Explore every episode of the podcast Hinterviews

In this final Hinterview of the series, we look back at some of the highlights featuring guests like Don McKellar, Robert Lepage, Paul Gross, Margaret Atwood, and Graham Greene.

The tables are turned for the King Lear Hinterview, Suzanne Keeptwo, aboriginal advisor and community liaison, interviews Peter Hinton, director of King Lear. Suzanne and Peter discuss this new take on King Lear, the significance of an aboriginal cast and setting, and the history of making August Schellenberg's dream come true.

Special Guest Suzanne Keeptwo speaks with Ed Roy, director and dramaturg of Agokwe, about the creation of the production, the importance of the message and how he worked with Waawaate Fobister on bringing the play from a monologue to an award-winning one-man show.

On Saturday, January 22, a Special Hinterview took place for NAC English Theatre subscribers and Friends of English Theatre, as Artistic Director Peter Hinton and Dramaturg and Artistic Associate Paula Danckert, sat down with the members of the NAC English Theatre Company for an informal meet and greet.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton speaks with Michael Shamata, director of The Year of Magical Thinking and Artistic Director of the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, about directing a book adapted for the stage and working alongside Seana McKenna.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton speaks with nativity playwright Peter Anderson about the inspiration of the play, the process of the creation and how his career in theatre began.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats Vimy playwright Vern Thiessen, about the life of a playwright and how the play Vimy came to be. This powerful co-production with the Great Canadian Theatre Company played at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre from November 9 – December 11

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with Sherry Bie, Artistic Director of the English Section of the National Theatre School of Canada, about the history of the school and the celebration behind its 50th Anniversary, which included a partnership with the NAC English Theatre on William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, which ran in the NAC Theatre October 19 – November 6.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with Roy Surette, Artistic and Executive Director of the Centaur Theatre in Montreal, about the differences of theatres in different cities and co-producing productions with other theatre companies as the NAC/Centaur co-production of The Comedy of Errors.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with Where the Blood Mixes playwright Kevin Loring about the play, his winning the Governor General's Award and being an NAC Playwright in Residence.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with playwright Joanna McClelland Glass and director Marti Maraden about the creation of this new production and their working history.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with English Theatre Company member and Mother Courage and Her Children Assistant Director Stephen Ouimette about his life in theatre, being part of the English Theatre Company and working on both A Christmas Carol and Mother Courage and Her Children.

It all starts when God sets the universe in motion. Then comes the story of Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah, and Moses as the Old Testament comes alive through the madcap imagination of Peter Anderson – and the magic of last season’s nativity is brought to life once again. Songs by Allen Cole contribute the musical complement to the serpent’s temptation, the menagerie of animals boarding the Ark, and all the episodes of this modern “mystery play.” Not quite the King James Bible, but definitely entertaining.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with Night Writer and Director Christopher Morris about the history and creation of the play and how his travels influenced the production.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with NAC English Theatre Company Historian David Dean about the life of Charles Dickens and England at the time he wrote A Christmas Carol.

English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with Elephant Wake Director and Designer Bretta Gerecke about the production and designing theatre in different stages in Canada.

Peter Hinton chats with The Drowsy Chaperone Director Max Reimer and Choreographer/Assistant Director Dayna Tekatch, about the production, its history and some background on musicals in Canada.

A Special Celebrity Hinterview, a tradition and an audience favourite, where Peter Hinton, Artistic Director chats with a guest artist involved with a production at the NAC. As a special treat for the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, Peter Hinton will interview Don McKellar and Greg Morrison, two of the minds behind the recent Broadway hit, The Drowsy Chaperone. On Saturday, June 5, patrons of the Festival can become one of the artists as well. Musical Director Greg Morrison and Writer Don McKellar will have an afternoon Choir Practice. Festival patrons can learn and sing along to the songs from The Drowsy Chaperone.

NAC English Theatre Artist Director Peter Hinton is interviewed by the NAC's Sean Fitzpatrick on the upcoming 2009-2010 season.

Robert Lepage, multiple award winner and internationally acclaimed director, scenic artist, playwright, actor and film director talks with Laurie Brown.

Peter chats with Menno Plukker, Associate Producer for The Blue Dragon by Marie Michaud and Robert Lepage, about the process of the production, the history behind touring, and how Canadian work is viewed in other countries.

Sean Fitzpatrick chats with Maurice Podbrey, Producer for Lara Foot-Newton's Tshepang, about the history of the production, how the production has been viewed throughout the countries it has played and what is happening in theatre in South Africa.

Graham Greene, Academy Award-nominated actor (Dances with Wolves,) joins Laurie Brown to talk about his prestigious stage and film career.

Dreaming dreams, hoping for success, facing reality. That’s the funny and touching story of Ted and Richard—whiz kids who want to become superstar pianists—and how they survive piano teachers, pushy parents, hours of practice, stage fright, and nerve-wracking competitions. Will they gain fame and fortune? Come find out as we mark the 15th anniversary of this wildly popular show, with more than two million delighted fans in 150 cities worldwide.

