He doesn’t want to be here. He wants to be at home, away from potential viruses.

But that doesn’t stop him being witty and charming. Both shows are fun and vibrant, with a joke a minute, each one being quickly set up and smashed down.

There’s a few things that always happen in a Stewart Lee gig. He always slurs other comedians – this time it’s Ricky Gervais, Jimmy Carr and Pheobe Waller-Bridge – apparently Fleabag isn’t the first time ever that the fourth wall has been broken, who knew. There’s a lengthy bit about Alan Bennett, and Dave Chapelle doesn’t fair too well.

As a self professed fat, balding, deaf, man in his fifties with poor eyesight and diabetes, he doesn’t look like your typical snowflake. And he’s not. He’s just very culturally and socially aware, and believes strongly in political correctness. He has centre left politics, and isn’t afraid to share them.

It’s not intellectual comedy, but it is cerebral. It’s not deadpan, but it is laidback. He takes you on a journey, but there’s no conclusion. You don’t need those things with Lee. You feel comfortable, even as he challenges you, and the crowd are roaring with laughter throughout.

Is he the world’s greatest living stand-up? I’ve not seen enough to answer that. But as a man to spend my last day of freedom with, he’ll do pretty well.

What has influenced your thinking around the production?

I think a big thing which has influenced my thinking on the production has been about what a forest is and what it represents. I did a lot of reading into the way forests function and the societal behaviour of trees. I was quite determined not to have any trees on stage, mainly because everybody kept asking me how are you going to do the trees?!

But actually, when you look into trees and their behaviour, they’re extraordinary. There’s a network of roots in a forest, so all the trees are connected to each other. If one tree is struggling then other trees who have enough, will send nutrients to try and save that other tree through the root system, regardless of species.  They believe – it sounds ridiculous(!) – the success of the forest depends on the success of every single tree within that forest.  I took that as a metaphor for society, and what Shakespeare is asking us to think about as audience members watching this play, especially right now in a time of increased borders and a rise of – you could say – nationalism, and concern with ourselves.

In the play there’s a marked difference between the restrictive world of the court and the forest.  In our version of the play the audience will represent the trees. When the play reaches the forest scenes, the actors will be able to see the audience, whereas they didn’t have access to them during the court scenes.  The forest world is a world where we can interact and communicate with each other.

You have said this production was all about putting the ‘you’ in As You Like It – can you tell us a bit about what you mean by that and how will this be reflected in the staging?

I think putting the ‘You’ in As You Like It is something that Shakespeare has done with this play – he’s constantly playing with the relationship between the actors and the audience, and lots of the characters in the play go between being characters, being spectators, being actors – he’s referring to the act of theatre constantly (“All the world’s a stage”). And so I think Shakespeare is asking us as theatre-makers to reconsider our relationship to the audience, making the audience feel that their presence in the theatre matters, that it changes what we’re doing. And they can be directly involved with what’s happening on the stage – so we’re really embracing that with the production.

I think it’s also reflected in the actors that are part of this show, and the other two plays that are part of the same season.  We want the acting company to reflect the nation in all its diversity.  This play was written at a time when society was becoming more diverse, and the play itself is about celebrating and embracing difference.

What are your current thoughts on the style of the production? Can you give us any early insights into the process?

I’m not setting the play in a particular time or place.  It doesn’t feel like a play which needs a certain period setting. And I’m very aware as a director of not choosing a setting which restricts the play, and that only tells one aspect of the play so I always look for the approach and the framework that allows all of the play to live.

In many ways the play is a massive exploration of theatre itself.  So there will be elements of panto, live music, stand-up comedy on stage.  And there will be audience interaction, political debate and improvisation.

Although everyone will look and feel very modern, we’ll be using a real mingle-mangle of costumes from different productions, and will be playing with different genres, different times, different periods.  It’s going to be a real mish-mash that celebrates the art of theatre making.

Would you say As You Like It is as much about ‘finding yourself’ as ‘getting lost’?

I think sometimes you have to lose yourself to find yourself. But Shakespeare isn’t asking us to get lost in order to just get lost – that would be pointless. He’s asking us to break down some of our barriers and to think outside of the boxes that we’ve put ourselves in, or that society has put us in.  And he puts the responsibility on the human being to do that for one’s self. I think the play is about the potential for change in humanity, and for us to be able to change the world we must first change ourselves and embrace other sides of ourselves.

We understand that this production features one of the most ambitious props and set elements ever created by the RSC’s production teams. Can you explain a little bit about where the idea for ‘Hymen’ came about?

