RSC RELEASES NEW EPISODES OF IN-HOUSE PODCAST SERIES 'INTERVAL DRINKS'
GUESTS INCLUDE LUCIAN MSAMATI, KATE DICAMILLO, DAVID THRELFALL AND SOPHIE WOOLLEY.
NEW EPISODES AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD NOW
Today (Thursday 9 December 2021) the Royal Shakespeare Company releases two new episodes of its in-house podcast, Interval Drinks with a further two to be available for download from Thursday 6 January 2022. The series launched last Spring, bringing together members of the RSC’s 2020/21 acting company with inspirational personalities from the Company’s history.
The four new episodes include an interview with RSC Associate Artist Lucian Msamati (Othello, Pericles), children’s author Kate DiCamillo, who wrote the novel The Magician’s Elephant which inspired the stage adaptation by Nancy Harris and Marc Teitler, currently playing at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, RSC Associate Artist and star of Channel 4’s Shameless David Threlfall (The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby, Julius Caesar) and Artistic Director of Augmented Productions, Sophie Woolley.
Interval Drinks is an opportunity to learn more about the life of the RSC from those at the heart of the Company. The Podcast offers audiences a rare insight into the professional journeys of these RSC artists, as well as a chance to explore the craft of modern theatre and discuss some of the biggest issues facing the theatre industry today.
In episode one, actor Alfred Clay, who features in the company of The Comedy of Errors at the Barbican, speaks to RSC Associate Artist Lucian Msamati as he describes how it felt to see live theatre for the first time, growing up in Zimbabwe and founding the first professional multi-racial theatre company in the country. He talks about playing Iago at the RSC, and the hardships of forging an acting career. And he explains his irrational fear of camels.
Episode two features playwright Nancy Harris speaks to children’s author Kate DiCamillo about her inspiration – the “divine spark” that grew into The Magician’s Elephant and how gifting a notebook to a friend led her to create the unique cast of characters. The two writers talk about their writing processes, and Kate shares exactly how many rejection letters she received.
In the third episode, RSC Associate Artist David Threlfall speaks to Zoe Lambert, who can also currently be seen in The Comedy of Errors at the Barbican. They talk about David’s theatre career, from starting out at the RSC, to playing Tommy Cooper and Frank Gallagher in Shameless. Zoe asks David where the character of Frank came from, and David explains why he loves working, how he approaches the characters he plays and the art of creating believable characters for comedy. He also tells us who he would most like to share an interval drink with, in what would be the busiest interval we’ve had so far in the series.
Episode four features Renu Arora, who plays Madame LeVaughn in The Magician’s Elephant, in conversation with Deaf writer and performer Sophie Woolley. Both Renu and Sophie are artists who have needed to adapt their practices following acquiring disabilities. Within the discussion, the pair touch on Sophie’s past work, their experiences of the theatre industry, how their work has changed over time and what advice they would give to other disabled artists wanting to advance their career in the arts. This episode will also be available to download as a BSL interpreted Vodcast via the RSC website.
Previous episodes include conversations with Tim Minchin, John Kani, Paul Chahidi, Justin Audibert, Juliet Gilkes Romero and Adjoa Andoh. Each episode of the series is available to download for free via the RSC website, as well as multiple podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunes). There is also a vodcast episode with Charlotte Arrowsmith available via the RSC YouTube channel.
New episodes of Interval Drinks will be announced in the new year.
The music is ‘Oberon’s Theme – King of Shadow’, originally composed by Sam Kenyon for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016).
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For further information, please contact Bethany Arnold / bethany.arnold@rsc.org.uk
IMAGES
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BIOGRAPHIES
LUCIAN MSAMATI
For the RSC, Lucian’s credits include Othello and Pericles.Other theatre credits include Romeo & Juliet, 'Master Harold'...and the boys, Amadeus, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,The Amen Corner, The Comedy of Errors, Death and the King's Horseman, The Overwhelming, The President of an Empty Room, Mourning Becomes Electraall for the National Theatre; A Wolf in Snakeskin Shoes, Walk Hard, Talk Loud, Fabulation and Gem of the Ocean at the Tricycle; Little Revolution, Ruined and I.D at the Almeida; If You Don’t Let Us Dream, We Won’t Let You Sleep, Belong and Clybourne Park at the Royal Court; The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at the Lyric Hammersmith; 1807 – The First Act at Shakespeare’s Globe; Who Killed Mr Drum? at Riverside and Twelfth Night at Sheffield Crucible.
