In The Paper

After an absence of more than a quarter of a century, Roger Rees is returning to the London stage opposite Ian McKellen in Waiting for Godot. In this week’s issue of The Stage, he talks about life in the US, how his painting career is still on hold and why he’s intent on bringing Shakespeare to the masses.

[Shakespeare] was a human being who, if he were around today, would be wearing Levis and writing for television. A lot of it [his one man show, What You Will] is about my journey as a fairly uneducated kid from Wales becoming someone who can act and talk about Shakespeare, and think about the value of language.

I so a soliloquy from Hamlet, I play the nurse in Romeo and Juliet with a country accent, I play Richard II, I play the ukulele, I have a ball. I’ve just finished touring it through the Midwest, playing places like Wichita and Kansas City. They loved it.

Former frontman of the Libertines Carl Barat is starring in Fool for Love at London’s Riverside Studios. While in rehearsals he took the time to speak to us about his first theatrical role and working alongside old friend and co-star Sadie Frost

I did worry if I was stealing some struggling actor’s job, but at the same time, if people was going to come and see it because they know it’s me or whatever and that’s going to pay for the thing, then it kind of works itself out really.

This is the only bit of side-stepping I’ve ever done and I don’t feel guilty about it. I know some people will get pissed off, but we’ve all got a chance to choose our path and I chose music. But I have had a bit of grief about that - you’re taking food off an actor’s table.

Also this week:

• Las Vegas is the largest theatre city after London and New York, and has been hit hard by the recession, with audiences falling and pressure to offer deals and discounts But the tide seems to be turning - business is coming back and Cirque du Soleil has just opened a $50m show in a new theatre. Alistair Smith reports on the downturn’s impact and the latest developments

• Whereas the BBC was once the stronghold of radio drama, other means of producing plays are cropping up today, including collaborations with newspaper websites and the creation of online theatre companies

• Ruth Mackenzie has been announced as director of culture for the London 2012 Olympics, supported by a team of artistic advisers. Michael Quinn looks at the experience they bring to the planning of the Cultural Olympiad and whether it can succeed

• As Network DVD releases a series of Noel Coward plays from ITV’s archive, founder Tim Beddows talk about the company’s origins and bringing older programmes to public attention once more

• Backstage: Southampton’s Mayflower Theatre is redesigning its get-in facilities as part of a £2.5 million plan of improvements, allowing it to host even bigger touring shows

• Despite tougher times for West End shows being predicated after 2008’s record year, 2009 was even more successful - and not just in terms of box office takings. Mark Shenton looks at why London theatre is thriving in the recession

• Dear John: “It is possible to pursue my own career and still collaborate with other performers?”

• Showpeople: CP Hallam and Richard Earl, touring in New Perspectives’ Those Magnificent Men; Former Hollyoaks actress Sarah Jayne Dunn, touring in When Harry Met Sally; and actor, writer and director Tom Mallaburn, of forties pastiche show Fitzrovia Radio Hour

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The man once dubbed ‘Nasty Nigel’ by the British tabloid press, Nigel Lythgoe has brought his successful US format So You Think You Can Dance to BBC1. He tells The Stage why he believes the show is a force for cultural good and why he’s optimistic for the future of entertainment television.

“It is putting art into mainstream television and, I believe, helping to change things.”…

He does admit that when he makes forays into public, such as to the Emmys, he is set upon by angry writers, convinced that he has done them out of employment. “But in the end they bite their bottom lip and tell me they enjoyed the dance show,” he adds.

Stand-up comedian Jarred Christmas makes his TV acting debut in BBC2’s The Persuasionists, a new sitcom about an advertising agency. He tells Matthew Hemley what it was like working from a script after live gigs and making a living from jokes.

Stand-up was happening while [my] drama auditions were and to be honest, I eventually decided not to go to drama school because I had found stand-up and enjoyed stand-up. I enjoyed the immediacy of it. The thought of going somewhere for three years and spending all that money and then having no guarantee of work when I came out - I just didn’t like that prospect.

