Regional theatre: Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse

INTERVIEW: WILLY RUSSELL The legendary playwright talks to Dominic Cavendish about his rewritten classic Stags and Hens (Royal Court Liverpool), and mulls over thoughts about living in Liverpool, working-class experience, and his smash hit Blood Brot...

REGIONAL THEATRE: BIRMINGHAM Jonathan Church, artistic director of the revitalised Birmingham Rep, outlines the theatre's strategy for success to Dominic Cavendish.

REGIONAL THEATRE: LEEDS Ian Brown, artistic director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, assesses the highs and lows of 2003 with Dominic Cavendish.

INTERVIEW: JOHN BLACKMORE The executive director of the Octagon Theatre in Bolton looks back on his forty-plus year career, during which he saved the Octagon and the Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse Theatres from bankruptcy and headed theatre compani...