Opening Night

Title

First
Broadcast

Comments

20170902

Geeta Pendse reports from the city of Joe Orton, Sue Townsend, Richard III ...and of course the Foxes football team... to discover what's new in theatre there. And what the richly multicultural city is doing to reflect its diversity on stage.

Geeta sneaks a peek at rehearsals for the new spectacular production by Leicester Curve theatre of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's hit musical, Sunset Boulevard, starring Ria Jones as Norma Desmond - before it takes off for a national tour.

Also, from the city's Attenborough Arts Centre, newly endowed with a huge grant from the Arts Council for performing arts, Director Michaela Butter talks about the joys (and challenges) of creating new work and breaking fresh ground -while putting the essential 'bums on seats'.

New playwright Hannah Torrance is on hand too, as is Asian theatre powerhouse Samir Bhamra from Phizzical Productions, and Suba Das, from Curve.

Producer: Simon Elmes.

Geeta Pendse reports from Leicester on what's hot on the city's drama scene.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

20171007

As the Belfast International Arts Festival kicks off, Marie-Louise Muir takes us behind the scenes of Northern Ireland's only full-time producing theatre, The Lyric, to get a taste of acclaimed local playwright Owen McCafferty's new production, Fire Below (A War of Worlds). Exploring contemporary life in a post-conflict society, Marie-Louise meets McCafferty and Director Jimmy Fay as they work with their cast in rehearsal.

From there, Marie-Louise takes us off the beaten track to discover the Belfast theatre groups working outside the mainstream and taking on stereotypes through radical new work. Writer and director Martin Lynch tells us about the new project which finds him working with members of the LGBTQ community, refugees, and those involved in women's rights.

And, in the company of critic Alan Meban, writer and producer Conor Mitchell, and Niamh Flanagan of Theatre NI, Marie-Louise considers whether it's possible for a smaller city outside of London to establish a good working relationship between critics and practitioners.

Producer: Steven Rainey.

Marie-Louise Muir takes the temperature of Northern Ireland theatre, now and next.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

20171104

Manchester is culturally more confident than it's ever been and theatre has always been one of its great strengths. But is regional theatre bound by its geographical limits, or is its success crucially linked to a sense of local identity?

Poet and dramatist, Michael Symmons Roberts, takes us behind the scenes at Manchester's £25 million arts centre, HOME, and its latest production Uncle Vanya to ask what is theatre for? Michael meets Walter Meierjohann as he works with the cast in rehearsal, to examine what a 100 year old classic play can say to a modern audience. From there Michael goes to Hope Mill Theatre, an independent venue producing critically acclaimed musicals. He also talks to Richard Gregory one of the creative minds behind Quarantine Theatre company, and he's joined by the playwright Simon Stephens, actor Julie Hesmondhalgh and Kevin Bourke, a theatre critic and chair of the Manchester Theatre Awards, to discuss the notion of 'regional' to distinguish between theatres in London, and playhouses outside it.

Producer: Cecile Wright.

Poet and dramatist Michael Symmons Roberts asks who and what theatre is for.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

20180106

Janice Forsyth looks at Glasgow's vibrant theatre scene, with new work on show across the city. She talks to the artistic director of the Citizens Theatre about the forthcoming production of 'Bold Girls' by Rona Munro, and about their plans for a major refurbishment of the building.

Glasgow is also home to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, offering a course on Contemporary Performance Practice. Janice joins students as they prepare for a show in The Pearce Institute, Govan. 'Into the New' promises to be thought-provoking and dynamic, but will it appeal to the local audience?

Theatre in Glasgow aims to be all inclusive, and Janice asks whether this is really being achieved in a city which is now home to many different communities and cultures.

Producer Mark Rickards.

Janice Forsyth looks at Glasgow's vibrant theatre scene.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

20180602

In this edition of Opening Night Lindsey Chapman goes to Leeds to explore the role of women, both on and off stage. She takes us behind the scenes of the West Yorkshire Playhouse's world premiere adaptation of the bestselling novel The Girl on the Train, meets a team of young women theatre makers who're putting unsung women front and centre stage, and examines how feminist politics is being played out in conventional and unconventional theatrical spaces.

