Deeds and Words

Available for over a year

'What's worth more, art or life?' These were the words of Just Stop Oil's protestors as they doused Van Gogh's Sunflowers with what appeared to be cream of tomato soup this October. But as Dr Diarmuid Hester argues in this programme, activists as far back as the suffrage movement have understood that it needn't be either or. In this programme he visits Smallhythe Place in Kent to learn more about the radical life of Edith Craig, a pioneer of suffrage theatre with a personal life as unconventional as her creative one. He meets Susannah Mayor, House and Collections Officer at the home that Edith shared with her two female lovers to find out more about her domestic setup. He also speaks to Edith's biographer Professor Katharine Cockin, and to Lucy Ellinson, an actress and performer equally comfortable on stage with the RSC, as creating theatre on demonstrations, to find out how relevant Craig's ideas remain today. Producer: Ellie Bury Readers: Susannah Mayor and Fiona Skinner