82. From Puppies to Greek Tragedy at Regents Park Open Air Theatre with Timothy Sheader and actress Kate Fleetwood Break Out Culture With Ed Vaizey by Country and Town House

This summer marks the 90th season of this beautiful theatre in the heart of the park’s Inner Circle. Regents Park is the oldest, professional, permanent outdoor theatre in Britain, and we celebrate by talking to Chief Executive and Artistic Director, Timothy Sheader, about the theatre’s history and its delightfully varied 2022 summer programme, including Legally Blonde, which ended its run this weekend, 101 Dalmatians, just opened, and Antigone, opening in September.

101 Dalmatians is a newly commissioned musical with music and lyrics by Douglas Hodge and book by Johnny McKnight, based on Dodie Smith’s classic story and adapted for stage by Zinnie Harris. We’re also chatting to Kate Fleetwood, a Tony and Olivier Award Nominee who stars in the Amazon Prime series The Wheel of Time.  Kate tells us about playing the ultimate villainess Cruella de Vil and the impact of being able to see the audience on her performance.  We have a fun, summery, upbeat chat about  the dalmatian puppets and the secrets of staging a really good musical in which every song is earned.