Free Thinking

Latest Episodes:

Free Thinking - The Winter's Tale Landmark Apr 27, 2016

Show notes

“To unpathed waters, undreamed shores” Matthew Sweet discusses The Winter’s Tale, written just 6 years before Shakespeare died and still regarded as one of his most intriguing works. With actor Samuel West, and scholars Michael Dobson(University of Birmingham) and Carol Rutter( University of Warwick) joining Matthew in Stratford-upon-Avon in the Radio 3 prop up studio at the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Other Place theatre as part of Radio 3's Sounds of Shakespeare season.

The Winter's Tale is being broadcast as the Drama on 3 this Sunday May 1st.

Producer: Zahid Warley

Free Thinking - Sicily. John Hardyng's Chronicle. The London Library Apr 21, 2016

Show notes

As Sicily: culture and conquest opens at The British Museum, Anne McElvoy gathers three experts round the Free Thinking table - the historian of Sicily, John Julius Norwich, Helena Atlee who approaches the island from the point of view of its legendary citrus fruit and Anna Sergi, a criminologist at the University of Essex who explains how Cosa Nostra reflects much of the closed culture of the modern island. Tom Stoppard drops by to celebrate The London Library at 175 and as the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death gathers pace, New Generation Thinker Sarah Peverley reveals her latest research on John Hardynge, the English soldier who lived through the Wars of the Roses and wrote a chronicle that may be an important source for the Bard's History plays.

Presenter: Anne McElvoy

Sicily: culture and conquest runs at the British Museum from 21 April – 14 August 2016

Guests: Helena Atlee: The Land Where Lemons Grow John Julius Norwich: Sicily A Short History from the Greeks to Cosa Nostra Sarah Peverley: John Hardyng, Chronicle: Edited from British Library MS Lansdowne 204. Edited by James Simpson and Sarah Peverley Anna Sergi Tom Stoppard

Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Free Thinking - Slavoj Zizek. Apr 21, 2016

Show notes

Slavoj Zizek is in conversation with Philip Dodd. The title of the latest book from the Slovenian philosopher, cultural critic and Marxist scholar is 'Against the Double Blackmail: Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles with the Neighbours'.

Producer: Laura Thomas

Free Thinking - Landmark: Tarkovsky's Stalker. Apr 19, 2016

Show notes

In a special Landmark edition, Matthew Sweet discusses Tarkovsky's 1979 film Stalker with the director Sophie Fiennes, the journalist Konstantin Von Eggert, whose family knew Tarkovsky, film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, the writer Geoff Dyer, and the academic and former tour guide in the Chernobyl Zone Dr Nicholas Rush Cooper from Durham University.

Stalker tells the story of three men - Writer, Professor, and Stalker. We are never quite sure who Stalker is, or what he represents, but it's his job to lead Writer and Professor on a journey into a mysterious region called The Zone. At the heart of The Zone is a room in which all wishes come true.

Based on the novel Roadside Picnic, by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, Stalker is a kind of Science Fiction film with all the Science Fiction stripped out. Geoff Dyer notes that "Stalker has always invited allegorical readings, and since the film has something of the quality of prophecy, these readings are not confined to events that had occurred by the time the film was made." Is Stalker about the end of Communism? Does it prefigure the Chernobyl disaster? There are many possibilities, but the film remains mysterious.

Producer: Laura Thomas

Free Thinking - Syrian buildings. Judging Book Prizes. Georgian Literature Apr 14, 2016

Show notes

Anne McElvoy talks to Syrian architect Marwa Al-Sabouni about her country's built environment its impact on the behaviour of the people who live there. Also the politics of judging book prizes is debated by Professor Geoffrey Hosking, emeritus professor of Russian history, School of Slavonic & East European Studies, University College London and Fleur Montanaro, Administrator of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Writers Lasha Bugadze and Aka Morchiladze discuss Georgian literature past and present.

The Battle for Home: The Memoir of a Syrian Architect by Marwa Al-Sabouni is out now.

The winner of the 2016 Pushkin House Russian Book Prize is announced on April 25th. These are the shortlisted books

Maisky Diaries: Red Ambassador to the Court of St James's 1932-43. Gabriel Gorodetsky, editor (Yale University Press) Stalin: New Biography of a Dictator. Oleg Khlevniuk, translated by Nora Seligman Favorov (Yale University Press) Towards the Flame: Empire, War and the End of Tsarist Russia. Dominic Lieven (Penguin) Russia and the New World Disorder. Bobo Lo (Brookings Institution) Stalin and the Struggle for Supremacy in Eurasia. Alfred Rieber (Cambridge University Press) The End of the Cold War: 1985-1991. Robert Service (Pan Macmillan)

The winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2016 will be announced at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 26 April, the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. These are the shortlisted books

Mercury by Mohamed Rabie A Sky Close to our House by Shahla Ujayli Numedia by Tareq Bakari Praise for the Women of the Family by Mahmoud Shukair Guard of the Dead by George Yaraq Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba by Rabai al-Madhoun

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

British Conceptual Art. Apr 13, 2016

Show notes

Philip Dodd is joined by artist Bruce McLean and critic Sarah Kent to consider the history and politics of British Conceptual Art on show at Tate Britain. Also Richard Nisbett gives his view on how "smart thinking" can help us improve our lives.

Richard Nisbett is Theodore M. Newcomb Distinguished Professor of Social Psychology and Co-director of the Culture and Cognition program at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He is cited by Malcolm Gladwell as an influence and is the author of a book called "Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking" Conceptual Art in Britain 1964–1979 runs at Tate Britain from 12 April – 29 August 2016 The exhibition includes works by Keith Arnatt, Art & Language, Conrad Atkinson, Victor Burgin, Michael Craig-Martin, Hamish Fulton,Margaret Harrison, Susan Hiller, John Hilliard, Mary Kelly, John Latham, Richard Long, Bruce McLean, David Tremlett and Stephen Willats.

Producer: Laura Thomas

Jonathan Coe and Richard Cameron on stage at Birmingham Rep Apr 12, 2016

Show notes

Jonathan Coe, author of books including The Rotter's Club, What a Carve Up and his most recent novel Number 11, joins playwright Richard Cameron and presenter Matthew Sweet in a programme recorded in front of an audience at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

Jonathan Coe's 2001 novel, The Rotter's Club, depicts teenage life in Birmingham in the 1970s, against a backdrop of strikes at the local car factories. It's been adapted for the stage by Richard Cameron - whose other plays include The Glee Club and Can't Stand Up For Falling Down. They discuss the difference between page and stage, assess the sexual and racial politics of the time and consider the cultural influence of Britain's second city.

Producer: Craig Templeton Smith.

Free Thinking - Economics: Liam Byrne, John Redwood, Luke Johnson, Juliet Michaelson and Matt Wolf Apr 07, 2016

Show notes

Anne McElvoy looks at current debates about economics, British manufacturing and entrepreneurialism talking to Juliet Michaelson from the New Economics Foundation, the politicians Liam Byrne and John Redwood and entrepreneur Luke Johnson.

They also consider the arguments in new books from Yanis Varoufakis and Thomas Piketty.

The panel is joined by theatre critic Matt Wolf who'll be reflecting on the way business and economics are represented on stage reporting on recent openings on Broadway and looking ahead to the UK premiere of The Invisible Hand by Pulitzer Prize–winner Ayad Akhtar at London's Tricyle Theatre.

Liam Byrne is the author of Turning to Face The East: How Britain Can Prosper In The Asian Century and Dragons: 10 Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain

Chronicles by Thomas Piketty is out now.

And the Weak Suffer What They Must? by Yanis Varoufakis is out now.

The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar runs at the Tricycle Theatre in London from May 12th to July 2nd.

Producer: Eliane Glaser.

Free Thinking - Saki. Ria Sattouf. Anders Lustgarten. ‘A Thing’ Apr 06, 2016

Show notes

Rana Mitter talks to playwright Anders Lustgarten whose latest work is set in a small village in China, Rotten Peach Village, over 60 years. Communism arrives and the villagers embrace it. Lustgarten has also written a new play partly inspired by the painter Caravaggio which opens at the RSC at the end of this year.

Also a consideration of the satirical short stories about Edwardian England published by Saki - the pen name of Scottish author Hector Hugh Munro (1870 - 1916). Rana is joined by the novelist Naomi Alderman and Saki expert Nick Freeman.

Cartoonist Riad Sattouf describes his graphic novel memoir, The Arab of the Future.

And Rana gets to grip with what we could possibly mean by a thing, with philosopher Guy Longworth

The Sugar-Coated Bullets of the Bourgeoisie by Anders Lustgarten runs at the Arcola Theatre in London 7 – 30 April before opening the 10th High Tide festival of new writing in Suffolk in September.

The Arab of the Future by Riad Sattouf is out now.

Producer: Luke Mullhall

Evelyn Waugh. Apr 05, 2016

Show notes

A celebration of Evelyn Waugh to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Matthew Sweet is joined by two writers who are long term admirers - Adam Mars-Jones and Bryony Lavery and by Waugh's latest biographer, Philip Eade and his grandson and editor, Alexander Waugh.

Brideshead Revisited - adapted by Bryony Lavery - runs at York Theatre Royal from Fri 22 Apr - Sat 30 Apr and then goes on tour to Bath, Southampton, Cambridge, Malvern, Brighton, Oxford, Richmond.

Evelyn Waugh - A Life Revisited by Philip Eade will be published in July

Producer: Zahid Warley.

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