Sam Hodges has only been at the Criterion Theatre a few months as the new producer where he's put together a brand new programme of ancillary and alternative events under the banner CRITERION PRESENTS, at lunchtimes, early evenings, late nights and Sundays - dedicated to the kind of London audience you might not usually find in the West End - yes, the likes of us Run-Rioters! We caught up with Sam to hear the latest.

Run-Riot: What's been giving you the most pleasure over the last few days?
Sam Hodges: Working in a theatre. I've spent the last 5 years making theatre from outside a building, so being fully immersed in the smell, feel and atmosphere of a theatre with the kind of history as the Criterion is intoxicating.

RR: Not many people know that The Criterion is the only independent theatre in the west end - creatively, what makes it such a rare beast?
SH: Unlike so many other West End theatres, it doesn't have to fit within the governance and brand of a corporate group, but can be much more flexible and responsive to what is needed. I've only been here a couple of months, but the board is small and very intuitive and, most importantly, receptive to the idea of change and growth.

RR: Time to blow that trumpet! Every Saturday night between now and 26th November you have a late night performance by the amazing comedy-jazz-juggernaut The Horne Section with different special guests each show - what can we expect?
SH: Every Saturday - a different triumvirate of top-notch comics, including Tims Key and Minchin, who improvise a mix of what they do so well with the jamming of an incredibly talented band and a very funny frontman, Alex Horne.

RR: Before coming to the Criterion, you had founded the HighTide Festival (championing emerging playwrights), programming much of the New Writing content as well as the panel debates with key industry speakers that touched on hot political subjects from the coalition to climate change and art. Will you bring debate and discussion to the Criterion programme?
SH: Absolutely. I've launched a monthly 'live' version of panel debates a bit like The Review Show called Critics at the Cri, where I discuss three new openings on the London stage with a range of top-level critics and special guests - for the first, we had Spandau Ballet's Gary Kemp! The idea is to open it up and encourage audiences to get stuck in with the discussion. I'm also directing a late-night evening of ghost stories - Stories Before Bedtime, read by some terrific readers - Mark Gatiss (League of Gentlemen), Tim McInnerney (Blackadder, Notting Hill), and Patricia Hodge (Miranda) - the idea is to come down on your way out to Halloween parties, fully dressed up, and be fully spooked for an hour. Finally, I'm delighted to have Mark Rylance [Jerusalem] coming to chat with Mark Lawson [Front Row], as part of our Lunchtime With... series, where leading actors and actresses currently performing in the West End chat about their lives and careers.

RR: You have an amazing calibre of talent involved with the new programme - if you had to take them all out for a racey night on the tiles, where would you go and what would you do to bring out the hedonist in them all?
SH: I'd go to The Box. But it would need to be them taking me. I've got no clout.

RR: With Stephen Fry being the new Chairman of the Criterion Board how does he and the other board members - Sally Greene, Robert Bourne, Alan Banes, Joyce Hytner, Peter Clayton - influence your programming, if at all? Is it all 'crunchy' Apple's dripping with wry innuendo, witty Tweets and heated discussions about bedlam?
SH: Stephen is hugely supportive and excited about the Criterion, but also probably the busiest man on the planet, after Barack Obama. Neither he nor the board directly influence the programming persay, but they tell me which ideas they prefer and I chat to most of them regularly. And it obviously doesn't do any harm when Stephen tweets his 3.5 million followers about why you should be at the Criterion.

RR: What plans for 2012?
SH: It's too early to confirm anything yet - but we've got lots of plans. What I do know is that I want to be opening the Criterion up to the kinds of companies and artists that you wouldn't normally associate with a West End theatre. Obviously the Olympics are coming, so theatreland is trying desperately to work out what that means, in terms of audience. I think it could be quite an exciting opportunity, if handled the right way - after all, a trip to London isn't complete without visiting the theatre.

Follow Sam Hodges @mrsamhodges
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For more info go to www.criterion-theatre.co.uk