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The star of BBC’s Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch, insists he was tough enough to bring Conan Doyle’s gentleman sleuth into the modern world. Mary Comerford finds out how he got pneumonia trying to prove it and what he’s willing to do next
I imagine Holmes probably got pneumonia on a couple of occasions in Victorian London. I got flu and kept braving through it while green stuff was coming out of me. I was told, ‘You’ve got man flu, have a couple of paracetamol’, but when I soaked the bed sheets with sweat three nights running in the middle of winter, I knew there was something really wrong with me.
It’s not nice having liquid on your lung and it takes a long time to recover - the irritating thing is that I was so disciplined and living a very healthy existence… I’d swim a lot, do yoga and eat healthily. I was really annoyed with myself for getting flu in the first place and I did myself a bit of damage by not acknowledging that I needed a rest.
Kate Prince, founder and director of ZooNation, joins the ranks of such cutting-edge artists as Matthew Bourne, Sylvie Guillem and Jasmin Vardimon as an associate of Sadler’s Wells. She tells Katie Colombus about her plans:
What I’m trying to do is just have fun with it. If you take it too seriously, you’re probably not going to create something that’s that good. So if I go into the next piece, thinking, ‘Oh my god, it’s got to be better than this’, it’s going to be some serious piece of rubbish. I want to make work that’s genuinely entertaining but also genuinely emotive. I’d really like to get some kind of emotional reaction from the audience. I’d like to make them laugh and cry all in one piece.
As the Tricycle Theatre prepares to take its Afghan season, The Great Game, on a 12-week American tour, artistic director Nicolas Kent talks to Nick Smurthwaite about the battle the theatre faces on the home front following the government’s warnings of massive arts cuts
In the current climate, taking a culturally diverse company of 20 to America, with all the attendant prob- lems with visas and customs, not to mention all our props and pyrotech- nics, is fraught with logistical prob- lems. One member of the cast was born in Baghdad which may not go down too well with US customs
Playwright Arnold Wesker tells Nick Smurthwaite about his latest projects, what he thinks of fellow playwrights such as Jez Butterworth and why his flirtation with Facebook was short-lived
Scarborough’s Open Air Theatre has been given a lease of life since it underwent a £3.5m refurbishment. Kevin Berry speaks to project manager, Stuart Tucker, about the new and improved venue
The critics are waiting in the wings with the power to make or break your show with a well chosen phrase. How do you make sure they give you a review? Jo Caird finds out
Nine talented performers from across the world battled it out to win a Stage/Vocaltech scholarship for a one-year diploma. Judges were so impressed, they chose not one but three winners
When he started as a caterer at Fairfield Halls, Derek Barr didn’t realise he was embarking on a 40-year love affair. He tells Liz Arratoon about hosting the Beatles, how 6,000 teenage girls once mobbed him and why he’s loved every minute of it
Insight: As Gwyneth Williams prepares to take over from Mark Damazer as controller of BBC Radio 4, media expert Maggie Brown looks at why running Radio 4 requires breadth, vision and passion
Painful cuts for the arts are an inevitability. Alistair Smith explains why the sector needs to be prepared for them and why it must avoid a repeat of 2008’s angry protests at the Young Vic
Actress Emma Barton, playing Roxie Hart in Chicago at the Cambridge Theatre, talks about the difference between playing the West End and touring.
Dear John: “When considering my first festival project, is a one-person show or a small ensemble piece easier to pull off?”
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