The Arts Hour with Simon McBurney

Available for over a year

Acclaimed theatre director and actor Simon McBurney explores our fragmentation from nature and ourselves and the role arts, culture and storytelling can play in reuniting us. During this time of Covid-19, we are unable to meet and share experiences. We communicate now on screens and live more in isolation. However this removal from community and from nature has been happening in the West, not just during this pandemic, but for centuries. So is now the time to reflect on those relationships and rethink our place on the planet? Joining Simon to discuss these issues are the award winning journalist and author Naomi Klein. Colleen Echohawk, Executive director of the Chief Seattle Club, an organisation which helps the indigenous homeless of that city. Psychiatrist and thinker Dr Iain McGilchrist, who explains why he feels we’ve become more reliant on the left side of our brains and why that’s not a good thing. Writer, art historian and filmmaker Nana Oforiatta Ayim on listening to the land in Ghana. Actor and activist Fehinti Balogun tells us why theatre is the perfect place to highlight issues including climate change. And filmmaker Takumã Kuikuro who explains why storytelling begins and ends with nature. Made with Simon McBurney: co-founder and Artistic Director of Complicité Sound effects by Ben Grant Producer: Andrea Kidd Editor: Rebecca Stratford (Photo: Simon McBurney. Credit: Ali Wright)