Peter chats with Patricia Hamilton, famous for her stage work at the Shaw Festival and TV productions such as Road to Avonlea, for a discussion on her career as an actress, teacher and cast member who appeared in the original production of Belle Moral: A Natural History, then titled The Arab's Mouth.

Jackie Maxwell, director, dramaturg and Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival speaks with Laurie Brown in the second National Arts Centre English Theatre 2008-09 Celebrity Speakers Series about her career, including her beginning in Canada at the NAC.

Peter chats with Buried Child Set and Costume Designer Eo Sharp, Lighting Designer Robert Thomson and Sound Designer Troy Slocum for a discussion on the working progress on their design, how they came to their respective fields and how they worked together with Peter to bring Buried Child to the NAC stage.

Peter speaks with Iris Turcott, Dramturg for BILLY TWINKLE, Requiem for a Golden Boy and for Ronnie Burkett's internationally acclaimed Theatre of Marionettes.. Iris has been the company dramaturge at the Canadian Stage Company, and she has been a freelance dramaturge, director and actor, working with playwrights from coast to coast including Adam Pettle, Joan MacLeod, Michel Marc Bouchard, Brad Fraser, Judith Thompson, Sunil Kuruvilla and Tomson Highway. She has been involved in a number of international co-commissions including the Royal Exchange in Manchester, the Melbourne Festival and the Abbey Theatre.

Featuring a spectacular multicultural Indian cast of 23 dancers, musicians, actors and performers, this passionate, energetic, thrilling and beautiful re-interpretation of the play casts aside familiar traditions of performing Shakespeare and replaces them with an epic, visceral and emotional power that has amazed audiences and critics in every city in which it has played.

Peter Hinton, Artistic Director of the NAC English Theatre, chats with Laurie Brown about the 2008-09 season, and about his career as a director and playwright.

Peter speaks with Leah Cherniak, the Co-Artistic Director (with Martha Ross) of Theatre Columbus in Toronto. The company has created over 30 new plays and also has an excellent reputation for innovative productions of classics. Leah studied theatre at École Jacques Lecoq in Paris, and currently teaches an intensive clown course for the Ryerson Theatre Program. She also teaches at George Brown College, York University and the National Theatre School in Montreal.

Happy Days, written in 1961, is Beckett's last full-length drama and follows in the tradition of earlier work casting a crystal clear and almost affectionate gaze upon man’s (in this case Woman’s) determined optimism in the face of a universe without meaning.

Laura Denker interviews Alison Lawrence on the subject of her play "And All for Love". Set in 1660, following the restoration of the monarchy, And All for Love is a new play that explores the friendship between the celebrated actress Elizabeth Barry and the not-so-celebrated actress Winifred Gosnell (also housemaid to the diarist Samuel Pepys.) Between them stands Edward Kynaston, the great actor once famous for his portrayals of women. A romantic comedy that celebrates what two women did for the love of the theatre, and for the love of their lives.

Dickens’ timeless classic comes to life as you follow the tale of the orphan Oliver, the Artful Dodger, Fagin, Nancy, and all the down-and-out denizens of London. Broadway legend Lionel Bart’s memorable songs — “Food, Glorious Food,” “Where is Love?” and “As Long as He Needs Me” — capture the flavour of Victorian England in the Tony Award-winning musical Oliver!. Stirring, powerful, and uplifting.

Martha Henry, actor, director and long-time member of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival company speaks with Laurie Brown in the final National Arts Centre English Theatre 2007-08 Celebrity Speakers Series.

The tables are turned this month as dramaturge Paula Dankert interviews Peter Hinton on his NAC production of Macbeth. Director, playwright and dramaturge Peter Hinton has been an integral part of the Canadian theatre landscape for over twenty years. In November 2005, he took the helm as Artistic Director of Canada’s National Arts Centre in Ottawa, where he recently announced his second season. During his tenure as Associate Artist of the Stratford Festival of Canada, his trilogy of three full length plays entitled The Swanne premiered to great critical and audience acclaim. Mr. Hinton has written the librettos to two operas with composer Peter Hannan, and has a number of published critical essays to his credit. He is also a respected teacher.

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with special guest John van Burek, Artistic Director of the Pleiades Theatre, and co-translator of Dying to be Sick.

Peter Hinton chats with John Wood, noted Canadian theatre director and former artistic director of NAC English Theatre on the subject of his new work, Falstaff, based on the novel by Robert Nye.

Laurie Brown interviews Margaret Atwood on the occasion of the world premiere of The Penelopiad at the National Arts Centre. Margaret Atwood is an international literary star. In her thematically diverse and best-selling novels, she has anticipated, explored—and even changed—the popular preoccupations of our time. Writing about issues on both a personal and worldly scale with a knife-edge precision, Atwood has been called, by The Sunday Times, "one of the most inventive, enthralling and accomplished authors writing in English."

NAC English Theatre Artistic Director Peter Hinton chats with special guest Deborah Shaw, Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, about the world premiere of Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad.

