“Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings…”

Christmas Eve, 1946, Bedford Falls. Down-on-his-luck banker George Bailey feels life has passed him by, and he's at the end of his rope.

But when George's guardian angel pays him a visit, he's amazed to discover what life in his beloved town would be like without him. Maybe it's a wonderful life, after all?

Cait interviews the cast, Matt Hoisch, Nicole Pavlou, Rob Wallis and Ben Wheeler of the new production of It's A Wonderful Life, at Putney Arts Theatre, based on the critically acclaimed Frank Capra movie, reimagining a joyful story of love, hope and community.

Directed by Lois Savill and Kate Lawrence, adapted by Mary Elliott Nelson.

Artistic Directors: Barney and Cait Hart Dyke.
Podcast Editor and sound design: Nick Wells.
Music is 'At the Tropicana' by Chalalatas, license courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
Recorded at the Putney Arts Theatre.

The Putney Theatre Company at The South West End!
See us online – putneytheatrecompany.org.uk

Cait interviews cast members for the new production of the Tom Stoppard move blockbuster, Shakespeare in Love, adapted for the stage.

Young Will Shakespeare has writer's block... the deadline for his new play is fast approaching but he's in desperate need of inspiration. That is, until he finds his muse – the courtly Viola de Lesseps. This beautiful young woman is Will’s greatest admirer and will stop at nothing (including breaking the law) to appear in his next play, disguising herself as boy-player Thomas Kemp. Against a bustling background of mistaken identity, ruthless scheming and backstage theatrics, Will’s love for Viola quickly blossoms and inspires him to write his greatest masterpiece.

The story is, at heart, a romantic comedy but it is also about the glorious world of show-business - nothing much changes in theatre and that London's Bankside in 1593 was much like commercial theatre today. Money men assert their power, scripts get rewritten, egos have to be massaged, rivalries develop and last-minute crises intervene. Yet, by the magic that is theatre - somehow Shakespeare manages to turn the distinctly unpromising Romeo and Ethel the Pirate’s Daughter into the masterpiece that is Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare in Love
Based on the Screenplay by Marc Norman & Tom Stoppard, adapted for the stage by Lee Hall
Directed by Jodi Rilot & Barney Hart Dyke
12-16 November, 7.45pm
16 November, 3pm

Artistic Directors: Barney and Cait Hart Dyke.
Podcast Editor, sound design and interview: Nick Wells.
Music is 'At the Tropicana' by Chalalatas, license courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
Recorded at the Putney Arts Theatre.

The Putney Theatre Company at The South West End!
See us online – putneytheatrecompany.org.uk

An emergency episode in the absence of Cait, the cast of Death and the Maiden (by Ariel Dorfman, directed by the inestimable Kim Dyas) drop in for a chat, late evening, during a break in rehearsals.
Cast: Paulina Escobar (Sharon Czudak), Gerardo Escobar (Aidan Kershaw) and Roberto Miranda as Paul Dineen.
Set in a country that is transitioning to democracy. Death and the Maiden explores how - and if - a nation can start to heal its wounds after years of living in a dictatorship regime.
Gerardo and Paulina are married and have finally started to relax after years of living in fear. When a stranger visits their home at Gerardo's invitation, Paulina thinks that she recognises his voice as one of her torturers – "the Doctor". Determined to administer justice for herself, she takes matters into her own hands and makes sure he pays for his former sins. But, is this stranger really "the Doctor", or simply an innocent citizen?
A classic of 20th-century theatre, Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden ran for a year in the West End, was a hit on Broadway and was filmed by Roman Polanski starring Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver.
"A play for today, for the age of revenge, when dictatorships crumble right and left and the victims, the living dead, emerge from the shadows and present their accounts..." – Sunday Times
Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman
15-19 October, 7.45pm. Matinee, 19 October, 3pm
The Studio, Putney Arts Theatre
Cast: Paulina Escobar (Sharon Czudak), Gerardo Escobar (Aidan Kershaw) and Roberto Miranda (Paul Dineen).
Crew: Kim Dyas (Director), Veronika Wilson (co-Director), Paul Tierney (Stage Manager), Rich Evans (Set and Lighting Design) Caroline D'Arcy (Production Manager), Loetitia Delais (Sound and Light operator), Nick Wells (Music and Sound Design).

Artistic Directors: Barney and Cait Hart Dyke.
Podcast Editor, sound design and interview: Nick Wells.
Music is 'At the Tropicana' by Chalalatas, license courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
Recorded at the Putney Arts Theatre.

The Putney Theatre Company at The South West End!
See us online – putneytheatrecompany.org.uk