What happens when a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning playwright decides to take on the unexpectedly twisted world of fairy tales? Branden Jacobs-Jenkins joins us to discuss his new work at the Shaw Festival.

Jacobs-Jenkins pulls back the curtain on crafting a show from scratch with a new ensemble of actors, the pure magic of spontaneous puppet design, and why storytelling remains an ancient, living art form. It is an insightful and hilarious conversation about honouring old traditions while daring to rewrite the rules.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins joins the Shaw Festival as the writer and director of A New Work in Progress. An internationally acclaimed playwright and theatre artist, his celebrated works include Purpose, Appropriate, The Comeuppance and Gloria. His plays Everybody and An Octoroon have been produced here at the Shaw Festival. Branden is a Professor in the Practice at Yale University and serves as the Vice President of the Dramatists Guild council. He is the recipient of two Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship, the Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama, and the inaugural Tennessee Williams Award.

Tickets to all of our shows are available now at shawfest.com.

Hosted by Alexis Milligan
Produced by Kelly Wong
Original Music by Travis Seetoo

We want to hear from you! Drop us a line at podcast@shawfest.com

What happens when actors have to perform two completely different masterpieces at the exact same time? Actors Tom and Michael join host Spike to talk about pulling double duty at the Shaw Festival in Amadeus and Heartbreak House. The two share stories from their earliest acting gigs before diving into what it actually takes to bounce between two massive scripts every day. They break down the literal physical challenge of acting on a steep, slanted stage, the trick to making centuries-old language sound natural, and how they find the human heart inside the legendary rivalry of Salieri and Mozart. It is a candid look at the messy, exhausting, and deeply rewarding reality of live repertory theatre.

Tom Rooney returns for his 4th season at the Shaw Festival, appearing in both Heartbreak House and Amadeus. Since joining the Shaw ensemble, Tom has delighted audiences in My Fair Lady, The Apple Cart, and Cyrano de Bergerac. A highly celebrated actor, he spent 14 seasons with the Stratford Festival and has starred in numerous hit productions at Crow's Theatre, including Uncle Vanya and Fifteen Dogs. Tom is a Dora and Sterling Award winner, whose extensive film and television credits include Transplant, Under the Banner of Heaven, and Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities.

Michael Therriault celebrates his 5th season at the Shaw Festival, pulling double duty in Heartbreak House and Amadeus. His memorable Shaw credits include Me and My Girl, Anything Goes, and Rope. Michael is a prominent fixture of both the Canadian and international stage, having starred in The Lord of the Rings in Toronto and the West End, The Producers for Mirvish, and Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, alongside a prolific multi-season tenure at the Stratford Festival. His screen work includes notable roles in Fellow Travelers, Chucky, Locke & Key, and Murdoch Mysteries.

Tickets to all of our shows are available now at shawfest.com.

Hosted by Alexis Milligan
Produced by Kelly Wong
Original Music by Travis Seetoo

We want to hear from you! Drop us a line at podcast@shawfest.com

On the second part of the conversation, Stephen sits down with Tim Carroll for an expansive, witty, and remarkably honest Q&A session.

This conversation was recorded live at the Shaw Festival in February 2026.

Stephen Fry is an award-winning English actor, author, and playwright whose connection to the Shaw Festival includes adapting the book for Me and My Girl and creating his solo trilogy Mythos, directed by Tim Carroll. A legendary figure in British pop culture from Blackadder to QI to The Traitors, Fry famously embodied the definitive screen version of Jeeves alongside Hugh Laurie in the 1990s television adaptation Jeeves and Wooster. He shares a deep, decades-long artistic relationship with Shaw Artistic Director Tim Carroll, which includes collaborating on the West End and Broadway transfers of the historic Globe Theatre productions of Twelfth Night and Richard III.

Tickets to all of our shows are available now at shawfest.com.

Hosted by Alexis Milligan
Produced by Kelly Wong
Original Music by Travis Seetoo

We want to hear from you! Drop us a line at podcast@shawfest.com