 

Plus, after a failed bid to run off and join the circus, Fergus Morgan tries his hand at becoming a pantomime dame, with some (very patient) help from the Lyric Hammersmith's Carl Mullaney. 

The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue

https://www.charcoalblue.com

In our October episode, critics Tim Bano and Lyn Gardner discuss Marianne Elliott's new gender-swapped production of Company by Stephen Sondheim with comedian Tom Allen.

Plus, we go backstage to talk to Steph Parry, the 42nd Street understudy who made headlines when she stepped in to save Mamma Mia! in the West End.

Meanwhile, after last month's failed attempt to learn an American accent, reporter Fergus Morgan runs off to join the circus, with some help from circus company Mimbre.

The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

The Stage critic Tim Bano and associate editor Lyn Gardner discuss the National Theatre's latest major opening – Antony and Cleopatra starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo – with Time Out theatre editor Andrzej Lukowski. What was the highlight: Fiennes, Okonedo, the live snake?

We recap on The Stage Debut Awards and hear from some of the great emerging and established talent who joined us on the night. 

In the first of a new series, The Stage critic Fergus Morgan visits the Royal Shakespeare Company's head of voice Kate Godfrey, who tries to teach him how to enunciate. And speak in an American accent. 

The Stage Podcast, hosted by Tim Bano, is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

In the third and final of our weekly podcasts from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018, The Stage critic Tim Bano and associate editor Lyn Gardner discuss all the big shows and key issues of the festival.

In episode 3, they are joined by cabaret star Le Gateau Chocolat, The Stage reviews editor Natasha Tripney and critic and theatremaker Ben Kulvichit.

Our critics discuss some of the best shows from emerging theatre companies at this year's festival, Lyn Gardner reveals what she thinks makes a good Edinburgh Fringe PR, and Le Gateau Chocolat tells us what he gets up to in the shower.

The Stage Podcast is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

In the second of our weekly podcasts from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018, The Stage critic Tim Bano and associate editor Lyn Gardner discuss all the big shows and key issues of the festival.

In episode 2, they are joined by actor Julie Hesmondhalgh and reviewer Fergus Morgan, plus Helen Monks, who shares some stories of Edinburgh Fringe disasters that she has collected for her show You’ve Been Fringed.

Find out what the critics thought of four Edinburgh plays focussing on the NHS, why Hesmondhalgh left Coronation Street to return to theatre, plus lots of horror stories from the festival - most involving bodily fluids.

The Stage Podcast is presented in association with Charcoalblue https://www.charcoalblue.com

In the first of our weekly podcasts from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018, The Stage critic Tim Bano and associate editor Lyn Gardner discuss all the big shows and key issues of the festival.

In episode 1, they are joined by theatremakers Chris Thorpe and Rachel Chavkin, actor and playwright Yolanda Mercy and The Guardian reviewer Kate Wyver.

Find out what the critics thought of controversial play Ulster American, whether Thorpe and Chavkin manage to walk Edinburgh's Royal Mile and be interviewed at the same time and what Lyn Gardner's favourite fringe foodstuff is.

The Stage Podcast is presented in association with Charcoalblue

https://www.charcoalblue.com

As he collects The Stage Special Award, part of The Stage Edinburgh Awards 2016, Mark Thomas talks to Thom Dibdin about discovering Brecht, the difference between comedy and theatre, how he deals with phones in the auditorium and his show at the Traverse Theatre, The Red Shed.