Night Waves - 14/01/2009

Matthew Sweet interviews Holocaust survivor Thomas Buergenthal, whose memoir A Lucky Child describes his experience in Nazi death camps and his subsequent career as a human rights judge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He talks about how his past has informed his understanding of modern-day war crimes. Theatre directors Felix Barrett and Tom Morris discuss their revival of Tom Stoppard's musical play Every Good Boy Deserves Favour. Set in a Soviet asylum, the play focuses on two dissidents, one of whom believes he is surrounded by an orchestra. Barrett and Morris explain why they feel the play continues to resonate more than 30 years after it was written. Historians Bettany Hughes and Jeffrey Richards join Matthew to discuss how ancient Greece and Rome were captured on celluloid in the days of silent film. And, as the economic recession deepens, Night Waves looks back at the flourishing of arts and culture which took place in America after the Great Depression and the announcement of the New Deal.