Podcast · Arts & Books
by Douglas Schatz and Jodi Rilot · English · Arts & Books
Douglas Schatz and Jodi Rilot review some of the current productions on stage in London. Douglas is the founder and host of The Play Podcast www.theplaypodcast.com, and Jodi is an avid theatre-goer as well as a community theatre director and actor.
13 Oct 2026 · 23 minNew
Jodi and I review a selection of shows that we've seen in September and October 2026, including: Bloodsport: After Helen of Troy at the Theatre Royal Stratford East The Children at the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith Three Men in a Boat at the Rose Theatre in Kingston-upon-Thames A Small and Quiet Light at the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond-upon-Thames Golden Boy at the Almeida Theatre
E22 · 9 Mar 2026 · 23 min
Jodi and I review a selection of shows that we've seen in the first two months of 2026, including: Guess How Much I Love You? at the Royal Court Our Town at the Rose Theatre in Kingston-upon-Thames Dance of Death at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond-upon-Thames Ballad Lines at the Southwark Playhouse Gerry & Sewell at the Aldwych Theatre Marie & Rosetta at the Soho Place Theatre Arcadia at the Old Vic Man and Boy at the National Theatre
E21 · 26 Jan 2026 · 18 min
Jodi and I each choose our top three shows of 2025, and look ahead at what we are excited to see in the coming weeks.
E20 · 20 Jun 2025 · 24 min
Quick-fire reviews of a selection of shows that Jodi and I have seen in recent weeks, including: 1536 at the Almeida Giant at the Harold Pinter Theatre The 5th Step at Soho Place The Brightening Air at the Old Vic Marie and Rosetta at the Rose theatre, and coming to Chichester and the Bristol Old Vic. My Master Builder at Wyndham's theatre An Oak Tree at the Young Vic Here We Are at the National theatre.
E19 · 5 Jun 2025 · 19 min
Jodi and I review the 30th anniversary production of Patrick Marber's play Dealer's Choice , that is currently playing at the Donmar Warehouse in London.
E18 · 5 Apr 2025 · 29 min
Jodi and I review James Graham's hard-hitting play, Punch, at the Young Vic theatre, Cate Blanchett in The Seagull at the Barbican, and Playhouse Creatures at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond-upon-Thames.
E17 · 17 Feb 2025 · 16 min
Jodi and I review The Years at the Harold Pinter theatre in London. The show was first seen at the Almeida last Summer, and was chosen as a favourite of 2024 by many, so its transfer is a welcome opportunity for those who missed it to discover what all the fuss was about. The Years is adapted and directed by Eline Arbo, from the book of the same name by the French Nobel prize winning author, Annie Ernaux. The result is a distinctive piece of theatre, which can be both joyous and funny, as well as disturbing. Forewarning - there is a scene that some have found too much to watch. But should…
E16 · 13 Jan 2025 · 8 min
This is a review of the RSC's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Barbican in London.
E15 · 13 Jan 2025 · 18 min
Jodi and I review the National Theatre's production of Oscar Wilde's classic, The Importance of Being Earnest , directed by Max Webster, and starring Ncuti Gatwa, Hugh Skinner and Sharon D Clarke. The show runs until the 25th of January 2025. And don't miss my full length conversation with Max Webster about the play in episode 90 of The Play Podcast
E14 · 23 Dec 2024 · 20 min
I review some of the highlights of the shows that I've seen in London this Autumn. Brief reviews include: Death of England, The Real Thing, Abigail's Party, A Raisin in the Sun, Corialanus, Juno and the Paycock, Oedipus, Fear of 13, The Forsyte Saga and The Importance of Being Earnest.
E13 · 12 Jun 2024 · 19 min
Jodi and I review Bluets at the Royal Court theatre in London. Bluets is a dramatisation of American writer Maggie Nelson's poetic memoir, adapted by playwright Margaret Perry, and directed by Katie Mitchell. The production boasts a starry cast including Ben Whishaw, Emma D'Arcy and Kayla Meikle. Maggie Nelson's book is a collection of 240 brief paragraphs, sometimes as short as a single sentence, which chronicle her obsession with the colour blue. Her choice of the colour blue chimes with the psychological exploration that she also undertakes in writing the book, because she records and…
E12 · 1 May 2024 · 23 min
Jodi and I review The Hills of California by Jez Butterworth, currently playing at the Harold Pinter theatre in London's West End, directed by Sam Mendes. Do not be misled by the title; we are not in sunny California, but in the back streets of Blackpool, where four daughters come together to say goodbye to their dying mother. The play is a portrait of lost dreams, of deeply ingrained patterns of love and hurt within a family, and of suppressed and mutable memories. A new Jez Butterworth play is a theatrical event. Does it live up to our high expectations?
