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Anne McElvoy

Simon Armitage

Frank McGuinness

Natalie Haynes

Kenan Malik

Katy Hickman

Start the Week: Simon Armitage on Greek Tragedy

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05/05/2014

Simon Armitage on Greek Tragedy

BBC Radio 4 - Start the Week, Simon Armitage on Greek Tragedy

Anne McElvoy with Simon Armitage, Frank McGuinness, Natalie Haynes and Kenan Malik.

Anne McElvoy discusses the legacy of Greek myth with poets Simon Armitage and Frank McGuinness, classicist Natalie Haynes and writer Kenan Malik.

Anne McElvoy talks to the poet Simon Armitage about his dramatisation of The Last Days of Troy. His play, based on Homer's epic, reveals how cycles of conflict and revenge, pride and self-deception continue throughout history. Greek myth is at the heart of a new opera, Thebans, in which the playwright and poet Frank McGuinness draws on the tragedy of the mythical monarch Oedipus and his daughter Antigone. Natalie Haynes explores what happens when troubled teenagers become enthralled by Greek tales of cruel fate and bloody revenge in her debut novel, while Kenan Malik goes on a quest for a moral compass.
Producer: Katy Hickman.

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