Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Fool for Love
Courtesy of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Jeremy Herrin is a theatre director, best known for his work at the Royal Court in London.
To watch the interview with Jeremy Herrin, click the play button below (or click here to open the video player in a new tab/window).
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To listen to the interview, click the play button below (or click here to open the audio player in a new tab/window).
Steppenwolf Theatre Company's Fool for Love runs through March 16, 2025 at the Steppenwolf Downstairs Theater in Chicago, Ill.
More information about the show, as well as ticketing information, can be found on the Steppenwolf website.
Mike Reflects
I have long been fascinated by the impact of cultural differences on how audiences perceive entertainment, especially as it pertains to the US and the UK.
Some television shows, like Whose Line Is It Anyway? are big hits in the UK, only to be just as big in the US, while changing very little.
Other shows, like The Office are successfully adapted in the US after being highly successful in the UK, though the two ultimately bear very little resemblance to each other.
Then you have a show like The IT Crowd that shot an American pilot that was nearly a word-for-word carbon copy of the British original that faltered and wasn't attempted again.
Sam Shepard is often described as bringing a uniquely American perspective to his work. Jeremy even mentioned in the interview that, among other things, Fool for Love is a look at the so-called “American dream”.
Needless to say, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to speak to an English director about helming a pointedly American work on a uniquely Chicago stage.
And Jeremy certainly didn't disappoint.
I'm not sure how much he had thought about those intersections before I had asked him about them, but it certainly provided a thoughtful discussion and insightful look at what goes into bringing a show like this to life.
Having watched, listened, and participated in that discussion, I can say that I have never felt as much that my interview was essentially a companion piece to the project being discussed.
Obviously, I always recommend that readers watch or listen to the interviews that these reflections accompany. In fact, I find that recommendation so obvious that I generally leave it unsaid.
In this case, though, I'm saying it explicitly, simply so that I can say that I believe that it will lend a deeper understanding to Jeremy's approach to this production on the Steppenwolf stage, and, thus, the production itself.