Show Notes
David Tarkenter is a rare thing – an actor who simply hasn’t stopped working. For decades he’s graced some of the country’s most iconic stages – The National, The Old Vic, The Globe – alongside theatrical heavyweights including Alan Cumming, Bertie Carvel, Daniel Radcliffe, Mark Gatiss and Johnny Flynn.
And his stories left us speechless. In this Encore, David tells a truly unforgettable story about being flown around the world at a moment’s notice to cover in a production of Hamlet – only to have no idea who he was playing, which were his costumes, and who anyone else on stage was supposed to be.
Link to the full episode: https://pod.link/1875555963/episode/Njk5ZTQwODQ0M2NlYjAxMDVkOTZlNDc4?view=apps&sort=popularity
If you enjoyed the show, you can follow us at:
Instagram @youreontonight
TikTok @youreontonight
YouTube @youreontonight
Get in contact at: [email protected]
Hosted by Kara Alberts-Turner & Liam Horrigan.
Produced by and recorded at The Sound Company, London.
For The Sound Company: Dom Boucher, Luke Nagy, Gareth Wood & Nick Thackeray-Cron alongside Freya Baldwin & Seb Stone.
Show image by Louisa Sexton. Produced by The Sound Company. www.sound.co.uk
Get in touch: [email protected] www.instagram.com/youreontonight www.youtube.com/youreontonight www.tiktok.com/youreontonight
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
More from You're On Tonight
Steph Parry’s most memorable understudy story sounds like something straight out of a musical. In 2016, while working as a standby in 42nd Street, Steph got a phone call telling her to run to a completely different theatre, where a different cast, performing a different show, desperately needed her to step in as Donna in Mamma Mia! With just 18 minutes to get on stage, she went from eating her dinner in the dressing room to playing one of musical theatre’s biggest leading roles - and the press attention that followed changed her life.
Lucy Jenkins and Sooki McShane have cast some of the biggest hits in British theatre, including The Play That Goes Wrong, the original cast of War Horse and A Comedy About Spies. But what does a casting director actually do?
Strictly Come Dancing winner and star of Coronation Street, Ellie Leach, had her stage debut as Miss Scarlett in 2024 in Cluedo 2. Hannah Boyce starred opposite her, directed the show while it was on the road, and also understudied Ellie.
When Margot Robbie produced one of the biggest plays to hit the West End in a generation, Hollywood came with her. Quentin Tarantino was at press night, A-listers were descending on the theatre - and Harry Bradley was standing in the middle of it all as an understudy on Ava Pickett’s 1536.
Clive Marlowe is a world-record holder: he has been covering the same roles on The Mousetrap for 15 years, making him the longest-serving understudy in history and understudy royalty.