Producer: Cecile Wright.

Lindsay Chapman goes to Leeds to explores the role of women, both on and off stage.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

Aberdeen

20180505

Janice Forsyth presents Opening Night in Aberdeen and finds new theatre making a mark.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

Cardiff

20180203

~Opening Night is in Cardiff where Theatr Pena are mounting a new production of a work by the controversial writer and campaigner Saunders Lewis. Women of Flowers is a story from the ancient books of the Mabinogion which was dramatised by Lewis in the 1920s. This new version has been written by award-winning writer Sion Eirian after the original, and is the latest outing for a company which focusses not only on literary theatre in Wales but also on providing opportunities in theatre for Women.

The programme also looks at a theatre spaces working outside the mainstream and a Welsh premiere at Cardiff's The Other Room of Caryl Churchill's exploration of science and family, A Number.

~Opening Night is in Wales where two new productions focus on women in theatre.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

Edinburgh

20170805

Janice Forsyth lifts the curtain on Radio 4's new theatre series at the Edinburgh Festival.

~Opening Night gives listeners a backstage pass to some of the most innovative, challenging and provocative productions around. The series will broadcast from a new town or city each month, looking at the best in theatre, play-writing and live performance talent and will ask how the theatre is helping to capture and curate modern Britain.

Janice Forsyth launches the new series in the heart of the biggest arts festival in the world - Edinburgh. We'll be plunged into the most exciting offerings from both the International Festival and the Fringe, with highlights including behind-the-scenes recordings of 'Meet Me at Dawn' the visceral new work from Zinnie Harris and 'Adam' from director Cora Bissett, about a young trans man who ventures from Egypt to Scotland in search of acceptance and happiness.

We'll also be hearing from International Festival director Fergus Linehan and Jackie Wylie; the artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland, as well capturing some of the more surprising new voices at the Fringe.

Producer: Victoria McArthur.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

Hull

20171202

Lindsey Chapman explores the impact on theatre after Hull's year as UK City of Culture#.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

Liverpool

20180407

Lindsey Chapman presents another edition of the series that looks at the range and diversity of theatre around Britain. This week we are in Liverpool hearing how theatre in the city is dealing with contemporary issues around race and gender identity. We are alongside the cast of the Everyman Theatre's latest production of Othello, in which the lead character is played as a woman, we hear from the founder of BAME theatre group Boisterous and from the city's longest running grass roots, queer theatre company, Grin.

Lindsey finds out how a theatre in Liverpool is addressing race and gender identity.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

Newcastle

20180303

~Opening Night visits Newcastle, where presenter Sharuna Sagar finds out how local voices are being represented in theatre... She drops in on rehearsals for 'The Last Ship', ahead of it's UK premiere this March. Written by Sting, the premiere will be a daunting step because it'll be a first look for audiences in the North East of a play about the shipbuilding industry in Sting's native Wallsend. Will the voices ring true?

Elsewhere, Unfolding Theatre is creating new ways of communicating in theatre. They're holding a 'thinking day', where they've invited inspirational members of the community to help develop their work.

Lastly, Sharuna will hear from Max Roberts of Live Theatre, poet Rowan McCabe and Curious Monkey's Amy Golding talk about what representing unheard voices means to them.

~Opening Night visits Newcastle and discovers how local voices are being represented.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

The Highlands

20180707

Janice Forsyth is going to Pitlochry Festival Theatre, which this Summer, is once again producing and performing 6 shows in daily rotation, which means you can see a different show every day, two on Wednesdays and Saturday. Its achieved by returning to the traditional repertory style of theatre with a cast of up to seventeen performers. The theatre has announced a new Artistic Director, Elizabeth Newman and Janice hears about the strong central women at the heart of the plays being staged including Rona Munro's The Last Witch, and behind the scenes, as she meet's the company's Associate Director Gemma Fairlie.

Janice Forsyth visits Pitlochry Festival Theatre in the Perthshire highlands.

Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Comments
	20170902	Geeta Pendse reports from the city of Joe Orton, Sue Townsend, Richard III ...and of course the Foxes football team... to discover what's new in theatre there. And what the richly multicultural city is doing to reflect its diversity on stage. Geeta sneaks a peek at rehearsals for the new spectacular production by Leicester Curve theatre of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's hit musical, Sunset Boulevard, starring Ria Jones as Norma Desmond - before it takes off for a national tour. Also, from the city's Attenborough Arts Centre, newly endowed with a huge grant from the Arts Council for performing arts, Director Michaela Butter talks about the joys (and challenges) of creating new work and breaking fresh ground -while putting the essential 'bums on seats'. New playwright Hannah Torrance is on hand too, as is Asian theatre powerhouse Samir Bhamra from Phizzical Productions, and Suba Das, from Curve. Producer: Simon Elmes. Geeta Pendse reports from Leicester on what's hot on the city's drama scene. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
	20171007	As the Belfast International Arts Festival kicks off, Marie-Louise Muir takes us behind the scenes of Northern Ireland's only full-time producing theatre, The Lyric, to get a taste of acclaimed local playwright Owen McCafferty's new production, Fire Below (A War of Worlds). Exploring contemporary life in a post-conflict society, Marie-Louise meets McCafferty and Director Jimmy Fay as they work with their cast in rehearsal. From there, Marie-Louise takes us off the beaten track to discover the Belfast theatre groups working outside the mainstream and taking on stereotypes through radical new work. Writer and director Martin Lynch tells us about the new project which finds him working with members of the LGBTQ community, refugees, and those involved in women's rights. And, in the company of critic Alan Meban, writer and producer Conor Mitchell, and Niamh Flanagan of Theatre NI, Marie-Louise considers whether it's possible for a smaller city outside of London to establish a good working relationship between critics and practitioners. Producer: Steven Rainey. Marie-Louise Muir takes the temperature of Northern Ireland theatre, now and next. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
	20171104	Manchester is culturally more confident than it's ever been and theatre has always been one of its great strengths. But is regional theatre bound by its geographical limits, or is its success crucially linked to a sense of local identity? Poet and dramatist, Michael Symmons Roberts, takes us behind the scenes at Manchester's £25 million arts centre, HOME, and its latest production Uncle Vanya to ask what is theatre for? Michael meets Walter Meierjohann as he works with the cast in rehearsal, to examine what a 100 year old classic play can say to a modern audience. From there Michael goes to Hope Mill Theatre, an independent venue producing critically acclaimed musicals. He also talks to Richard Gregory one of the creative minds behind Quarantine Theatre company, and he's joined by the playwright Simon Stephens, actor Julie Hesmondhalgh and Kevin Bourke, a theatre critic and chair of the Manchester Theatre Awards, to discuss the notion of 'regional' to distinguish between theatres in London, and playhouses outside it. Producer: Cecile Wright. Poet and dramatist Michael Symmons Roberts asks who and what theatre is for. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
	20180106	Janice Forsyth looks at Glasgow's vibrant theatre scene, with new work on show across the city. She talks to the artistic director of the Citizens Theatre about the forthcoming production of 'Bold Girls' by Rona Munro, and about their plans for a major refurbishment of the building. Glasgow is also home to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, offering a course on Contemporary Performance Practice. Janice joins students as they prepare for a show in The Pearce Institute, Govan. 'Into the New' promises to be thought-provoking and dynamic, but will it appeal to the local audience? Theatre in Glasgow aims to be all inclusive, and Janice asks whether this is really being achieved in a city which is now home to many different communities and cultures. Producer Mark Rickards. Janice Forsyth looks at Glasgow's vibrant theatre scene. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
	20180602	In this edition of Opening Night Lindsey Chapman goes to Leeds to explore the role of women, both on and off stage. She takes us behind the scenes of the West Yorkshire Playhouse's world premiere adaptation of the bestselling novel The Girl on the Train, meets a team of young women theatre makers who're putting unsung women front and centre stage, and examines how feminist politics is being played out in conventional and unconventional theatrical spaces. Producer: Cecile Wright. Lindsay Chapman goes to Leeds to explores the role of women, both on and off stage. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
