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, let's wander down to the National Theatre where a couple of ne'er-do-wells on the make

are attempting to have their way with the ladies of Litchfield

and steal both their money and their good name in a bow stratagem.

Our new generation thinker, Lucy Powell, a specialist on 18th century writing and I,

both caught up with the director Simon Godwin this morning.

He took a break from rehearsals to help us find out how he's handled a play

that was deemed scurrilous back in 1707 for a 21st century audience.

The plot pickens a bit later.

For 30 years, Julian Glover's been telling the epic story of Beowulf,

who comes to the aid of Hrothgar, King of the Danes,

and kills the monster Grendel with his bare hands. And he's at it again this Sunday at the Globe

Theatre in London. But there's something different about this performance, and he'll be giving

us more of it shortly. But first... I got meals. I got pay, so I'm going to work, work every day.

I got miles, I got a fee.

So I'm going to make sure everybody is.

Lunch Money Lewis there, singing his way through the daily grind of work and bills.

How would we go about designing a work where people come first, or a world where people come

first, or might the rough and tumble of advanced capitalism get in the way?

Two thinkers from very different political traditions have been tackling the way we live

...