The WhatsOnStage Podcast

As Hamnet starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal opens in cinemas, Sarah and Alex consider the depictions of Shakespeare on screen from Shakespeare in Love to Upstart Crow and what they say about our attitudes to the Bard Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

She's an Olivier Award-nominated actress that has wowed in shows like Machinal, Romeo and Julie and King John. He's a BIFA-winning screen star known for appearances in I, Swear, The Rings of Power and Game of Thrones, now making his professional stage debut. Together, Rosie Sheehy and Robert Aramayo will play the central couple in Luke Norris' Guess How Much I Love You?, the brand new play kicking off the Royal Court's 70th anniversary season. Alex Wood chats to the pair about their work building that relationship, Port Talbot, and which Godfather film is the best. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the new year arrives, Alex and Sarah look forward to some of the exhilarating theatrical treats in store which range from Aidan Turner’s return to the stage opposite Lesley Manvill in Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the National Theatre to Mischief Theatre’s first musical Thespians and the Royal Court’s 70th anniversary season. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jack Holden had a runaway hit with Cruise back in 2021, one of the first new shows to rock the West End after the final lockdown. He's been pretty much non-stop since then – with new five-star show Kenrex opening to dazzling notices and audience acclaim in Sheffield. That show now begins a second London season, this time at The Other Palace in central London. It comes off the back of an assured stage version of The Line of Beauty, based on Alan Hollinghurst Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With 2026 fast approaching, Sarah and Alex thought they’d run through some of the names expected to make a splash over the coming 12 months – from directors, to writers, to stage stars – there are some very exciting people making very exciting theatre across the country. We touch on a trendy new production of a David Hare classic, the return of the fist-pumping musical Sylvia and the indomitable rise of playwright Ava Pickett. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.