#15 - Joanna Carrick

In episode 21 of the podcast, I will be chatting to the marvellous Heidi Steel and Matthew Barker from the play 'The Fish Bowl' at Summerhall during the Edinburgh Fringe. 

'The Fish Bowl' is a moving and emotional piece of theatre about the impacts of dementia on those who have it, and those surrounding them. Based on real people and true events, Matthew collected notes from his journal when working at a memory unit in an Australian care home, collating and adapting them into this magnificent new play. 

Both Heidi and Matthew starred in the production during the summer at the Fringe. 

In this interview, we discuss the emotional toll that the play has on the duo (performing it practically every day for a month), the chaos and madness of the Fringe, and how people with dementia still have so much to say, we are just not trained to listening. 

Follow @fishbowl_play on Instagram to hear the latest news on the production. 

The podcast is back! 
After nearly a year away, we're back. After visiting the Edinburgh Fringe in the summer, I emailed my absolute favourite creatives to see if I could have a quick chat - thankfully, my absolute favs said yes! 
First up is Linus Karp - writer and star of "Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story". 

Linus is a theatre maker, actor, and all round icon. He is the artistic director and founder of Awkward productions, currently starring in his fabulous show ‘Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story’ touring the UK, which tells the story of Princess Diana if her life had panned out… rather differently. It’s hilarious, outrageous, and chaotic - it even has a  a monster version of Camilla .  Basically a hoot of a night out at the theatre. 

Linus has also received massive acclaim for his show ‘How to live a Jellicle life: life lessons from the 2019 hit musical Cats’. Despite the movie 'Cats'  being hated by pretty much everyone, Linus maintains its legendary, and we all have lessons to learn from it…. It was named the 4th best reviewed show at this year’s Fringe, and is also magnificent.  

Linus and I chatted about a mind boggling range of things, from the hilarity of performing  to ‘4 people in Leicester’ to a fast-paced this or that game, and more serious topics such as  the disgusting  manner this government treats the LGBTQIA + community. It must be said this was recorded a few weeks before Rishi Sunak made  repulsive transphobic comments at the conservative conference 2023, but this element of the discussion feels very poignant at the time of release. 

Hopefully the interview should be entertaining and interesting - I certainly adored interviewing Linus. 

You can find Linus' production company 'Awkward productions' @awkwardprods on Instagram. 
'Diana: The untold and untrue story' is currently touring the UK, and I STRONGLY recommend getting tickets. It's a joy to watch. 

For the 19th episode of the podcast, James chats to half of the incredible theatre group “SPITLIP” David Cumming and Natasha Hodgson. 

Spitlip are The amazing creators of the hit London musical 'Operation Mincemeat' which is based on a true story about a secret WW2 operation involving a corpse being dumped on the Spanish coast.
 Since opening at the New Diorama theatre in  London 2018 and returning twice to different venues since then, Operation Mincemeat has won countless awards, boasted sold out runs, and been given 5 star reviews from the Daily Mirror, the Financial Times, Whatsonstage, The Stage, The Daily Mail… the list goes on. Operation Mincemeat is taking the theatrical world by storm.

David and Natasha not only co-wrote the show, they also co-composed it and star in the production too with David playing the socially awkward character of Charles, and Natasha playing the larger than life figure of Ewan Montegu. 

In this podcast, we’re going to be discussing the future of Operation mincemeat (including a possible cast recording!), what’s important for aspiring thespians going into the industry, and we’ll be talking about why horror plays full of music and vampires are wildly entertaining - yet don’t make that much money!

https://www.operationmincemeat.com

For the 18th episode of the podcast,  James is chatting to thriller author Phoebe Morgan.
Phoebe has written 4 incredible thrillers - "The Doll House", "The Wild Girls", and "The Babysitter". 
Not only is Phoebe a hugely successful author she is also an editorial director currently at HarperCollins, working on Thriller, Crime, Women's Fiction, and Saga.
During lockdown, Phoebe organised an auction which raised over £60,000 for the charity 'Care International'. 

In this interview, James and Phoebe will discuss why writing and books are still important in a time of such technology, why using a pen name may be a good idea for some already established authors, and how painful it can be to scrap a book and start again. 

Follow this link https://phoebemorganauthor.com to go to Phoebe's website where you can find all her books and any information. 

For the 17th episode of the podcast, James  is chatting to musical theatre star Joel Montague.

Joel is currently playing the role of King George III in the smash hit musical Hamilton in London's West End.  Joel has a massive list of theatrical credits to his name,  including playing Eddie in Funny Girl at the Menier Chocolate Factory (for which he was nominated for a Whatsontage award for), Mendle in Falsettos London, and Ogie in Waitress London.
Joel also runs his own theatre company called Curtain Call productions.
 
