Backstage

We asked the cast of This May Hurt A Bit: Why is this play important?  Stephanie Cole I’ve had a lot of contact with the NHS over the last few years – my husband dying of cancer, my mother of strokes, my brother has schizophrenia; so I’m very much aware that all is not well. […]

Hywel Morgan plays NHS founder Nye Bevan in This May Hurt A Bit. Here’s his personal rehearsal journey. ‘Aneurin Bevan?, Architect of the NHS and my political hero?! I’ll bite your arm off.’ That was what I told my agent before I’d even read Stella Feehilly’s script for ‘This May Hurt A Bit’. Despite having […]

On Friday 17 January, to celebrate the launch of his book Journal of the Plague Year, Out of Joint’s founder and director Max Stafford-Clark was interviewed on stage at the Royal Court Theatre by Chris Campbell, the theatre’s literary manager. The event included an extract from the book read by the brilliant actor Danny Webb, […]

Dawn King was first inspired to write Ciphers by the death of Gareth Williams, the GCHQ-employee who was found dead locked inside a bag in a Pimlico flat. Here she discusses the thoughts – and the play – that the case inspired; and some of her favourite writers.

Kathryn O’Reilly has returned to Out of Joint to give a widely-praised performance as the ferocious, damaged, and very funny Liz Morden in Our Country’s Good. Here she talks about her character, the play’s messages and her own experiences of the power of theatre.  “Punishment is not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform […]

Fear of Music writer Barney Norris on rewrites, the army, and the strange fame of Andover. In 2008 I was in a play called Through the Leaves by the German writer Franz Xaver Kroetz, in a production directed by Alice Hamilton, the director of Fear Of Music. I hadn’t previously encountered Kroetz, Germany’s most frequently […]

Actors’ Songs We asked actors on twitter whether they listen to music before going on stage, and if so what helps them get in the right mood or headspace. You can find their replies, plus a link to a Spotify playlist, here. It ranges from classical to the Beastie Boys. Replies included: “I once played […]

Our cast have had the rare advantage of being able to spend the final two weeks of rehearsal on the set, on stage at the Octagon Theatre Bolton. Designed by Tim Shortall (who also designed our productions of Top Girls and The Big Fellah, as well as the recent West End La Cage Aux Folles […]

Kathryn O’Reilly takes a break from rehearsals to talk about crime, punishment and the long sea voyage of the First Fleet. Her character, Liz Morden, comes from various prototypes. One is Nancy Turner, a 21-year-old servant who was tried at Worcester in 1785 for stealing clothes to the value of 40 shillings. She was sentenced […]

We spoke to Andy Smith about designing the sound for Our Country’s Good, and how he became a sound designer. What does a sound design do for a production? A good sound design enhances the experience for the audience and immerses them in the production. I tend to favour a subtle sound design when it […]