From running a branch of a stage school to becoming a part-time teacher, this week’s special Stage School Franchises supplement examines the opportunities available for performers seeking a new challenge in the sector — plus interviews with three operators and comprehensive listings of the companies available

Since famous faces such as Rupert Friend and Jeremy Clarkson leapt to the Theatre Chipping Norton’s defence when it losts it ACE funding, the venue’s fortunes have been transformed. Director John Terry explains why the theatre is now in such a strong position

As the registration deadline for this year’s Brighton Festival Fringe approaches, Nick Awde talks to its executive manager Nick Stockman about the future direction of the event

Legally Blonde the Musical received its press launch this week, but was the pre-show hype too “supine”? Michael Coveney thinks so, and he explains why good PR coverage must not come at the expense of proper critical discussion

If you’re interested in studying make-up, you have one of the narrowest routes into the entertainment industry. Finally, though, the training on offer is broadening. In anticipation of next week’s International Make-up Artists Trade Show London, Paul Vale looks at the world of greasepaint and prosthetics

Dear John: “Should I promote myself to get experience, or should I wait until I have experience before I promote myself?”

Showpeople: Barbershopera’s Tom Sadler; Chi-Lin Nim, in Panphobia, Lost Theatre Stockwell’s first production in its new venue; deaf performer Caroline Parker, touring Signs of a Star Shaped Diva

Backstage Focus: Over the last decade Geoffrey Joyce has developed qualifications for technicians that emphasise practical knowledge and skills, and are valued by theatre managers and backstage workers alike. Barbara Eifler looks at the history of ABTT training

The Stage is available from major newsagents every Thursday for &poound;1.40. For subscription details and pricing, go to thestage.co.uk/subscribe

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Since winning BBC1’s Any Dream Will Do and the chance to play Joseph in the West End, Lee Mead has cemented his showbiz credentials by marrying Denise Van Outen and scoring a starring role in the Bill Kenwright production of Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime. In this week’s issue of The Stage, he talks to about his impending fatherhood and the desire to further his career.

I think that, as an actor, it’s really important to give yourself challenges, to try and stretch yourself…

…I thought, this is a good first step, because Wilde is a real challenge. I’ve been working away for the past month, before rehearsals started, to really understand the language. It’s like Shakespeare, in that it’s not a contemporary language.

After four years of playing Bradley Branning in EastEnders, Charlie Clements is bidding farewell to Albert Square to try his hand at something new. He talks to us about his plans for the year ahead:

From an acting point of view, I hope to go up for parts that are completely different and show that I can do something else. I have played different characters in the past and there is no reason I should not be able to do it now

Aerial theatre company Ockham’s Razor is preparing for a tour of its new show. Company members Charlotte Mooney, Alex Harvey and Tina Koch talk about how the group evolved and where they are heading to next

In a way, being a dramaturg on an aerial show is a totally made up role, but there is a movement in circus in Britain to explore narrative more, so it’ll be interesting to see how this role develops. It doesn’t involve a great deal of writing - it’s more about asking ‘Why is that happening?’ and making sure that the audience can string a story together.

Also this week:

• As debate continues about how best to engage children in theatre supposedly tailored to them, Stuart Mullins, creative director of children’s theatre company Theatre Is…, shares his views

• Irish singing legend Val Doonican reflects on his enduring popularity

• Dear John looks at the world of online TV productions, with input from Ricky Norwood, Fatboy in online drama EastEnders E20, and E20’s producer, Deborah Sathe

• Insight: Maggie Brown considers the long term implications of the government’s decision to include BBC Worldwide on a list of assets for sale and asks whether it could result is destroying a thriving business and being detrimental to the wider creative community

• Showpeople: Q&A interviews with Simon Minty, co-producer of Abnormally Funny People, dancer Douglas Thorpe, theatre director Stef O’Driscoll

The Stage is available from major newsagents, priced £1.40. For postal subscription deals, see http://www.thestage.co.uk/subscribe/

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Whether you want a career as a performer, behind the scenes or even creating prosthetic make-up, look out in The Stage for the chance to applu for scholarships to some of the UK’s top courses. Throughout 2010, we will be joining forces with some of the country’s leading training institutions to give 11 aspiring performers the opportunity of a lifetime.

