The Play’s the Thing, the latest high-arts talent contest from Channel 4 (in England)is a reality show that seeks to find not merely a single performer but a playwright and a production at the New Ambassadors Theatre – a complete West End event. Producer Jan Younghusband, who was once a theater manager,is the first to admit that, in seeking to produce a play by a writer with no previous theatrical experience, “the ambition of the series is a bit mad” – but she’s also keen to emphasise its gravity. “At heart this is a programme with a very serious narrative about what a play needs to be to go on in the West End, and why it’s different.”

Read the rest of the article at The Guardian.