Aberdeen	20180505	Janice Forsyth presents Opening Night in Aberdeen and finds new theatre making a mark. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
Cardiff	20180203	~Opening Night is in Cardiff where Theatr Pena are mounting a new production of a work by the controversial writer and campaigner Saunders Lewis. Women of Flowers is a story from the ancient books of the Mabinogion which was dramatised by Lewis in the 1920s. This new version has been written by award-winning writer Sion Eirian after the original, and is the latest outing for a company which focusses not only on literary theatre in Wales but also on providing opportunities in theatre for Women. The programme also looks at a theatre spaces working outside the mainstream and a Welsh premiere at Cardiff's The Other Room of Caryl Churchill's exploration of science and family, A Number. ~Opening Night is in Wales where two new productions focus on women in theatre. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
Edinburgh	20170805	Janice Forsyth lifts the curtain on Radio 4's new theatre series at the Edinburgh Festival. ~Opening Night gives listeners a backstage pass to some of the most innovative, challenging and provocative productions around. The series will broadcast from a new town or city each month, looking at the best in theatre, play-writing and live performance talent and will ask how the theatre is helping to capture and curate modern Britain. Janice Forsyth launches the new series in the heart of the biggest arts festival in the world - Edinburgh. We'll be plunged into the most exciting offerings from both the International Festival and the Fringe, with highlights including behind-the-scenes recordings of 'Meet Me at Dawn' the visceral new work from Zinnie Harris and 'Adam' from director Cora Bissett, about a young trans man who ventures from Egypt to Scotland in search of acceptance and happiness. We'll also be hearing from International Festival director Fergus Linehan and Jackie Wylie; the artistic director of the National Theatre of Scotland, as well capturing some of the more surprising new voices at the Fringe. Producer: Victoria McArthur. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
Hull	20171202	Lindsey Chapman explores the impact on theatre after Hull's year as UK City of Culture#. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
Liverpool	20180407	Lindsey Chapman presents another edition of the series that looks at the range and diversity of theatre around Britain. This week we are in Liverpool hearing how theatre in the city is dealing with contemporary issues around race and gender identity. We are alongside the cast of the Everyman Theatre's latest production of Othello, in which the lead character is played as a woman, we hear from the founder of BAME theatre group Boisterous and from the city's longest running grass roots, queer theatre company, Grin. Lindsey finds out how a theatre in Liverpool is addressing race and gender identity. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
Newcastle	20180303	~Opening Night visits Newcastle, where presenter Sharuna Sagar finds out how local voices are being represented in theatre... She drops in on rehearsals for 'The Last Ship', ahead of it's UK premiere this March. Written by Sting, the premiere will be a daunting step because it'll be a first look for audiences in the North East of a play about the shipbuilding industry in Sting's native Wallsend. Will the voices ring true? Elsewhere, Unfolding Theatre is creating new ways of communicating in theatre. They're holding a 'thinking day', where they've invited inspirational members of the community to help develop their work. Lastly, Sharuna will hear from Max Roberts of Live Theatre, poet Rowan McCabe and Curious Monkey's Amy Golding talk about what representing unheard voices means to them. ~Opening Night visits Newcastle and discovers how local voices are being represented. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.
The Highlands	20180707	Janice Forsyth is going to Pitlochry Festival Theatre, which this Summer, is once again producing and performing 6 shows in daily rotation, which means you can see a different show every day, two on Wednesdays and Saturday. Its achieved by returning to the traditional repertory style of theatre with a cast of up to seventeen performers. The theatre has announced a new Artistic Director, Elizabeth Newman and Janice hears about the strong central women at the heart of the plays being staged including Rona Munro's The Last Witch, and behind the scenes, as she meet's the company's Associate Director Gemma Fairlie. Janice Forsyth visits Pitlochry Festival Theatre in the Perthshire highlands. Series looking at the best in theatre, playwriting and live performance across the UK.