Night Waves - 17/09/2008

Paul Theroux Matthew Sweet talks to eminent travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux. Thirty three years after writing "The Great Railway bazaar, a classic in the travel writing genre in which the author recounts his four month journey across Asia by train, he has retraced his steps in "Ghost Train to the Eastern Star" In the age of jet ski, broadband connection and vast cultural displacement what's changed for Theroux as he spans the continent from Tblisi to Bangalore to Mandalay. Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux is published by Viking. Ivanov Susannah Clap reviews Ivanov by Anton Chekhov opening at the Donmar in London with a stellar cast including Kenneth Branagh, Gina McKee and Lorcan Cranitch in a new translation by Tom Stoppard and directed by Michael Grandage. Ivanov is on at the Donmar Warehouse from 17 September. Joanna Hogg Joanna Hogg talks about her award winning low budget debut feature Unrelated about a middle aged woman's mid life crisis whilst holidaying with friends and their family in Italy. Unrelated is released by NewWave Films from 19 September. Humanism As the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority's regulator Ofqual is being taken to court by the British Humanist Association over its decision to prevent an exam board giving equal status to faiths such as Christianity and Judaism in religious eduction GCSE, Nightwaves talks to philosophers AC Grayling and Rupert Reed about the history of humanism in this country and the significance of teaching a system of beliefs which puts the individual at the centre of the universe. Free Thought Roy Williams discusses the similarities between theatre and football.