Main content

Antigone

Are we the New Elizabethans? Also, Thomas Heatherwick on urban design, and Antigone at the National Theatre in a cast led by Jodie Whitaker and Christopher Ecclestone.

Are we living in a second Elizabethan era? Elizabeth I left a mark on British History that survives to this day. Will Elizabeth II leave a similar legacy? Or is the modern world too different a place and power too far away from the monarchy now for her name to mean anything when discussing the era in which we now live? Juliet Gardiner, Stephen Haseler, Vernon Bogdanor and Julie Sanders join Philip Dodd to discuss in what sense we are all new Elizabethans.

From a curling bridge in Paddington to the new London route master buses, Thomas Heatherwick has a record of bringing extraordinary design to ordinary contexts. As an exhibition of his work opens at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Philip meets Heatherwick to explore how he sees his work - Design? Architecture? Sculpture? Or simply making things?

Antigone defied the rule of law in order to defend the honour of her family. Her drama is being played out on the stage of the National Theatre in a new production starring Jodie Whittaker and Christopher Ecclestone. Sophocles' tragedy was a set text for the ideological debates of the 20th century. The classicist Edith Hall and political theorist Kimberly Hutchings join Philip to discuss how the play resonates today.

Available now

45 minutes

Broadcast

  • Wed 30 May 2012 22:00

Free Thinking

Free Thinking

Radio 3’s new home for arts and ideas.