What misconception about classics or the ancient world do you wish would disappear?

Ooh, now that is a such a good question.

And okay, so when I was-- To illustrate what I m- mean, I'm gonna, I'm gonna tell a very, a very short anecdote, which is when I was researching for my book, Greek Tragedy As 21st Century British Theater, I went to the archive at Shakespeare's Globe.

Shakespeare's Globe has an amazing archive, and they've done several productions of, of Greek tragedies, um, including the Oresteia, which we've talked about.

And in fact, I was there that day looking at the Oresteia, uh, their production.

And when I was there, someone, someone else who was in the archive, um, who, you know, was, seemed to be a, an actor, I would say sort of mid-60s, had a very, you know, had a, had an actor's RP voice, um, uh, and often there you find actors in the archive, um, because they're researching a, a role or, or previous productions.

And we got chatting, and he asked what, what, what, what I was, what was I researching.

But they ask, what do you think are the artistic benefits of a production like Peter Hall's 1983 Oresteia? So, um, a kind of concrete performance to, to discuss here.

Can you share with us one production that you, either one that you've worked on yourself or one that you've seen that really changed your perspective on how you'd originally experienced that play? Something that was so dramatically different that it really changed your mind?

Golly, that is, you know, that is such a massive question for me because I've just finished this book called Greek Tragedy as 21st Century British Theatre.

It's coming out next year.

And as part of that, I've looked at all of the productions that have been staged in the UK in the last, Well, since from 2000, really, through to 2025.

People keep producing them.

So what's delayed this book is the fact that people keep... insisting on staging Greek drama.

So I kept going, oh golly, well, I've got to add this and this.

When you're putting on a play, how interesting do you find it to deal with the original setting, the original idea of the chorus, the dance, the mask, the limited number of actors? Is that something you enjoy working with or do you prefer to modernise it and expand it?