E11 · 22 Mar 2024 · 27 min
Jodi and I review An Enemy of the People , which is currently playing at the Duke of York's theatre in London's West End. Matt Smith, who of course many will know from Dr Who, stars in Ibsen's fable of truth and lies, political compromise and the environmental costs of capitalism. This production is very much a contemporary adaptation of Ibsen's original play. It was conceived by the German director Thomas Ostermeier at the Schaubuhne theatre in Berlin, where Ostermeier is the Artistic Director, and has now been redrafted in English by the British playwright, Duncan Macmillan. While the…
E10 · 23 Nov 2023 · 20 min
Jodi and I review Lynn Nottage's play Clyde's which is currently on stage at the Donmar Warehouse theatre in London. The show is directed by Lynette Linton, who directed Nottage's last play at the Donmar, Sweat back in 2018, which I thought was a fabulous show. Clyde's premiered on Broadway in November 2021, and was nominated for four Tony awards in 2022. According to American Theatre magazine it was the most-produced play in non-profit theatres in America in 2022–2023, so there's something about this play that touches a nerve. Lynn Nottage is very well known in America, having won the…
E9 · 4 Nov 2023 · 16 min
Jodi and I were lucky enough to be invited to see Elephant at the Bush Theatre last week. Elephant is a one-woman show, written and performed by Anoushka Lucas. Anoushka is a very talented singer, songwriter, actor and writer. As an actor she has appeared in Oklahoma! at the Young Vic, Henry V at the Donmar, After Life at the National, and Jesus Christ Superstar at the Open Air theatre in Regent's Park. She has written musical scores for other shows, and released an album of her own music, Dark Soul . Elephant is her first play, which was first seen at the Bush last year, and now returns in…
E8 · 9 Oct 2023 · 24 min
Jodi and I review the new production of Pygmalion at the Old Vic in London. Pygmalion is arguably George Bernard Shaw's most famous play, partly of course because it spawned the even-more famous musical and film My Fair Lady. The play offers two iconic parts in Eliza and Higgins, played famously in the film by Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison. The Old Vic production boasts two of the most respected stage actors of our time in Patsy Ferran, fresh from her Olivier-winning run as Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire , and Bertie Carvel, who has conjured the figures of Donald Trump and Rupert…
E7 · 30 Sep 2023 · 19 min
The show that we are reviewing today is God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, which is currently playing at the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith in West London. The play, written in French and translated by Christopher Hampton, had its English language debut in the West End back in 2008. The play followed Reza's earlier play Art, which was a worldwide hit in the 1990s, being translated into 30 languages and winning Olivier and Tony awards. God of Carnage was similarly a popular and critical success, reprising the Olivier and Tony awards, and in 2011 the play was also turned into a movie, Carnage ,…
E6 · 15 Sep 2023 · 25 min
Lucy Prebble's 2012 play The Effect is revived in an updated version at the National Theatre, directed by Jamie Lloyd, and starring Paapa Essiedu and Taylor Russell. The play charts the effects on two young people who participate in a residential drug trial, during the course of which they fall in love; but can they trust that their feelings are real? Jamie Lloyd's work as a director is not to everyone's taste – so what did Jodi and I make of his version of this very thought-provoking play?
E5 · 21 Aug 2023 · 32 min
Jodi and I review two shows in this episode. First up is Dario Fo's classic farce Accidental Death of an Anarchist which has been updated to modern-day Britain by Tom Basden. This hilarious new adaptation is directed by Dan Raggett, and is running at the Theatre Royal Haymarket until 9th September. Our second review is of Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman at the Duke of York's Theatre in the West End, directed by Matthew Dunster, and starring Lily Allen and Steve Pemberton. How does McDonagh's uneasy mix of horror and dark comedy work in this revival of his 2004 play?
E4 · 10 Aug 2023 · 28 min
Jodi and I review James Graham's latest play Dear England , which is running on the Olivier stage at the National Theatre in London until 11th August 2023, but you will have another chance to cheer when it transfers to the Prince Edward Theatre in the West End from the 9th of October. Graham has earned acclaim for masterfully turning contemporary British history into accessible and thought-provoking theatrical drama. Dear England charts the rise and influence of Gareth Southgate as the Manager of the England men's football team from his appointment in 2016 to the present day. As unlikely as…
E1 · 1 Aug 2023 · 30 min
Jodi Rilot joins me for the first time to review two shows: The Circle by Somerset Maugham at the Orange Tree theatre in Richmond-upon-Thames, and Private Lives by Noël Coward at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Tom Littler. who directed The Circle , draws a line connecting Somerset Maugham to Noël Coward in the history of English drama, so it is appropriate that we cover these two shows together.
E2 · 1 Aug 2023 · 20 min
The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre in London is currently one of the hottest tickets in town. There are numerous reasons why this show is so popular, starting with the fact that it tells the story of when two acting giants of the 20th century, Sir John Gielgud and Richard Burton, came together to stage Hamlet on Broadway in 1964. This was at a time when Burton had just married Elizabeth Taylor, and they were the most famous couple in the world. Mark Gatiss and Johnny Flynn recreate Gielgud and Burton respectively. The play is written by Jack Thorne, the amazingly prolific author…
E3 · 1 Aug 2023 · 23 min
Jodi and I share our thoughts about Rebecca Frecknall's production of Romeo and Juliet at the Almeida Theatre in London. Rebecca Frecknall is currently the hottest director in town, her most recent credits including A Streetcar Named Desire with Paul Mescal and Patsy Ferran, which also started life at the Almeida before transferring to the West End, as well as her innovative production of Cabaret. She is known for her stripped down, modern takes on classic titles and her Romeo and Juliet is no exception.
Douglas Schatz and Jodi Rilot review some of the current productions on stage in London. Douglas is the founder and host of The Play Podcast www.theplaypodcast.com, and Jodi is an avid theatre-goer as well as a community theatre director and actor.
The Play Review is a English arts & books podcast from Douglas Schatz and Jodi Rilot. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.
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