Marie Clements is an award-winning Métis performer, playwright, screenwriter, director, producer and founding Artistic Director of urban ink Productions. Her ten plays including Burning Vision, The Unnatural and Accidental Women, and Urban Tattoo have been presented on some of the most prestigious stages for Canadian and international work including the Festival de Theatre des Ameriques (Urban Tattoo 2001, Burning Vision 2003) in Montreal, and The Magnetic North Festival (Burning Vision 2003) in Ottawa, and have garnered awards including 2004 Canada-Japan Award, short listed for the 2004 Governor General's Literary Award, Jessie Richardson Awards and a Jack Webster Journalism nomination. As a writer Marie has worked in a variety of mediums including theatre, performance, film, multi-media, radio, and television. Her latest writing projects include her film Unnatural and Accidental invited to premiere at over fifteen film festivals including The MoMa Festival in New York, Toronto Film Festival, The Vancouver Film Festival and The American Indian Film Festival 2006. Currently Unnatural and Accidental has received ten nominations for the prestigious Leo Awards including Best Screenplay. As a producer and director Marie has been involved in the development of over seventy productions of new work across forms and disciplines. Copper Thunderbird will be published by Talon Books Fall 2007. She is currently Playwright in Residence at the National Arts Centre.

Laurie Brown interviews Michael Ondaatje. Although he is best known as a novelist for his extraordinary, multiple award-winning The English Patient and its quasi-prequel In the Skin of a Lion, to name only two, Michael Ondaatje's prolific work also encompasses memoir, poetry, and film. He won the Governor General's Award for two books of poetry: The Collected Works of Billy the Kid and There's a Trick with a Knife I'm Learning To Do: Poems 1973Ð1978, and his three films include a documentary on fellow poet bp nichol, entitled The Sons of Captain Poetry. Michael Ondaatje has been the recipient of the Booker Prize, the Canada Australia Prize, four Governor General's Awards, the Giller Prize and the Prix Médicis. In 1988 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He is considered by many to be something of a national treasure, and we're delighted that he'll be sharing his thoughtful, often provocative and always fascinating insights with us as part of this series.

NAC English Theatre Communications Officer Laura Denker interviews Nadia Ross, artistic director of STO Union Theatre Company and George Acheson, her collaborator and the subject of the production 7 Important Things. Nadia and George discuss their backgrounds, theatrical and otherwise, as well as their creative process with this play and in general. 7 Important Things closes out the NAC English Theatre Studio4 series with a run in the Studio May 10 to 19 with a Pay What You Can performance on May 7 and two previews, May 8 and 9.

Imagine: you are Mr. Mann, and you’ve just won two tickets to Chekhov’s comedy, The Three Sisters. You’ve barely heard of Chekhov, but you go anyway (alone, because no one else in the family is interested). Unexpectedly the experience begins to alter your life, and slowly beauty … Can beauty actually reveal a new way to see the world?

This play opens a window to the answer.

Martin Julien, actor and playwright, is Peter's special guest on this edition of the Hinterviews. Martin Julien is an actor and playwright who has appeared on stages across the country for the last thirty years. He will be remembered by Ottawa audiences for his superb portrayal of Cornell Tremble III in Allen Cole’s The Wrong Son which opened Peter Hinton’s inaugural English Theatre Season last September. Directing this world premiere production is Diana Leblanc, whose work audiences will remember from the NAC/Neptune Theatre coproduction of Copenhagen and, more recently, the NAC/Soulpepper production of The Real Thing.

NAC English Theatre publicist Laura Denker leads you through an in-depth look at Martin Julien's The Unanswered Question, the next play in the Studio4 Series. Laura interviews playwright Martin Julien, director Diana Leblanc and actors Tom McCamus, Chick Reid and Graeme Somerville, giving you an insider's view of the process and practices of these extraordinary artists and their work on this world premiere performance. The Unanswered Question draws on Leonard Bernstein's celebrated Harvard Lectures of the same name to examine the complicated triangle of a famous American conductor/composer, his actress wife, and the younger man who comes between them. The play runs from March 8 to March 17 in the NAC Studio.

Ann-Marie MacDonald's first novel, Fall On Your Knees, became a Canadian and international publishing sensation with upwards of one million copies sold. Along with critical acclaim, the book won the prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book, became an Oprah Book Club selection, and has been sold in over 20 countries. Her second novel, The Way the Crow Flies, was another instant bestseller that has received international acclaim. Her works for the theatre include the play Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), which has enjoyed more than a hundred productions worldwide. Ann Marie has also acted extensively on stage and screen, where her work has garnered many awards, including the Gemini. Most recently, her play Belle Moral: A Natural History ran this past summer at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Never one to mince her words, Ann-Marie is sure to provide a provocative glimpse into the Artist in Society. We’re honoured that she will be joining us.

Peter interviews writer Gloria Montero, playwright of Frida K. which she wrote as a birthday present for her daughter Allegra Fulton over a decade ago and is being revived in an NAC English Theatre production as part of the 2006-07 season.