Natalie Haynes Stands up for the Classics

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Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics

Comedy: Standup

Natalie Haynes creates stand-up routines about figures from ancient Greece and Rome.

Natalie Haynes takes a fresh look at the ancient world, creating stand-up routines about figures from ancient Greece and Rome.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: Series 7: Medusa

Medusa

Series 7

BBC Radio 4 - Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, Series 7, Medusa

The real story of the famous snake-haired mythological woman?

Natalie Haynes tells stories of the snake-haired Medusa, whose glare will turn you to stone.  With Professor Edith Hall and live drawing by illustrator Chris Riddell.

"Rock star classicist" and reformed stand-up Natalie Haynes is obsessed with the ancient world.  In these series she explores (historical and mythological) lives from ancient Rome and Greece that still have resonance today.  They are hilarious and tragic, mystifying, revelatory.  And they always tell us more about ourselves now than seems possible of stories from a couple of thousand years ago.

Today Natalie  tells of Medusa, she of the snaky locks and stony glare. Medusa is truly terrifying, but she wasn't always a monster. She was once the most beautiful of the Gorgon sisters, turned into this hideous version of herself by the goddess Athene, after being 'seduced' by Poseidon. Which may make her - literally - the original monstered victim.

Natalie is joined by Professor Edith Hall, who says that Medusa is not just a victim or a monster.  She's a beloved sister and mother (to winged horse Pegasus and hero Chrysaor). Her lithifying gaze gives her something in common with Midas but there's a difference in how we are invited to view them: we fear her and pity him.  

Illustrator Chris Riddell draws Medusa as he talks to Natalie, contemplating how she managed her serpentine hair (a hairdresser's nightmare, presumably) and whether some kind of super-sunglasses might help out with the problem of turning everything she looks at into stone.

Producer, Mary Ward-Lowery

Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics: Series 7

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Natalie Haynes explores lives from ancient Rome and Greece that still have resonance today

Natalie Haynes explores (historical and mythological) lives from ancient Rome and Greece that still have resonance today.

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Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics

Series 7

Medusa

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