The Jammy Podcast

#21 Fishbowl Productions

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.

#20 - Linus Karp

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.

#19 Spitlip - David Cumming and Natasha Hodgson

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

#18 Phoebe Morgan

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.

#17 Joel Montague

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/.