Caryl Phillips, Stanley Wells, Ah, Wilderness!

Available for over a year

Caryl Phillips talks to Matthew Sweet about his new novel The Lost Child which re-imagines Heathcliff the young boy adopted by Mr Earnshaw and sets that history against the struggles of a contemporary single mother in Leeds. The Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells will be discussing his new book, Great Shakespearean Actors, which maps the careers of actors from Burbage and Kemp in Shakespeare's day to contemporary actors including Kenneth Branagh and Simon Russell Beale. Two weeks ago the University of Cape Town removed a statue of the British imperialist Cecil Rhodes after student protests. Elsewhere in South Africa a statue of Queen Victoria has been vandalised and, in Ukraine, statues of Lenin have been toppled. The writer Lesley Lokko joins Matthew to discuss the events in South Africa. And a first night review of Eugene O'Neill's only comedy Ah, Wilderness! at London's Young Vic theatre. Producer: Fiona McLean.