Hymen is the god of marriage, which will be represented by a very large prop/puppet We have to believe in this God and yet, God is not a tangible thing. God is a leap of imagination, so how do we get 1000 audience members to take that leap in their imaginations and believe in this God? All of the actors will be involved in the scene in which Hymen appears – it will be a communal act, to give the sense of coming together and believing in a God or in something bigger than ourselves.

The role of Rosalind has been described as ‘the female Hamlet’ and is credited with more lines than any other female Shakespearean character. Was this something that attracted you to the play?

Yes absolutely!  I was attracted to a woman who is working out who she is as the play unfolds. I think sometimes with Shakespeare’s women, it feels like they already know who they are. Or that their internal life isn’t really the thing that Shakespeare is exploring in the play. With Rosalind it’s completely different. She changes her mind all the time, and she changes her mind with us, with the audience.

She talks about this magician, this uncle magician, who she’s conversed with since the age of 3, and Lucy Phelps, who is playing the role, and I have talked a lot about who on earth this magician is. We feel that this magician is inside of all of us, representing the potential for change and to be different people.  The play is really all about Rosalind having a conversation with herself to find a way to contentment, and that’s not easy.  Sometimes you have to crawl through the dirt to get to the diamond. 

Many well known actors have played Rosalind for the RSC, including Peggy Aschroft, Vanessa Redgrave, Eileen Atkins, Juliet Stevenson, and more recently, Katy Stephens and Pippa Nixon. What do you think Lucy Phelps will bring to the role?

Ah, Lucy Phelps! I think Lucy is relentlessly intelligent and rigorous in what she as an actress and as a woman wants from the world, and she does all of that with generosity and with the most infectious spirit.  I think you have to have both of those things to play Rosalind. And that’s something that she has very, very naturally.

Lucy’s never satisfied as an artist.  She’s always digging, she’s always chipping away.  But if you chip, chip, chip away in rehearsal, and then walk on stage and you’ve stopped chipping because you’ve decided what it is, then you’ve lost Rosalind – whereas Lucy has the bravery as an actress, to keep discovering… to keep searching…  

What do you hope audiences will take away from this production? 

I would like for the audience to take away a new relationship with their own ‘magician’.  To feel able to explore the possibility and potential of change, especially right now, with all of the uncertainty in this country and Europe and the rest of the world.  To feel that change is possible, and that change can come from working together, learning from each other and from being more honest.  Being brave enough to jump off the cliff into the unknown.

If you were given the chance to escape to the forest, what three things would you take with you?

My dog, Plato.

My husband.

And a really good walking stick!

Now it’s time to visit Canterbury’s The Malthouse Theatre. This fresh new production from Matthew Townshend Productions moves forward in time to the year 1958, and the scene is set with period decoration and includes songs written and produced exclusively for the production by upcoming musicians Ben Goble with JS and the Lockerbillies.

The classic comic love story is the tale of a Salford cobbler with three unruly daughters that owes more than a little to King Lear and Cinderella. The daughters work in the shop unpaid, whilst Hobson (John D Collins) spends his time drinking with the fellow members of the masons at the Moonrakers pub. It’s music that keeps the girls inspired, but soon forthright and spiky eldest daughter Maggie (Becky Hoyle) has had enough and breaks free. The younger sisters Vickey (Chloe Carrington) and Alice (Marie Kemp) have the opportunity to make their own escape – but family ties and expectations run deep.

Debts, relationships, family feuds and success are all explored in this pacy and vibrant adaptation that remains faithful to the original script even as it updates it. Marriage is the only option – a Hobson’s choice, meaning no choice at all – for these women, modern as they are. Cutting through generations, it shows that in family life, some stories never get old – and some things never change.

It’s interesting to see a play moved to a more modern period, but one that still isn’t contemporary to the audience. Layers of historical interpretation build up, and its clear how relevant the themes are to whatever time period they are played in. Rebellion of young generation against parental expectations, gender norms and restrictions, and class issues make it as universal and relevant as when first produced in wartime London in 1916. Austerity is a flavour from the 1880s through to 1950s and today.

The sense that change is coming is well articulated, with the sisters believing that dance and music and rock’n’roll is the sign of something new. Interspersing each scene with some rock’n’roll dancing is great fun, and keeps the energy up. Their choices may be limited, but the delivery of this play means that the audience never feel constricted or bored.

It’s a brilliant show, with just the right mix of entertainment and thought provoking exploration.

The Malthouse Theatre, based at King’s School, opened earlier this year, after a 28 million scheme converting the Victorian-built Malthouse into a performance and rehearsal space. It’s a great space, with the audience at the level of the stage, so feeling very much ‘in the action.’