Whether you hope to one day tread the boards in a musical, stage manage a show of create special effects for television programmes, a range of scholarships worth more than £100,000 in total will be on offer to help launch your career in the performing arts.

Further details and application forms will be revealed throughout the year. This week, youngsters who will be school years 7, 8 or 9 in September 2010 can apply for a scholarship to Sylvia Young Theatre School. Now in its 19th year, the Stage scheme offers one full scholarship and two half scholarships.

Also coming over the year:

• Music - a one year full time diploma for singers at Vocaltech
• Dance/musical theatre - a full-time, three-year musical theatre course at Expressions Academy of Performing Arts, Mansfield
• Dance - a full-time, three-year dance diploma at Stella Mann College NEW FOR 2010
• Technical/backstage - a full-time, three-year BA Hons in Professional Production Skills at Guildford School of Acting NEW FOR 2010
• Make-up/costume - a four-week prosthetic make-up course at Greasepaint NEW FOR 2010
• Acting/musical theatre (postgraduate) - a full-time, one-year diploma in either acting or musical theatre from Mountview Academy of Performing Arts NEW FOR 2010
• Musical theatre - A full-time, three-year musical theatre diploma at Reynolds Performing Arts NEW FOR 2010
• Youth theatre - A place on the two-week National Youth Theatre summer course NEW FOR 2010

Application forms for the Sylvia Young scholarship are in this week’s paper - more details about each of the other scholarships will be revealed throughout 2010, so make sure you regularly pick up your copy of The Stage!

Also this week:

• Adam Garcia, a judge on Sky 1’s new dance show Got to Dance explains why he was keen to get involved and how he would love to play Frank N Furter in the Rocky Horror Show

  Something like So You Think You Can Dance is going to be about the very talented untrained or the brilliantly trained, and they will be 18 to 30-year-olds looking to be commercial dancers, West End dancers or in a contemporary group. Got to Dance is more about communities and what the have to offer, and it covers the whole gamut of the British dancing public

• Theatre company Present Moment is performing Doctor Faustus at Stratford East’s Stratford Circus next week. Director Joss Bennathan explains how he is hoping to introduce new audiences to Marlowe’s classic

  The first appearance of Mephistopheles is like the Terminator’s first appearance in the first film, where the people come back from the future, crouched, feral and naked. That’s how Mephistopheles appears first, too

• With the performing arts industry facing a shortage of up to 30,000 trained technicians over the next decade, the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural Skills has been hosting a series of careers events for students to shed light on the various opportunities backstage. We find out more

• We meet Radio 2 legend Brian Matthew, and hear how the Sounds of the Sixties presenter and RADA graduate has never lost his passion for acting

• Pantomime is cited by many as their introduction to theatre, but what signals are some of today’s jokes sending out to potential audiences? Is sneering humour and snobbery seeping into our festive frivolity?

• Dear John: What changes should I make to my career plan for 2010?

• Insight: A tough economic climate and a competitive market means that 2010 will be challenging for musical festival promoters

• Maggie Brown: What do the last days of 2009 tell us about television in 2010?

• Producer Andrew Fishwick on embracing the empty wall planner

• Showpeople: Q&As with Mooky Cornish, Paul Miller, Don Reid, David Pendlebury

The Stage is available from major newsagents for £1.40. For postal subscription deals, go to http://www.thestage.co.uk/subscribe/.

Due to the adverse weather conditions, deliveries to newsagents and postal subscribers may be delayed this week. Our apologies for any inconvenience. For more details, please see this note on our Facebook page.

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