A.C. Grayling: The Age of Genius:
Grayling began his eloquent talk with two images – one, someone
looking up at the night sky in 1600 and seeing a beautiful display created for
human pleasure, the Earth at its centre, man at the heart. Second, the same
action but in 1700, this time seeing a vast spread of space from a small
pinnacle, aware of how tiny our planet, our lives are. He questioned why this
drastic change in mindset had occurred, listing other examples as evidence of
intellectual change such as the execution of Charles I a mere generation after Macbeth premiered, a play based around
the idea of the divine right of kings.
He points to the Thirty Years War as a catalyst for change, as war
so often is. It was the most destructive war Europe had seen at that point and
it took some areas two centuries to recover, yet it allowed great genius to
flourish. Practical changes such as the breaking down of barriers allowing
easier movement and greater transfer of ideas contributed to the advance of
progress. He also cited the breaking of the Church’s power as a major influence.
It had prevented development with its harsh regime of punishing, even by death,
anything that went against the orthodoxy. This meant research and
experimentation had to be carried out in secret, severely stunting its
potential spread. When the chains are loosened progress will naturally follow.
Grayling expertly demonstrated the move to the liberty of conscience
and the further move to liberty of thought. He spoke of the realisation
slightly before this period that history does not merely show decline but that
progress has been made and that predecessors had not had the knowledge, the
equipment available to them to make further discoveries. This realisation of
potential, and greater freedom of expression and transfer of ideas made the
period ripe for genius. He conclude that the impact of this had far greater
reach than being confined to the time, but allowed our world to be born out of
it.
BBC Radio 3: Free Thinking – New Generation Thinkers with Rana
Mitter:
New Generation Thinkers is an initiative run by BBC Radio 3 with the
Arts and Humanities Research Council, bringing exciting academic research to
the public through radio programmes. Rana Mitter introduced the ten winners of
the title this year and we were given a snapshot of their research.
Varied and unusual are their current projects, from the scientific
instruments used and made by medieval monks to the history of hairdressing to
the child’s voice in contemporary fiction on Biafra, and the relationship
between the telephone and literature. This was a tantalising glimpse into the
broad range of topics being explored. They will be appearing on BBC Radio 3
throughout the month to share more details of their investigations.
Russell T. Davies and Maxine Peake: A Midsummer Night’s Dream:
Russell T. Davies and Maxine Peake discussed the creation of their
new version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which
aired on BBC One the day after their talk, Monday 30th May 2016.
They did more than speak about how it came aout however, discussing how
important it is to introduce people to Shakespeare, to allow them to enjoy it.
Peake admitted to having left RADA without having ever performed in a full
Shakespeare work and felt for many years that it wasn’t for her, something of a
contrast to Davies who knew by the age of 21 that he wanted to create a version
for television.
When asked about the challenge of condensing and whether or not he’d
had any difficulties with people being too precious over it he responded that
he hadn’t met anyone like that. He pointed out that there is no definitive
version, and that every production does something different, which can help to
keep it fresh. He spoke about his decision to cut all lines referring to women
killing themselves for love. He wants to engage girls with the story and wouldn’t
have felt right leaving such lines in, something that he was clearly passionate
about.
Both Peake and Davies described their version as dramatic, that they’ve
made Titania a strong warrior and Bottom less annoying. Despite the drama and
comedy they spoke also of the underlying love and the references to peace. They
see the story as relevant to today with links to environmental issues.
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