That’s certainly what Handlebards do. The company cycling actors who carry all the set, props and costume needed to perform extremely energetic, charmingly chaotic and environmentally sustainable Shakespeare plays.

What’s not to love?

Especially when they are hosted by The Marlowe Theatre and performing on a sunny evening at Greyfriars Gardens, just down from The Marlowe’s new space, The Kit. Picnic and drinks at the ready, it was an ideal place to soak up some culture – and raise a few smiles.

In Much Ado About Nothing we see each one of the four male actors take on multiple parts, clearly differentiated by cycling bibs and handlebars. Audience participation was ramped up, and we had two very open and enthusiastic participants take on parts when it was called for. Slapstick came to the fore – as it would have done for the groundlings in Shakespeare’s day – and they played with language and lyricism to make the plot skip along without losing any of the quick wit that the play relies on. Cross dressing, a bit of drunkenness, and a lot of laughs all come to the fore, and make the two hours skip along merrily for all involved. Plotting, frivolity and capers ensue, and the audience is kept captivated and excited as the troupe bounce of each other and the audience.

It’s all enormously good fun. Which is sometimes just how Shakespeare should be.

Why did you set up Easter Island Records?

Initially we just had the idea of putting on a couple of shows for some punk bands we knew and respected. We are made up of musicians and artists and wanted to try putting on a show as we had spent years hanging out in basements listening to over amplified punk and thought it would be a fun thing to do ourselves. We started putting on a few more show’s before Trent from The Spanish Infanta asked us to put out his record Lame Temples on wax. So it all kind of came together through trial and error,  we said ‘let’s try this’ and then ‘okay’ to a few things and before we knew it we were haphazardly running Canterbury’s new DIY record label, and having a blast.

What do you mean by it being a ‘community based record label?’

We are community driven and work in the wider Canterbury area on local charity projects whilst also producing global record releases. We began as a punk DIY record label and are proud to still support those principles. We want to support brilliant artists to release their music on ethical principles. Profit doesn’t drive us but supporting artists to be autonomous and creative and have their music heard as widely as possible does. On our website, we include a step by step guide to help local musicians publish and share their music. Outside of the label releases, we are passionate about working alongside artists and developing their craft. One of the core members of Easter Island Records runs a recording studio, Roswell Records where we have been nurturing and helping artists develop their music whilst retaining and promoting that sense of ‘community’. Being working class and having to work for our privileges, we had to self fund everything at the beginning and rely on favours until it started paying for itself. The truth  is: You get out what you put in.

How do you choose the bands that will make it on to your roster?

We seem to jump around with the music we release. There are four of us currently on the label team with four different opinions, and we all find artists from completely different backgrounds in music. We all play in bands, promote shows, produce music, but we are all involved in the arts in one form or the other. I guess we try to distinguish ourselves by what we all like as opposed to what we should like, a consolidation of all our musical interests. Right now with Tokyo Tea Room, Stirrat, Hayes & Baynes and Aunt Margaux it’s quite dreamy and indie. Some psychedelic notes with some folk thrown in there but all linked to the ‘canterbury sound’, whilst never turning away from what’s new or forward-thinking. We have got some other things on the cards, a few wildcards to throw in the mix.

What is the Kent music scene like?

The Kent music scene is vast. There’s a massive versatility to everyone involved that always astounds us. The artists we have known for so long have had time to learn their craft and truly come into their own, but there are more and more new artists popping up every day. It’s a great time to be into music, it’s everywhere.

What successes have you had? (What counts as a success?!)

I think just organising a show, sourcing the PA, getting everyone in the building and loaded in on time and then leaving the venue without owing anyone money is a massive victory. Sometimes its hard putting on a ‘gig’. It’s a vulnerable thing, trying to put a show on and showcase a musician. I mean we’ve had sold out shows, overseen multiple vinyl releases, and had airplay on Radio 6. Right now Tokyo Tea Room’s latest single got premiered by Line of Best Fit and is in the H&M in store playlist and it’s doing incredibly. I think it’s hard to say as our goal posts are constantly getting moved, right now we are a little less DIY and getting a little more ‘professional’ with things but I would like to say that it will always be about just putting on a decent show.

Easter Island Records will be hosting the Aunt Margaux single launch at Bramley’s in Canterbury on Wednesday 17 April.

Why and how did you set up the Canterbury Shakespeare Festival?

Ben Chamberlain founded the festival in 2014 with the help of his father Andy to provide a place for the people of Canterbury to display and share their love of the Bard. It was created to give people a beautiful summer’s evening in the picturesque surroundings that Canterbury offers. It was also created to make theatre more accessible to our local community, and to give local actors and creatives the chance to do something amazing in their summer. The current Festival Board of Directors took over from Ben at the end of last year’s festival, although Ingrid has been involved on the committee since the third year. Elliot, the Artistic Director, has been the only director to direct a play in every season and was a natural choice for Artistic Director, and Charlotte has been heavily involved both on and off stage since the start. Together we aim to continue Ben and Andy’s ideas and grow the festival in every way.

