Arts & Ideas Folgen

Matthew Sweet is on stage at the Theatre Royal Stratford East for a post-performance discussion of The Octoroon, by Dion Boucicault, which can be heard on Sunday 5 May 2013 on Drama on 3. To discuss the enduring appeal and legacy of the play, Matthew Sweet is joined by playwright Mark Ravenhill, who adapted the play for Radio 3; the cultural commentator Kit Davis; the Victorian theatre expert Anne Varty; and two of the cast members, Amaka Okafor and Golden Globe nominee Toby Jones. As the play’s attitudes reflect the time in which it is set, this edition contains some language now regarded as racist.

Simon Schama joins Anne McElvoy to discuss his foray into literature, and the controversy it caused amongst historians. As a new series starts on BBC 2 looking at American Primetime TV, Simon Schama, Alan Yentob and American TV Executive Caryn Mandabach discuss how popular American TV series have reflected American social history. Kamila Shamsie, reflects on Intizar Husain and his masterpiece, Basti, a vivid fictional account of Pakistan from partition to the present that has made its author one of the frontrunners for this year's Man Booker International Prize. David Darcy reviews a musical about the life of Imelda Marcos written by the musician and artist David Byrne.

Philip Dodd, Jesse Norman MP, Lord Maurice Glasman, the author Paul Kingsnorth, theatre director Lisa Goldman, Dr Joanne Parker of the English Department of Exeter University and the broadcaster and historian Michael Wood discuss the enigma of Englishness and its uses as an identity.