Night Waves - 09/07/2008

Matthew Sweet speaks to writer Christopher Hitchens about his decision to undergo 'waterboarding', the controversial technique used by the CIA to interrogate certain terrorist suspects. Hitchens was challenged to experience it himself in defence of his position that it was not a technique of torture. Susannah Clapp has a first-night review of a new play at Shakespeare's Globe, The Frontline, a black comedy by Che Walker - commissioned as the winner of the George Devine award - which depicts a panorama of contemporary London set in the vibrant environs of Camden Town Underground station on a Saturday night. Matthew is joined by Edna Fernandes to talk about her book The Last Jews of Kerala, a history of India's largely forgotten Jewish community, and hears about its testimonies from the few surviving members. And to mark the release in cinemas of Journey to the Centre of the Earth in 3D, Matthew is joined by Adam Roberts and Matthew Beaumont to discuss past and present civilisations deep beneath our feet, and conjured from our wildest imaginings.