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The Verb at the Edinburgh Festivals

Ian McMillan presents from the Edinburgh Festivals, with guests including Colm Toibin and Aditi Mittal.

The Edinburgh Festivals are 70 years old this year and The Verb is joining the celebrations from The BBC's Blue Tent.

Ian's festival guests include the best selling Irish writer Colm Tóibín. Colm is the author of the novels 'The Master' and Brooklyn'. His latest book 'The House of Names', is a retelling of Greek tragedy, where he turns his attention to the gaps in the myths, imagining what might have happened to Agamemnon's son Orestes.

Stand up Aditi Mittal has previously been heard in her Radio 4 series 'A Beginner's Guide to India'. For The Verb she explains the dangers lurking behind innocuous English phrases like 'Nice to meet you...'

And we also feature a performance by the winner of the BBC Poetry Slam.

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 15 Sep 201722:00
BBC Radio 3

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Aditi Mittal

Aditi Mittal
Stand up comedian Aditi Mittal has performed across India, recorded her own Radio 4 show, 'A Beginner's Guide to India', and has filmed the comedy special Netflix original 'Things They Wouldn't Let Me Say'. This year is her first time at the Edinburgh festival and she explains the differences between crowds in India and in the UK.
Aditi's show is called 'Global Village Idiot'

Colm Tóibín

Colm Tóibín
The writer Colm Tóibín is the award winning author of novels such as The Master and Brooklyn. Colm has just published a new book, 'House of Names' (Viking), which is based on Greek Myth. Colm tells Ian why he chose not to update the setting for his novel, and why he hopes it will be as accessible to readers of his other books. He also champions the work of the writer Juan Goytisolo, who died earlier this year.

Joseph Morpurgo

Joseph Morpurgo
Joseph Murporgo's new show 'Hammerhead', is a post-show Q&A that takes place after a nine hour, one-man adaptation of Frankenstein. 
Joseph promises that the version of himself in 'Hammerhead' is only distantly related to the real him, and explains why the Q&A is ripe for character development. 
Hammerhead is at the Soho Theatre in October

Dollywould

Dollywould
Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole are Sh!t Theatre and their new show is a celebration of Dolly Parton, a woman they love for her contradictions, her grace under pressure, and of course her song writing.
In extracts from the show Rebecca and Louise showcase the sexism Dolly has faced and explain just why Dolly the Sheep was named after her...
Dollywould can be seen at the Camden People's Theatre in October

Ben Norris

Ben Norris
Ben Norris is the winner of the 2017 BBC Poetry Slam. He was crowned champion in the BBC Blue tent and we've invited him back to perform one of his winning poems and tell us why we shouldn't be scared of poetry slams.

Broadcast

  • Fri 15 Sep 201722:00
    BBC Radio 3

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