Laura Wade eavesdrops on conversations between men and women from the past to examine some of today's thorniest gender issues

Recent high profile campaigns around issues such as sexual consent, harassment and assault, the pay gap and power imbalances between men and women have encouraged many of us to re-examine everyday gender relations. In ten programmes covering the last 500 years, playwright Laura Wade eavesdrops on encounters between men and women in great literary works to shed light on some of today’s most pressing issues.

Laura Wade eavesdrops on historic conversations between men and women to explore today's thorniest gender issues

9. Hortense and Gilbert face racism in Andrea Levy's Small Island

Dr Kenneta Perry, Director of the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre and Reader in History at De Montfort University, discusses institutional racism in post-war Britain, and explores its impact on relationships between men and women such as Hortense and Gilbert - so different at the start of the novel but unified by the shock and horror of their reception in a new country.

With readings by real-life couple Adrian Lester and Lolita Chakrabarti

Laura Wade is an Olivier Award-winning playwright, the author of “Posh” and “Home, I’m Darling”. Her recent adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished story, “The Watsons”, transfers to the West End in 2020.

Producer: Beaty Rubens Show less