Arts & Ideas

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 compel...

13 Mar 201345min

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...

12 Mar 201345min

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 discusse...

8 Mar 201345min

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 annivers...

7 Mar 201344min

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 archi...

6 Mar 201345min

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 Hus...

5 Mar 201345min

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 o...

1 Mar 201345min

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 tel...

28 Feb 201345min