Myself and Ashley didn’t come from a background of any education within the performing arts. Nor do we have any connections within the field. We came from a background similar to John Maguire, our guest for this episode, where theatre wasn’t accessible and wasn’t encouraged. John’s ‘Arts Groupie CIC’ companies mission is to make the arts accessible for all. This really resonated with ourselves. When we were listening to this episode, I turned to Ashley and said this is our type of guy, we need to have a good pint with him at the Arts Bar sometime.

When I was listening to John, I couldn’t believe how Likeminded we were. It was a pleasure to hear the enthusiasm and passion with each topic he spoke about, especially ‘Kitty: The Queen of the Washhouse’, the play he wrote and Margaret directed to a sold out audience at St. George’s Hall. Himself and Margaret hold a very strong knowledge of Kitty Wilkinsons life. It was a great insight for me because I love anything historic, especially local. It was very insightful how Margaret and John came to collaborate on such a powerful project and also ‘Weave’, John’s other play he wrote, which was performed at the Royal Court Studio. It was fascinating to hear why and how he started his creative journey. Just like many creatives we know, he started his journey at the legendary Lantern Theatre.

On our journey, we always came across a name that stuck with us all the time,  Margaret Connell from The Lantern Theatre. The theatre closed just as we were getting started and all we got from people we were meeting; “it’s a shame that the Lantern closed down because it would have been great for upcoming creatives like yourselves to start”. Ashley and myself got this from most of the creatives we were speaking to. It was quite frustrating because it sounded like It was a brilliant space.  Not just that, but a community and company that really cared for upcoming local creatives , even Sarah from Falling Doors talks about the Lantern in episode two.  

It was later on in 2018, the opening of the Hope Street Theatre that I could put a face to the name and even then at the launch party, all the guests who spoke were praising the Lantern and how important it was for grass roots theatre which helped so many of our friends on their journey. We would of loved to have been around at that time when this magical place was open. It was great to hear how Margaret started her journey at the age of 31, to how she came across the Lantern and why she started the Lantern Writers. Margret has helped so many creatives within the arts, its hard not to know her name. I was extremely excited once I heard we had booked Margaret as a guest. Honestly ask Caitlin what I was like. This episode is the most insightful yet - covering producing, directing and writing. It was a pleasure listening to this episode and I could get a sense from Caitlin and Bob, that this episode could have gone on for hours and to be honest, I could’ve quite happily listened all night.

It was brilliant to have these two very respected figures within the performing arts come on the podcast to share their experiences and stories with us. This has to be the best episode yet of series one and you will see why this Sunday. Episode three of Likeminded Podcast is available on all major platforms.

Words by Christopher Woodward
Images by Andrew Smith