Rana Mitter talks to Susannah Clapp with the first review of the National Theatre's production of 'Othello', starring Adrian Lester as the Moor. According to David Boyle's new book, 'Broke', something is killing off the middle classes and to discuss this are Selina Todd and Mark Littlewood. The literary biographer Richard Holmes has taken to the air in his latest book - a history of ballooning and its pioneers. And, as "Who's the Pest?" brings a season of insect inspired events to the Wellcome C...
Apr 24, 2013•46 min
Matthew Sweet is leading an elite party of literary explorers - Linda Grant, Aminatta Forna, Naomi Alderman and Tim Stanley on an expedition to find "the common reader" -- being stalked by Woolf in the 20th Century and by Johnson in the 18th. Both believed that the common reader "uncorrupted with literary prejudices" was the final arbiter of "poetical honours" so it's a quest that's clearly still relevant today. The question is what does a common reader look like in our digital age? What are the...
Apr 23, 2013•45 min
Anne McElvoy and Susannah Clapp review the west-end play Doktor Glas, starring Krister Henricksson, best known in the UK for his role as Kurt Wallander. Sheryl Sandberg the chief operating officer of Facebook talks about her new book, Lean In, describing how women unintentionally hold themselves back in their careers and encourages women to sit at the table and pursue their goals. Saloua Raouda Choucair has her first international exhibition at Tate Modern. Richard Cork and Karl Sharro assess he...
Apr 19, 2013•46 min
Rana Mitter discusses the allure of the missing work of art with the writer Rick Gekoski. Are some works of art more interesting in their absence? New Generation thinkers Corin Throsby and Laurence Scott propose the idea that crowd-funding and social media are changing the relationship of artists and their audiences. Rana talks to the playwright Tanika Gupta about her new play for the RSC, The Empress, opening at the Swan in Stratford. And Ian Macmillan and Julia Jordan discuss the films of the ...
Apr 18, 2013•45 min
Howard Brenton discusses his new play The Arrest of Ai Wei Wei with Philip Dodd. Are the BRICS countries set to challenge the World Bank, and realise a power shift from the West and Northern hemispheres to the East and South? Philip discusses with Oscar Guardiola Rivera, Andrew Chesnut and Robert Guest. New Generation thinker Jonathan Healey explains how land reforms brought in by Napoleon in Spring 1813 heralded a profound social change that still affects us today. And a review of Gus Van Sant'...
Apr 17, 2013•46 min
Matthew Sweet asks historian Charles Glass, author of a new book on deserters in World War Two, whether desertion is an act of sanity, and not - as some armed forces have tended to believe - a symptom of mental illness. He also talks to Ben Griffin of the organisation Veterans for Peace, who represents soldiers in current conflicts who seek a way out. Hermione Lee discusses the letters novelist Willa Cather didn't want you to read, and Sandra Hebron and Mary Wild review Pasolini's controversial ...
Apr 16, 2013•46 min
Since her death on the 8th April, Baroness Thatcher has been lauded as the greatest peace-time Prime Minister of the 20th century, but also criticised as the most divisive politician of a generation. With such a wide range of views, how can we make sense of the 'Iron Lady'? Samira Ahmed is joined by historians Dominic Sandbrook and Selina Todd, economist Mark Littlewood, writers Peter Hitchens and Will Self, Classicist Edith Hall, and politician and veteran of the Thatcher Government Edwina Curr...
Apr 12, 2013•45 min
Samira Ahmed talks to American film director Oliver Stone about his documentary miniseries which uses new archive material and little known documents to explore an unconventional account of events that took place during the twentieth century that have shaped America's history. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses her new novel Americanah. As the British Library expands its archiving power by storing every UK Website, plus public tweets and Facebook entries, we ask what lies behind our need to coll...
Apr 11, 2013•46 min
Matthew Sweet visits Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, home to Rembrandt's The Night Watch, which reopens to the public this month, following a decade of restoration.
Apr 10, 2013•44 min
Philip Dodd explores one of the classics of social history, The Making of the English Working Class by E P Thompson. Ground breaking and passionately engaged it changed the way we thought about the Industrial Revolution and the men, women and children whose hard labour drove it. Even fifty years after its publication modern historians are in dialogue with the book --arguing with its thesis, qualifying its messages and, in the case of the very bold, claiming to have improved on it. To discuss its...
Apr 09, 2013•44 min
Church Historian Diarmaid Macculloch joins Anne McElvoy to discuss the role that silence has played in the development of Christianity. David Dewing, director of The Geffrye Museum, argues that the museum sector neglects a focus on the middle classes; historian Selina Todd joins him to debate this idea. Actor Edward Petheridge and gerontologist Raymond Tallis discuss the neurological impact of the two strokes Petheridge suffered whilst rehearsing for the role of King Lear, which is the subject o...
Apr 05, 2013•47 min
Is nostalgia for an idea of the NHS is inhibiting clear-eyed debate? Samira Ahmed is joined by columnist Ian Birrell and campaigning GP Jonathon Tomlinson to discuss. Alexandra Harris reviews an exhibition of Paul Nash's work at the Pallant House Gallery. Geneticist and writer Adam Rutherford discusses his latest exploration of the origin and future of life. And the television commissioner and producer John Yorke, whose work includes Life on Mars, Shameless and EastEnders, explores television an...
Apr 04, 2013•46 min
What history should children learn and be able to contextualise? And what do they know? Rana Mitter enters the Great British History debate with the historian David Cannadine, Tristram Hunt MP, Sheila Lawlor of the think tank Politeia, Stephen Drew, headmaster of Brentwood County High School in Essex and Professor Dinah Birch of the Universitry of Liverpool.
Apr 02, 2013•44 min
Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner looks back at his time as the head of the National Theatre in London which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Professor Rosi Braidotti discusses her new book The Posthuman with Professor Joanna Bourke. And Award-winning film maker Penny Woolcock reveals her unique involvement in the attempts of two Birmingham inner city gangs to bring peace to their neighbourhoods.
Apr 02, 2013•44 min
Samira Ahmed talks to international best selling author Mohsin Hamid about his new novel How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Susan Aldworth and the editor of the magazine RawVision, John Maizels explore the Wellcome Collection's show of Outsider Art from Japan. Peter Moffat discusses his television series, The Village, starring John Simm and Maxine Peake and to round things off Susannah Clapp reports on the first night of The Low Road - Bruce Norris's follow up to the much garlanded Clybourne...
Mar 28, 2013•45 min
Matthew Sweet talks to acclaimed literary critic James Wood, visits an exhibition on Pompeii & Herculeneum and discusses the legacy of documentary maker Michael Grigsby. Plus the latest film by Francois Ozon, In the House, is reviewed.
Mar 27, 2013•45 min
As Zimbabwe votes in favour of a new constitution, Anne McElvoy is joined by Albie Sachs, journalist Simon Jenkins human rights lawyer Chibli Mallat to examine whether national constitutions aid or impede democracy. In light of this week’s cross-party deal on press regulation established by Royal Charter, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop and media expert James Curran offer contesting views on the State’s relationship with the press. Susannah Clapp delivers a first night review of The Book of Mormon...
Mar 22, 2013•45 min
Rana Mitter hosts a special edition of Night Waves as part of Radio 3’s Baroque Spring season, including a visit to Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland. Joined by artists and designers, Rana explores the legacy of baroque and its influence today.
Mar 21, 2013•46 min
Philosopher and linguist Noam Chomsky joins Philip Dodd for an extended conversation on American individualism, the role of reason, and a life spent holding authority to account. And Philip meet the Master of Wellington College, Anthony Seldon, to get a very different perspective on how power operates in society.
Mar 20, 2013•46 min
Matthew Sweet talks to the Spanish novelist Javier Marias about his new book 'The Infatuations'. Night Waves takes stock of the man who sold the world as a new exhibition 'David Bowie is....' gets set to open at the Victoria and Albert Museum. And In another new book 'The Undivided Past' David Cannadine is looking beyond the supposed clash of religions, classes and civilisations and asks does a "History Beyond Our Differences" lead to confusion in the absence of polarised views?
Mar 19, 2013•46 min
Anne McElvoy talks to Aleksandar Hemon, the Bosnian-born writer who some have been comparing to Nabokov and Conrad, about his newest book which is his first venture into non-fiction. Jonathan Jones reviews the new show of work by the British Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare's. Emma Griffin, Jane Humphries and Judith Hawley discuss a challenging new history of the Industrial Revolution. And Alice Rawsthorn explains why she believes good design and a good life should always go together.
