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Joyce DiDonato and Julie Bindel on Women Behaving Badly

Programme that sets the cultural agenda for the week. Tom Sutcliffe discusses women behaving badly with Julie Bindel, Helen Castor, Joyce DiDonato and Erica Whyman.

Tom Sutcliffe talks to the director Erica Whyman about a series of plays by the RSC which focus on the idea that 'well behaved women rarely make history'. The historian Helen Castor looks back at the Middle Ages to some of the earliest roaring girls, while the soprano Joyce DiDonato brings alive Mary, Queen of Scots, the tragic hero of Donizetti's opera. The political activist Julie Bindel has been behaving badly since she came out as a lesbian in the 1970s. She looks at what it means to be gay in 2014 and whether the genuine gains that have been achieved in the last forty years have castrated a once-radical social movement.
Producer: Katy Hickman.

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43 minutes

Last on

Mon 23 Jun 2014 21:30
±«Óãtv Radio 4

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Erica Whyman

Erica Whyman is Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

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Midsummer Mischief, the RSC’s new season of plays, runs from 14 June – 12 July at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

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Julie Bindel

Julie Bindel is a journalist, broadcaster and feminist activist.

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Straight Expectations: What Does It Mean to Be Gay Today? is published by Guardian Books.

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Helen Castor

Helen Castor is a historian, writer and broadcaster.

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Joan of Arc: A History will be published in the autumn by Faber & Faber.

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Helen is presenting a new series of Making History on Radio 4 on Tuesdays at 3.00pm.

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Joyce DiDonato

Joyce DiDonato is an opera singer.

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Maria Stuarda is on at the Royal Opera House between 5 and 18 July and will be broadcast on Radio 3 on Monday 14 July at 7.15pm.

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Credits

Presenter Tom Sutcliffe
Interviewed Guest Julie Bindel
Interviewed Guest Helen Castor
Interviewed Guest Joyce DiDonato
Interviewed Guest Erica Whyman
Producer Katy Hickman

Broadcasts

  • Mon 23 Jun 2014 09:00
    ±«Óãtv Radio 4
  • Mon 23 Jun 2014 21:30
    ±«Óãtv Radio 4

Podcast

  • Start the Week

    Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday