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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: The Essay: The Father Instinct

The Essay: The Essay: The Father Instinct: Episode 5: The Father Instinct

The Essay: The Father Instinct

Episode 5

Episode 5: The Father Instinct

The Father Instinct

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Writer/director Lou Stein reveals how his son, who has Down's Syndrome, inspires his work.

Writer/director Lou Stein reveals how his four-year-old son, who has Down's Syndrome, has been an inspiration and a spur to his creative work.

In his concluding essay for the series, writer/director Lou Stein reveals how his four year old son, who has Down's syndrome, has been a positive influence on his work and life.

"Fathering a child with a severe disability is usually seen to compromise work and personal life, but in my case, my son has enhanced, inspired and even become a part of my work as a director and dramatist".

While working on pre-production groundwork for THE ESSAY series, Lou interviewed a number of potential artist-fathers who might have something revealing to say about the impact of fatherhood, either negative or positive on their work. During this process, he realised that the birth of his son, Ethan, marked a progressive turning point in his directing career. During the first few weeks of his son's life, which coincided with the premiere of a play he was directing (PERFORMANCES by Brian Friel), Lou imagined a future where most of his energies would be spent on caring for a son who had critically severe special needs. He feared the implications for his own work. 

The opposite happened. A power instinctive force was released which Lou feels has resulted in some of his best creative work. Ethan has also put Lou in touch with his own father who died when he was 7 by reminding him of his own childhood.

"During the first week of Ethan's birth, I heard and saw my father clearly for the first time in my life. In the dream, he appeared in a 1950's-styled checked blouson jacket and well-creased trousers and approached me from a far distance. I saw he was holding baby Ethan. Then very deliberately, he walked up to me and with great import, he handed Ethan to me and said in a voice which I had not remembered before this moment "Ethan is my gift for you"."


LOU STEIN (Theatre Director). Lou is a London based Theatre Director/Writer who founded the Gate Theatre, Notting Hill and has worked with such actors as Dame Helen Mirren, Clive Owen, Sir Patrick Stewart, Chris Eccleston, Sir John Mills, and Helena Bonham-Carter in London theatres including the West End, The Royal Court, and for the BBC.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Writer Lou Stein explores the connections between being a father and artistic creativity

Writer/director Lou Stein explores the connections between being a father and artistic creativity and the impact of fatherhood on identity in a world where texpectations are constantly shifting

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