Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps

that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream

van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC sounds. Hello, on

tonight's program, a simple but teasing paradox. Theat's a pre-modern, even an archaic art.

So why is it that contemporary societies in turmoil

from Vasslav Havel's Czechoslovakia to apartheid South Africa

have gathered around the theatrical campfire to make their protests

and to interrogate their histories.

As we near the first anniversary of Nelson Mandela's death in two days' time,

and to mark the 25th anniversary of Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution,

free-thinking asks why theatre and cultural and political change go together like eggs and bacon.

Later on, we hear from director Howard Davis, who's responsible for directing the world premiere

of Three Winters, a new Croatian play which through one family conjures up that country's

terrifying 20th century history. It opens at the National Theatre in London tonight.

But we begin elsewhere with a moment from a production at Johannesburg's Baxter Theatre.

I love this farm. It's all I know. What do you love?

Everything. It's space. It's silence. When. What do you love? Everything.

It's space.

It's silence.

When they send me to boarding school, I thought I was going to die.

It's not yours to love.

Says you.

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