Screen credits include: Gangs of London, His Dark Materials, Black Earth Rising, Kiri, Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams, Taboo, George Gently, Luther, Game of Thrones, Death in Paradise, No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Doctor Who, Ashes to Ashes, Spooks, The Good Liar, The Seekers, The International, Coffin, Legend of the Sky, Kingdom, Dr Juju, Lumumba.
KATE DICAMILLO
Kate DiCamillo is an American children's fiction author. She has published over 25 novels, including Because of Winn-Dixie, The Tiger Rising, The Tale of Despereaux, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, the Mercy Watson series, Flora & Ulysses and The Magician’s Elephant, which was recently adapted for the stage by Nancy Harris and Marc Teitler for the RSC. Her books have sold 37 million copies and won various awards, including The Tale of Despereaux and Flora & Ulysses both winning the Newbery Medal, making DiCamillo one of six authors to have won two Newbery Medals. From 2014 to 2015 DiCamillo was the American National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. Her most recent novel, The Beatryce Prophecy, was published in 2021.
DAVID THRELFALL
For the RSC, David’s credits include: The Party, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby, Julius Caesar, The Suicide, Cymbeline and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Other theatre credits include: Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me at the Ambassador’s Theatre, Skellig for the Young Vic, The Entertainer at the Derby Playhouse, Tartuffe and Richard II for the National Theatre, Blue/Orange at the Duchess Theatre, Peer Gynt, Present Laughter and The Count of Monte Cristo for the Manchester Royal Exchange, Odysseus Thump at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and The Wild Duck at the Phoenix Theatre.
Screen credits include: C4’s Shameless, Tommy, Ripper Street, ITV’s Midwinter of the Spirit, Code of a Killer, What Remains, Spooks and Cutting It (all BBC), Housewife, 49 and Afterlife.
SOPHIE WOOLLEY
Sophie Woolley is a unique writer, performer, actor and artistic director of Augmented Productions.
In 2020 Woolley toured Augmented, a spectacular, critically acclaimed co-production with Told by an Idiot, about the future of humanity and her experience of becoming a cyborg. The tour was cut short by the Covid 19 pandemic but will be remounted.
As a theatre maker Woolley has collaborated with directors Gemma Fairlie and Rachel Bagshaw to make witty, moving stage plays with creative captioning embedded in the design. She’s performed her own work across the UK including Soho Theatre, Southbank Centre, the Lyric Hammersmith, Royal Exchange, Salisbury Playhouse, Birmingham Rep, Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Sophie also writes and acts for BBC radio and TV. In 2021 she wrote two recent episodes of EastEnders. Her witty character-based comedies include well researched comedy dramas for radio and stage about environmental issues, including her Radio 4 play, Carbon Cleansing (starring Doon Mackichan and Joseph Kloska). Actor roles include Gabby in Cast Offs (Channel 4), Let Me Play the Lion Too (Told by an Idiot) and Best in Lockdown (Told by an Idiot/Augmented Productions) and Gloria in Veneer (Film 4) as well as a series of satirical characters on her own YouTube channel.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The Magician’s Elephant runs in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre until 1 January 2022. Box Office: 01789 331111, rsc.org.uk
The Comedy of Errors runs at the Barbican until 31 December 2021. Box Office: https://www.barbican.org.uk/
The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England
The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund
The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation and The Kovner Foundation
The Magician's Elephant is a recipient of the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award
The work of the RSC Literary Department is generously supported by The Drue and H.J. Heinz II Charitable Trust
The Comedy of Errors is supported by RSC Season Supporter Charles Holloway
The RSC’s London production of The Comedy of Errors is kindly supported by ICBC (London)
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