In this interview, James and Joel will be talking about the impact COVID had on the theatre industry, why Hamilton is such a massive hit, and how every actor messes up on stage no matter how professional they are! 

Tickets for Hamilton London can be purchased here: https://hamiltonmusical.com/london/home/.

For the final episode of the trilogy, James is sitting  down with actor, director, and lecturer Nick Hutchison. 
Nick lives in Suffolk and his work covers theatre, television, film, voiceover and radio. He has worked with the BBC, ITV, the RSC, the Royal National theatre, and  does a lot of work for Shakespeare’s Globe. 
Directing wise, Nick has directed many many brilliant productions, notably he devised and directed “Noel Cowards’ Christmas Spirits” at the St James’ theatre studio which was critically acclaimed and had a sold out run. He also directed the Independent, The Guardian and Time Out's Critic's Choice "Crimes of Heart" at the Man in the Moon in  London. 
You may have also seen Nick on screen.  Starring in movies such as “About A Boy” with Hugh grant, "Miss Potter" with Renee Zelwegger, and "102 dalmations", Nick has worked on many famous films with movie legends. 

Nick is also passionate about the power of Shakespeare and lectures on Shakespeare as well as theatre more generally in amazing places such as RADA, Lamda, mountview, and the Globe theatre. 

In this interview, James will be talking to Nick about how theatre was hit by the pandemic, why Nick thinks Shakespeare is still relevant today, and what its like acting on screen with so many famous faces. 

For the 2nd episode of the trilogy, James  is chatting to the founder and artistic director of the nationally renowned and Suffolk-based theatre company " Red Rose Chain",  Joanna Carrick. 

Joanna set up the company in 1990 and since then has directed and adapted many brilliant productions, including their highly acclaimed annual "Theatre in the Forest". 
Not only does the company produces brilliantly reviewed shows, they also hold many community workshops and groups with young people, people with learning disabilities, prisoners, and more.  They believe theatre should be accessible to everyone. 

Joanna is also a playwright, particularly writing many historical plays. Notably, Joanna wrote the "Tudor Trilogy", three plays all set in Tudor times. One of the plays, "Fallen in Love: The Secret Heart of Anne Boleyn", played at the Tower of London. 

In the interview, James chats to Joanna about how Red Rose Chain used lockdown and isolation as a creative opportunity instead of a boundary,  the amazing youth theatre the company has, and they will also be discussing the terrifying witch puppets which will be used in the company's production of "Macbeth".


Red Rose Chain is bringing "Macbeth" to Sutton Hoo in Woodbridge from the 27th July 2022 to 20th August 2022. Tickets will be available for purchase soon from https://redrosechain.com

This Christmas, Red Rose Chain is also producing a streamed production of "Treasure Island" which will be available to stream from the 17th December 2021 to 3rd January 2022. For more information and to buy streaming tickets , head to https://redrosechain.com.

To support the company, also go to their website at https://redrosechain.com

The Jammy Podcast is back!
After a long break, the podcast is back with 3 interviews with some incredible guests. 
To start the trilogy, Jammy will be talking to Susan Bennett - voiceover artist most famous for being the original voice of Apple's Siri. 
Susan has also done voiceovers for companies such as McDonald's, Cartoon Network, Coca-Cola, and Ford, as well as many other companies. 
Basically, Susan's voice is everywhere! 
They'll be talking about how Susan originally got the job as Siri, how voiceover artists were impacted during COVID-19, and what the future might hold for artificial intelligence and technology!

Thanks so much for your continued support of the podcast.
All music used in the podcast was found on fesliyanstudios.com

For the 13th episode of the podcast, Jammy chats with the award-winning improviser, comedian, actress, and author, Pippa Evans. 
Author of the book “Improv Your Life”, Pippa is a core member of the Olivier award-winning ‘Showstopper the improvised Musical’, and has toured the Uk and internationally. She can often be heard on BBC radio 4 in many comedy shows and is also an amazing solo performer.
We’ll be talking about what it’s like to be in an improv show, how she first discovered improvisation, and what happens when things go wrong....

For the 2nd episode of season 2, Jammy will be chatting to the actor Peter Singh. 
Peter has had a massive career in film, tv and theatre. You may have seen him in The Personal History of David Copperfield, Disney's Christopher Robin, Hampstead alongside the academy award-winning Dianne Keaton, and Johnny English Strikes Again, as well as many other films. 
He is also often on tv including in hit series such as The Capture on BBC one, Doctor Who, and Coronation Street.
In the interview, we'll be talking about improvising whilst on set, Peter's experience working with Disney, and how he ended up scaring the children on David Copperfield.