Greek plays were first performed in an intensely religious atmosphere - at a festival dedicated to the god Dionysus. Yet they produced great humanistic advances, from Aeschylus' dramatisation of social justice as the only solution to revenge killing (in the Oresteia) to Sophocles' great discussion of free will versus determinism in Oedipus Tyrannos. The great roles for women (played by men in ancient Greece) still form a major part of dramatic canon now. So, why did the Greeks understand people so well, and how did Greek tragedy come to be such a crucial part of our own understanding of drama and humanity? Find out with Natalie Haynes, ahead of the second series of her Radio 4 show, Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics.
Natalie Haynes is a writer and broadcaster. She writes for the Guardian, and the Independent. Her first novel, The Amber Fury, has been published to great acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic, as was The Ancient Guide to Modern Life, her previous book. She has spoken on the modern relevance of the classical world on three continents, from Cambridge to Chicago to Auckland.
Natalie was a stand-up comedian for 12 years, and was the first woman ever to be nominated for the Perrier Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She retired in 2009 to spend more time writing.
She is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4: reviewing for Front Row and Saturday Review, appearing as a team captain on three seasons of Wordaholics, and banging on about Juvenal whenever she gets the chance. A second series of Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics, will be broadcast on Radio 4 next year.
Her documentary on the Defining Beauty exhibition at the British Museum, Secret Knowledge: The Body Beautiful aired in 2015 on BBC4 in the UK and on BBC World News everywhere else. She was a judge for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction, the 2013 Man Booker Prize, and the 2014 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize.
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