Skip to content
Melo Podcasts Home
CategoriesLanguagesFollowing

Season 4, Episode 7 · Stage Door Jonny

Sir Christopher Hampton (Act I)

20 Nov 2024 · 43 min

Play episode WhatsApp Download

Episode notes

This week Jonny’s guest is on British theatre and film’s Mt Rushmore of writers. Two time Oscar winning screenwriter Sir Christopher Hampton is one of the finest playwrights of the 20 and 21st centuries and in Christopher’s office in Notting Hill that spawned so much of his work they discuss the conditions he needs to write, sometimes needing to go to a posh hotel to finish a script and writing his first west end play in the pub at 18. The crown prince of youthful prodigies tells Jonny about the lesson of terrible reviews, acting with Leonardo di Caprio, why a Christopher Hampton part…

Podcast

Stage Door Jonny

Jonathan Cake · Arts & Books · English

Hosted by actor Jonathan Cake, Stage Door Jonny is a podcast about theatre ... and life ... and life in the theatre. Jonathan has appeared in countless plays around the world - and made a fair few celebrated acquaintances along the way. So it is that he's assembled a formidable cast of actors, direc

More from Stage Door Jonny All episodes →

  1. S4 · E9 · 10 Dec 2024 · 32 min

    Daniel Aukin (Act II)

    In the second half of Jonny’s al fresco chat with Daniel Aukin, we hear about Sam Shepard and The Pocket, the ten year journey, the challenges and the “electrified horror” of making the triumphant, Tony record-breaking Stereophonic, David Byrne’s opinion of the band, the struggle to make a living wage in the theatre- and a plan to change that. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  2. 6 Dec 2024 · 39 min

    Daniel Aukin (Act I)

    Jonny’s guest this week is one of the most exciting directors in the English-speaking theatre, Daniel Aukin. Fresh from his Tony award for Broadway’s hit play of 2024, Stereophonic, Jonny and Daniel settle onto a grassy knoll on a beautiful Autumn day in Prospect Park, New York, and discuss celebrity lotus positions, the complications and benefits of the family business, acting epiphanies, the influence of Richard Foreman, what a director is actually for and Sam Shepard’s love of a tightrope. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  3. S4 · E8 · 28 Nov 2024 · 35 min

    Rhea Norwood (Act II)

    In the second half of his conversation with a hyper-talented young performer already making waves in the acting world, Jonny and Rhea discuss the differences between acting for tv and the theatre, never taking a phone to set, the beautiful words to “Maybe This Time” and not going under playing Sally Bowles. On struggling sometimes with contemporary writing, Rhea’s interest in female rage, why she’s drawn to Hedda Gabler, what pisses her off about the theatre- and plans for her “flip a coin” show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  4. S4 · E8 · 27 Nov 2024 · 34 min

    Rhea Norwood (Act I)

    Two weeks after she finished her West End run as Sally Bowles in Rebecca Frecknall’s triumphant staging of Cabaret, Jonny sat down with Heartstopper star, Rhea Norwood. They discussed her illustrious predecessors in Cabaret, Alan Cumming’s dressing room being sponsored by a booze company, her Sally Bowles feeling like a car crash (in a good way), wild wee-ing, coping with repetition and the sad story of Jonny being ordered to get stoned by a director. They share memories of the same drama school, being pigeon-holed and wanting her training to be more traumatic; the complications of going off…

  5. S4 · E7 · 21 Nov 2024 · 37 min

    Sir Christopher Hampton (Act II)

    In the second half of Jonny’s chat with the great Christopher Hampton, Sir Chris continues the story of the race to turn his play into the Oscar winning movie, Dangerous Liaisons- and get it out before Milos Foreman‘s rival film; doorstepping a startled John Malkovich; the Queen being sent to sleep by the inaugural play at the National Theatre; the difference between translation and adaptation; his relationship with Paul Scofield, seeing his Uncle Vanya 30 times, why he thinks Scofield was incomparable and the moment when an accident with a gun in Christopher’s play Savages prompted an…

  6. S4 · E6 · 15 Nov 2024 · 30 min

    Helena Wilson, Ophelia Lovibond, Leanne Best & Laura Donnelly: Ladies of The Hills Of California (Act II)

    In the second half of his chat with the Ladies of the Hills of California, Jonny hears about the differences between Broadway and the West End, the realities of being a woman in the acting industry, trigger warnings, whether or not they’ve all been ruined by Jez Butterworth, singing for Sam Mendes and the incredible joy of the shared endeavor they are all undertaking onstage. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  7. S4 · E6 · 14 Nov 2024 · 54 min

    Helena Wilson, Ophelia Lovibond, Leanne Best & Laura Donnelly: Ladies of The Hills Of California (Act I)

    This week, Jonny’s guests are four actresses: Helena Wilson, Ophelia Lovibond, Leanne Best and Laura Donnelly, who together embody the Webb Sisters in Jez Butterworth’s play, The Hills of California. Currently running on Broadway, Jonny and the ladies chat interesting name rebrands that would turn heads on a Broadway marquee, life-changing cookies, harrowing early stage experiences, holding a kind of theatrical fire in their hands onstage, what happens when Jez Butterworth radically rewrites the play you’ve done 150 times, moving like seaweed together, Jez’s addiction to emergency and what…

  8. S4 · E5 · 7 Nov 2024 · 38 min

    Bobby Cannavale (Act II)

    In the second part of Jonny’s conversation with Bobby Cannavale, Jonny hears about the utterly life-changing experience of working with the great theatre artist Al Pacino, reading the play every day when he’s in performance, what is the joy of acting, being an audition reader and what it taught him about trying to get a job, they debate the pronunciation of Godot, we hear about the time Bobby made sure an audience member will never let their phone ring again in the theatre, F Murray Abraham hiding his Oscar onstage, why he wants to be terrified by Shakespeare and what was the Elizabethan‘s…

  9. S4 · E5 · 6 Nov 2024 · 48 min

    Bobby Cannavale (Act I)

    Jonny’s guest this week is two time Emmy winner (for Will and Grace and Boardwalk Empire), two time Tony nominee and perennial engine of fun, Bobby Cannavale. Jonny could talk to Mr Cannavale every day. And very nearly did. They talk about shared experiences (a love of apples, playing Jason in Medea at BAM’s Harvey Theatre, working with talented wives), Bobby’s affection for reading plays as a kid, being a nine year old gangster in Guys and Dolls, intellectual insecurity and the qualities that attracted mentors like Sidney Lumet, Lanford Wilson, George C Wolfe and Al Pacino. Bobby explains…

  10. S4 · E4 · 31 Oct 2024 · 32 min

    Cynthia Nixon (Act II)

    The second half of Jonny’s chat with Cynthia Nixon ranges from playing a version of Marina Abramavich, staring at her costar for 20 minutes before the show (and being helped by a lozenge) to Williams Hurt, David Rabe and their rebellion against Mike Nicholls. From why her first Tony-winning performance as a bereaved mother didn’t capsize her, to whether actors can have qualms about using personal details from their lives. From her run for governor of New York, politics and its relationship to acting, why Andrew Cuomo isn’t Shakespearean but Cynthia is Portia, why she wants to go back to…

Take it with you

The Melo app keeps playing with the screen off, works in the car and on your watch, wakes you to your station, and browses the whole catalogue offline. Free, no ads, no account.

Get it on Google Play