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: Jocasta

Jocasta

Series 7

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

The wife of Oedipus.  And mother. A still spellbindingly shocking story. With Edith Hall.

The wife of Oedipus.  And mother. A still spellbindingly shocking story. With Professor Edith Hall.

"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 stands up for Jocasta, whose second marriage was to Oedipus.  Now for some spoilers if you're thinking of watching or reading Sophocles' play Oedipus Tyrannus. 

After some years of happy marriage and four children, Jocasta discovers that Oedipus is, in fact, her son, and the murderer of her first husband (his father) Laius.  Jocasta only has a few lines in the famous play, but we learn a remarkable amount about her character. She is smarter than her husband, quicker to understand what's happening and its implications. She is courageous.  And she is quicker to act.  

The story - in all its forms - is still spellbindingly shocking today.

With Professor Edith Hall.
Produced by Mary Ward-Lowery for BBC Audio in Bristol

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

Jocasta

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