Why did you choose the particular plays you have this season?

We have an open selection process – we ask directors to send in their ideas for a play for the festival. We then meet with them individually, the Festival Board and the director, and they pitch their play to us. We then go away and discuss, and choose our plays from that selection. This year, the plays almost all fell nicely into an arena of mental health – Timon of Athens, Lear and Hamlet all deal with the subject in different ways. Merry Wives is a little different, in that it’s more playful, and Mary Stuart is a departure for us as we’ve never performed a play not strictly related to Shakespeare before. However, Oliver and Andrew convinced the Board that Schiller would do the festival proud.

Did Shakespeare ever come to Canterbury?

There’s no evidence to suggest that he did come to Canterbury, but on the flip side of that, there’s no evidence to suggest that he didn’t! As best we know, his company, The King’s Men, did perform in Fordwich, a tiny village not too distant from here, so it’s not unlikely. However, Canterbury itself was very puritanical at that time, so the fact they performed in Fordwich suggests that they were performing there because they weren’t allowed into the city proper.

Why is Shakespeare still relevant?

Wow, that’s a big question, and one I get asked frequently. I think Shakespeare is still relevant because he wrote human stories. The characters in his plays are living, breathing human beings, not two dimensional caricatures. Their speeches encapsulate the human condition so well, and you can see every character’s point of view – they aren’t necessarily defined heroes and villains, but more on a scale. Sure, some are worse than others (nobody’s here defending Iago) but Shakespeare shows us their motivations for their actions whether they’re killing a king, assassinating a dictator, or usurping the throne. We also have such a wide range of genres and styles in his plays – arguably more so than any other writer ever – he tries his hand at farce, high drama, romance, tragedy, history, comedy, even ghost stories. And in every single play there’s something, whether it’s a line, a monologue or a whole story line, that has captured the public’s imagination and survived the 400-odd years.

One of your aims is to make theatre accessible. How do you do this?

Well, first of all, every year we perform a show that is free to attend, so that anybody can come. We also cast almost everybody who auditions, regardless of experience, so that the maximum number of people can be involved. We aim to reach people who have limited or no previous access to Shakespeare, and this is true not just for our audience, but our actors and production roles too. When choosing directors, we don’t look for experience, but merely a passion for the play they are pitching.

Although this show at The Marlowe‘s Studio is ‘just’ a reading, not a performance – the stage lights are up, there’s no scenery – it’s engaging, atmospheric and compelling. Honest and compassionate, he reveals his soul, and in the process, reveals some of the truths about family.

For, as he explains, family is a collection of people sharing disputed memories, all confirming that one another exists. Lemn didn’t have that, and in the play explores the themes of identity and self that arose as a result. We hear stories from his early days in Lancashire, before visiting the bright lights of big city Manchester. He tells us of his social workers and carers, one of whom named him Norman. We are there for the first meeting with his mother. There may be just one man on stage, but we’re privy to voices and stories of the people in the cities, care homes and communities that Lemn grew up in.

Something Dark was published by Oberon Books in September 2017, was adapted for BBC radio in 2005, and has been performed around the world. Lemn is the current Canterbury Poet Laureate, and involved in creativity and community ventures in the city. Canterbury will be hosting a Christmas Dinner for care leavers this year.

The Play That Goes Wrong begins before we enter the auditorium. Outside in the foyer the Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society – who are putting on a 1920s murder mystery for our delight – are already running late, arguing and crashing about. Once inside the audience are straight away drawn into the action, with one member of the audience being hauled on the stage to fix broken scenery. The activity takes place not just to the front, but up and down the aisles, and all around the theatre.

This is slapstick and farce, and hilarious with it. Never forced or awkward, there’s a warmhearted fun to the often unexpected twists to the performance. Even when we know things are coming, such as the repeated joke of one cast member always missing his cue and interrupting other scenes, it just seems to get funnier and funnier rather than tired. Things disintegrate so badly that it’s clear their execution can only be achieved by real professionals.

Focus is on the physical comedy, with injury playing a big role. There’s some gentle teasing of nostalgic am dram pieces, and it’s these small touches that endear us to the characters. Once we’ve stopped snorting, crying and peeing, we’re able to sit back and enjoy it for what it is – a comedic masterpiece of mad cap brilliance. The Play That Goes Wrong gets it so so right.