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Is this a play? Performance art? Essay? Real or not real? This play/text/email chain was originally presented as a live performance and digital experience combination, then printed onto paper, and now thrust back onto the internet by us in the form of audio podcast exploration. Heavy.

We talk chronic illness, the digital body, and the horrors/freedoms that the internet brings. Also, how cool Eve Leigh is in general. Eve Leigh we love you, if you see this please hit us up.

Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover?

Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various
Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go find @rootlingtheatre for his puppet antics)

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East coast round 2!

We talk aliens, village gossip, and the strange prescience of this play written in 1973 about 1907 when being read in 2025.

FAIRYTALE UPDATE:

I have searched and can find nothing substantial about this fairytale or why it is the birth of drama in children. If anyone has any ideas please get in touch.

Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover?

Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various
Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go find @rootlingtheatre for his puppet antics)

Send us a text

Once again we dive into a time bending play about sad women. This time it's Lucy Kirkwood's 2020 play The Welkin; set in 18th century Suffolk/Norfolk, 12 women must decide the fate of another in this epicly jam-packed courtroom(ish) drama. We talk oppression, class solidarity, and jokes about Lowestoft.

Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover?

Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various
Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go find @rootlingtheatre for his puppet antics)

Send us a text

Time. Ghosts. Violence. Hope. Academia.

We return to pod favourite Alistair McDowall for his incredible 2022 play The Glow.

Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover?

Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various
Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go find @rootlingtheatre for his puppet antics)

Send us a text

We recorded this 3 years ago and then forgot to make more podcasts. It holds up!!! Declaring this the end of season 1, we'll be back with certified fresh content in 2 weeks time.

Sam Shepard's True West is about two things: truth and the wild west. Oh, and two brothers. Oh, and Picasso. And coyotes. It's pretty famous.

Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover?

Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood on various
Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool2 on Instagram (and go find @rootlingtheatre for his puppet antics)

Send us a text

Step 1) Nuclear Meltdown
Step 2) Gang Warfare Over Simpsons Quotes
Step 3) ????
Step 4) The Greatest Story Ever Told

If you're not familiar with the play of post-apocalyptic pop-culture mythology, prepare to have your mind blown, as we discuss Anne Washburn's play all about The Simpsons and the fusion of high/low art.

Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover?

Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy
Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood
Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool

Send us a text

Despite the characters explicitly talking about the cold all the time, prepare to hear about some very hot and sweaty goings on in this William's classic. When a young hot guy walks into a Southern town that's afraid of hot people, there's prejudice and hatred to deal with on top of all the wild animal metaphors that Tennessee loves so much.

We discuss why the town is so afraid of hot people, what it might be like to be a bird with no legs, and themes of isolation in one's own body.

Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover?

Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy
Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood
Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool

Send us a text

Up front:
1) TW, this episode contains quite frank discussions of a variety of grisly topics, including sexual assault and suicide.
2) This podcast is about the original play, NOT the musical version (though we do of course mention the musical as how could you not!? In particular the recent Almeida production which, spoiler alert, we love)

Have some feedback? A play you'd like us to cover?

Visit the official podcast twitter @playgroundpoddy
Chat to host Nancy @N_Netherwood
Chat to host Sam @Samwebbercool