Retelling history in art and drama

How do we tell the stories of the past, and whose histories get remembered? On Radio 4’s weekly discussion programme, Adam Rutherford is joined by three guests whose work challenges inherited narratives, recovers overlooked voices, and reimagines history through theatre, art and storytelling.

The theatre director Dominic Cooke discusses his new production of Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine, a landmark play from 1979 that examines gender, power and the enduring legacies of empire through settings in colonial Africa and twentieth-century Britain. Cloud Nine is on at the National Theatre, London until 13th January 2027.

The writer and co-host of the BBC podcast Here for the History, Alice Loxton talks about A History of Britain in 21 Paintings, in which she uses artworks spanning more than a millennium to illuminate key moments in Britain's past and explore the stories behind some of the nation’s best-known myths, like that of St George. Her examples include Stubbs' image of a horse and LS Lowry's Bolton workers

The poet and playwright Inua Ellams talks about his award-winning new play Once Upon a Time in Sokoto, an epic drama set in nineteenth-century West Africa that explores friendship, faith, slavery and the forces that shaped the creation of modern Nigeria. Once Upon a Time in Sokoto is touring to Leeds, Brighton and Bristol, and finishing in London in May 2027.

Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez