Review: Applied Theatre Podcast

Tom Craig is an applied performance maker and Derby Theatre’s Community and Learning producer, but alongside this work he has also developed the Applied Theatre Podcast. Featuring interviews with educators and practitioners, this is a useful resource to learn about the practice of others while also offering creators a platform to share their work. Released semiregularly since October 2020, the podcast received the Outstanding Drama Education Resource Award at the Music and Drama Education Awards in 2022.

While it may not be a particularly high-end, glossy production, the podcast offers a kaleidoscopic look at some of the UK’s most exciting artists, facilitators, producers, dramaturgs and creators making theatre at a grassroots level. It would be a particularly useful resource for A Level teachers who are on the lookout for practitioners to study with their classes and want to go beyond the ‘big names’. In each episode, Craig meets people working at the intersection of theatre, art, social work, community outreach, technology and education.