THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY LAUNCHES ‘INTERVAL DRINKS’ – A NEW PODCAST SERIES
GUESTS INCLUDE ADJOA ANDOH, CHARLOTTE ARROWSMITH, JUSTIN AUDIBERT, PAUL CHAHIDI, JULIET GILKES ROMERO, JOHN KANI AND TIM MINCHIN
EPISODES AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD NOW
Today (Thursday 25 March 2021) the Royal Shakespeare Company announces the Company’s first in-house podcast, Interval Drinks, bringing together members of the RSC’s 2020/21 acting company with inspirational personalities from the Company’s history. The series is supported by Darwin Escapes.
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.
Each episode of the seven-part series will be available to download for free via the RSC website, as well as multiple podcast platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunes). A new episode will be made available to download every Thursday and will include a captioned vodcast episode, available via video supporting platforms and the RSC YouTube channel.
The first two episodes of Interval Drinks are available to download now. Episode one features actor and comedian Miles Jupp in conversation with singer/songwriter, Tim Minchin, who this year joins the RSC in celebrating a decade since Matilda the Musical, for which Tim wrote both music and lyrics, opened in the West End. Episode two features Mogali Masuku in conversation with playwright, actor and political activist John Kani, who recently wrote and starred in the critically acclaimed RSC production of Kunene and the King, which premiered at the Swan Theatre before transferring to the Ambassadors Theatre in London last year. The show’s run was ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The series’ guests also include Adjoa Andoh (Netflix’s Bridgerton, RSC’s Troilus and Cressida) Charlotte Arrowsmith (RSC’s As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew), Justin Audibert (RSC’s The Taming of the Shrew 2019/20) Paul Chahidi (BBC’s This Country, Death of Stalin) and Juliet Gilkes Romero (RSC’s The Whip).
Joining Miles and Mogali from the RSC’s 2020/21 acting company are Kemi-Bo Jacobs, Hal Chambers, Greg Haiste, Avita Jay and Bea Webster.
The music is ‘Oberon’s Theme – King of Shadow’, originally composed by Sam Kenyon for A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2016).
Ends
For further information, please contact Bethany Arnold / bethany.arnold@rsc.org.uk
Full series schedule
25 March 2021 Miles Jupp and Tim Minchin
Mogali Masuku and John Kani
1 April 2021 Greg Haiste with Paul Chahidi
8 April 2021 Bea Webster with Charlotte Arrowsmith (Vodcast)
15 April 2021 Hal Chambers with Justin Audibert
22 April 2021 Kemi-Bo Jacobs with Juliet Gilkes Romero
29 April 2021 Avita Jay with Adjoa Andoh
IMAGES
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BIOGRAPHIES
Adjoa Andoh
Adjoa is currently best known for her role as Lady Danbury in Netflix’s original series Bridgerton. Adjoa’s other screen credits feature multiple BBC series, including Silent Witness, Death in Paradise, Line of Duty, New Tricks, River, Doctor Who and Casualty as well as ITV’s Broadchurch, Law and Order, Wire in the Blood and Scott and Bailey.
Adjoa’s RSC credits include Gregory Doran’s production of Troilus and Cressida, Julius Caesar, The Dispute, Tamburlaine, The Odyssey and Crowned with Fame.
Other theatre credits include playing the role of Richard II in Richard II at Shakespeare’s Globe which Adjoa also directed alongside Lynette Linton, Leave Talking for the Bush Theatre, Julius Caesar at the Bridge Theatre, Assata Taught Me at The Gate Theatre, Soul at the Hackney Empire and Les Liaisons Dangereuses at the Donmar Warehouse.
Charlotte Arrowsmith
Charlotte’s recent work with the Royal Shakespeare Company includes the 2019 season productions of As You Like It and The Taming of the Shrew, both of which played in Stratford-upon-Avon, at the Barbican in London and on tour across the UK. During the run of The Taming of the Shrew, Charlotte became the first Deaf actress to understudy for a principal hearing actor, stepping in for the role of ‘Vincentia’.
Charlotte’s previous RSC credits include ‘Cassandra’ in Troilus and Cressida, performing in Sign Language or using a creative mix of BSL, 'home' signs, gestures and visual vernacular. Other theatre credits include Moonbird (Handprint Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream and Love's Labour's Lost (Shakespeare Globe/Deafinitely Theatre) and Great Odds (Mac Arcadian).
Justin Audibert
Justin is Artistic Director of the Unicorn Theatre.
For the Royal Shakespeare Company, Justin most recently directed The Taming of the Shrew as part of the 2019 RSC Summer season, which then transferred to the Barbican for their 19/20 Winter season. Justin’s previous work with the RSC also includes Snow in Midsummer and The Jew of Malta. Justin also co-wrote and co-presented the BBC Live Lessons on Shakespeare for the RSC.
His credits at the Unicorn include Anansi ReSpun (as part of Unicorn Online), Anansi The Spider, The Canterville Ghost, Aesop’s Fables, Beowulf, and My Mother Medea. Other theatre credits include Macbeth and The Winter’s Tale for The National Theatre.
Paul Chahidi
Paul is an Olivier-nominated British Iranian actor who has worked extensively on stage, television and film.
A Royal Shakespeare Company Associate Artist, Paul has played numerous roles at the RSC, including in Written on the Heart, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, The American Pilot, Cymbeline, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and The Tamer Tamed.
On screen, Paul has a recurring role as a vicar in BBC comedy series This Country. He also played defence minister Nikolai Bulganin in Armando Ianucci’s historical comedy The Death of Stalin.
Juliet Gilkes Romero
Juliet Gilkes Romero recently won the prestigious Alfred Fagon Best Play Award for The Whip in 2020. Her other stage work includes The Gift, a retelling of Medea filmed for Jermyn Street Theatre’s 15 Heroines of Greek Tragedy season 2020; Day of The Living for the RSC and Upper Cut at the Southwark Playhouse. Screen and audio work includes; Soon Gone; A Windrush Chronicle co-produced by Sir Lenny Henry’s production company Douglas Road and the Young Vic Theatre, and One Hot Summer broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
Dr John Kani
Dr John Kani is an actor, playwright, and political activist.
John’s theatre credits include the Tony Award winning plays Sizwe Banzi is Dead and The Island, which John co-wrote with Athol Fugard and Winston Ntshona. The plays opened to critical acclaim in London before transferring to Broadway. For the RSC, John wrote and performed in Kunene and the King in 2019, reprising his role in 2020 when the production transferred to the Ambassadors Theatre in the West End.
On screen, John is best known for the role of T'Chaka in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War (2016) and Black Panther (2018), as well as voicing the role of Rafiki in the 2019 remake of Disney’s The Lion King.
Tim Minchin
Tim is an Australian composer/lyricist, musician, comedian, actor, writer, producer and director. He has toured and performed solo across the world. In November 2020, Tim released his debut album Apart Together which was met by critical acclaim.
An RSC Associate Artist, Tim was approached by the RSC in 2009 to write the music and lyrics for a stage adaptation of Roald Dahl’s Matilda. Directed by Matthew Warchus and with a book by Dennis Kelly, Matilda the Musical has now been seen by over 10 million people across more than 90 cities worldwide. The hit show is now one of the West End’s top twenty longest running musicals and plans to celebrate its ten-year anniversary in London later this year.
Tim’s other theatre credits include writing the music and lyrics for Groundhog Day and playing Judas Iscariot in the arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The Royal Shakespeare Company creates theatre at its best, made in Stratford-upon-Avon and shared around the world. We produce an inspirational artistic programme each year, setting Shakespeare in context, alongside the work of his contemporaries and today’s writers.
We have trained generations of the very best theatre makers and we continue to nurture the talent of the future. We encourage everyone to enjoy a lifelong relationship with Shakespeare and live theatre. We reach 530,000 children and young people annually through our education work, transforming their experiences in the classroom, in performance and online.
Everyone at the RSC - from actors to armourers, musicians to technicians - plays a part in creating the world you see on stage.
We recognise the climate emergency and work hard to embed environmental sustainability into our operations, creative work and business practice and have made a commitment to reduce continually our Carbon Footprint. We have measures already in place from green electricity to replace energy consuming equipment with high efficiency, using low carbon equipment, and delivering programmes to raise environmental awareness across the RSC. We acknowledge that sharing our work with audiences across the world will involve travel and that we need to mitigate the impact of that on our carbon footprint.
Registered charity no. 212481 rsc.org.uk
Darwin Escapes currently operate 21 luxurious holiday resorts and 3 golf courses across the UK offering holiday breaks and holiday home ownership. A wide variety of holiday styles are accommodated, ranging from romantic boutique escapes to luxury lodge retreats and traditional family focused holiday parks, all of which boast state-of-the-art and diverse accommodation and on-site facilities including spas, gyms, restaurants and activities.
The company strives to provide the best possible holiday experience for holiday makers and holiday home-owners with resorts in stunning UK locations with accommodation and facilities that rival those of 5 star hotels.
For further information about Darwin Escapes and its numerous holiday destinations and facilities visit www.darwinescapes.co.uk or follow them on Twitter or Facebook: @DarwinEscapes
The RSC is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
The work of the RSC is supported by the Culture Recovery Fund and the RSC is a recipient of the Weston Culture Fund.
The RSC Acting Companies are generously supported by The Gatsby Charitable Foundation and The Kovner Foundation.
The Whip was supported by Miranda Curtis CMG - Season Supporter, Swan Theatre Winter 2019-2020.
The Comedy of Errors and The Winter’s Tale are supported by RSC Season Supporter Charles Holloway.
The Winter’s Tale is supported by RSC Production Circle members Mark Thompson and Jane Blumberg-Thompson.
The work of the RSC Literary Department is generously supported by The Drue and H.J. Heinz II Charitable Trust.