From the Heart, Tartuffe (Remixed), Jerker & Hay Fever

This episode, we're covering four very different theatrical experiences, from an exclusive press-junket sneak peek at legendary lyricist Don Black's West End celebration From the Heart to a bold reimagining of Molière's Tartuffe, the provocative intimacy of Jerker, and Noël Coward's gloriously chaotic comedy Hay Fever.

It's an episode packed with theatrical royalty, wicked humour, unexpected tenderness and some wonderfully questionable behaviour.

Don Black's From the Heart – Press Junket Sneak Peek

We kick things off with a special behind-the-scenes visit to the press junket for Don Black's From the Heart, returning to the Garrick Theatre.

Celebrating the extraordinary career of Oscar-winning lyricist Don Black, the show brings together much-loved classics from Sunset Boulevard, Aspects of Love and the James Bond films, alongside brand-new material. Featuring Clive Rowe, Caroline O'Connor, Michael D. Xavier, Shona McGarty and Frances Mayli McCann, this promises to be a celebration of one of musical theatre's greatest lyricists. We share a sneak peek at what's in store.

Tartuffe (Remixed)

Mark Rylance returns to the stage as the deliciously manipulative Pastor Blake in Tartuffe (Remixed), a vibrant reinvention of Molière's classic comedy.

Adapted and directed by Darren Raymond, the action moves into a contemporary Nigerian–Jamaican household where family loyalties, religion and an impending wedding collide with one very convincing con artist. With Usifu Jalloh, Nakeba Buchanan, Suzette Llewellyn and Sara Mokonen among the terrific company, this is a bold, funny and surprisingly moving retelling.

We discuss Rylance's remarkable ability to disappear into a character and why this 17th-century story about hypocrisy, greed and gullibility feels so wonderfully relevant today.

Jerker

Provocative, explicit and unexpectedly tender, Jerker by Robert Chesley returns in a 40th-anniversary production directed by Henry Adams.

Set in 1980s America against the emerging AIDS crisis, two men begin a relationship through a series of increasingly intimate telephone conversations. Paul Dennison and James Lee play strangers whose sexual fantasies gradually reveal something far more vulnerable and deeply human.

We explore how a play that initially appears to be about sex becomes a moving examination of connection, loneliness and queer history.

Hay Fever

And finally, theatrical royalty behaving very badly!

Christine Baranski makes her West End debut opposite Richard E. Grant in Noël Coward's gloriously mischievous Hay Fever, directed by Emily Burns.

Baranski plays the outrageously theatrical Judith Bliss, with Grant as her novelist husband David. Joined by Ophelia Lovibond, Will Close, Nancy Carroll and Charles Edwards, the wonderfully self-absorbed Bliss family and their unfortunate house guests embark on a weekend of flirtation, social embarrassment and spectacularly bad manners.

We discuss whether Coward's century-old comedy still has the power to delight, and what happens when two major stars share the stage with an ensemble of accomplished comic performers.

From Don Black's timeless lyrics and Mark Rylance's masterful deception to intimate late-night phone calls and Christine Baranski causing chaos in the country, it's another gloriously varied week at Theatre Audience Podcast.

Four productions. Some extraordinary performers. And absolutely no shortage of drama.