Mar 15, 2013•45 min
Ken Loach talks to Philip Dodd about his new documentary Spirit of '45, which celebrates the hopes of democratic socialism in post-war Britain. As the first UK retrospective of works by George Bellows opens, Night Waves sends the American poet Eva Salzman to take a look. Geoff Mulgan lays out his vision for a new breed of capitalism when he discusses his book The Locust and the Bee. And Keith Laws, Professor of Cognitive Neuropsychology discusses with Rupert Read, a philosopher of science whethe...
Mar 14, 2013•46 min
What does a nineteenth century Swedish play have to say about post-apartheid South Africa? Samira Ahmed talks to director Yael Farber about her re-working of Strindberg's Miss Julie. Why are we compelled to explore our physical and physiological limits and how may that benefit us - doctor of medicine Kevin Fong, and philosopher Andy Martin discuss. Also poet John Agard talks about being awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. And Samira talks to the Mexican film maker, Carlos Reygadas who won...
Mar 13, 2013•45 min
Matthew Sweet talks to Booker-nominated novelist Julia O’Faolain about her new memoir and growing up with her father, a celebrated writer and a radical dissident. Helen Wallace reviews George Benjamin’s and Martin Crimp’s new opera, ‘Written on Skin’. Professor Nora Crook explains how she discovered who really censored Shelley’s notorious poem, ‘The Revolt of Islam’. Marcus Chown reviews The Challenger, a new docu-drama about the investigation into the 1986 space shuttle disaster. And we debate ...
Mar 12, 2013•45 min
Anne McElvoy meets Hilary Mantel, the winner of the David Cohen Prize for literature. Mantel also defends her comments about the Duchess of Cambridge. The writer and former priest Mark Vernon discusses his latest book on love with the philosopher and economist Jamie Whyte, and the novelist and academic Eva Hoffman. The artistic team that created War Horse re-unite for Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream which opens this week at the Bristol Old Vic. Anne McElvoy discusses the new production wit...
Mar 08, 2013•46 min
The Olympics ceremony master Danny Boyle joins Rana Mitter to discuss the British film industry and what he thinks is the role of creativity in boosting the economy. As we approach the 200th anniversary of Dr David Livingstone's birth, Rana discusses the man and reassesses his legacy in today's Africa, with John MacKenzie and Kit Davis. Ruth Ozeki talks about her new novel "A Tale for the Time Being". And Rana along with Dr Olga Dmitrieva visits a new exhibition on early relations between the Tu...
Mar 07, 2013•45 min
With Matthew Sweet. A first night review, by Susannah Clapp, of Peter Morgan's new play, The Audience, starring Helen Mirren as the Queen. Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, the architect Richard Griffiths and architecture critic Hugh Pearman discuss what place heritage has in a modern and increasingly urbanised Britain. Adrian Wootton reviews possibly the last film from Steven Soderbergh; Side Effects. And Jaron Lanier, one of the most important philosophers of the digital age ...
Mar 06, 2013•45 min
Shereen El Feki, author of Sex and the Citadel, joins Philip Dodd to explore how the struggles for political change in the Arab world have been accompanied by a sexual revolution. Professor Andrew Hussey explains how the culture and history of France can by understood by observing the history of the Louvre. As Science is becoming ever more popular in our news and consciousness, neuroscientist Daniel Glaser and philosopher of science Rupert Read discuss whether we are living through a new age of ...
Mar 05, 2013•46 min
As extreme libertarian thought is on the rise in right-wing politics, Anne McElvoy is joined by Business editor of The Economist Robert Guest and American historian Tim Stanley to explore the growth of ‘anarcho-capitalism’. Italian film writer Pasquale Iannone reviews Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Caesar Must Die. Set designer Christopher Oram and theatre critic Susannah Clapp take a look at what makes great theatre stage design. And to coincide with the Southbank’s The Rest is Noise festival, An...
Mar 01, 2013•45 min
Samira Ahmed examines why James Joyce's experimental and 'difficult' work Finnegans Wake has been a surprise hit in China. Travel writer Sara Wheeler discusses her new book, 'O my America!’, which tells the story of six remarkable women who fled nineteenth-century England to reinvent themselves in the USA. Historian Justin Champion, sociologist Eileen Barker and theologian Martin Palmer join Samira to discuss why we are so obsessed with the idea of the end of the world. And we look at an unlikel...
Feb 28, 2013•45 min
