James Graham: How much do we care about protecting our culture?
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 8 June 2020
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The coronavirus pandemic has dealt a devastating blow to the performing arts. No one knows when audiences will again be able to pack into a theatre to see a show. So what happens to the writers, performers and venues that enrich our lives? HARDtalk’s Stephen Sackur speaks to James Graham, the prolific and hugely successful young British playwright whose work has chronicled our turbulent political times. How much do we care about protecting our culture?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to a podcast from the BBC World Service. This is Hard Talk with me, Stephen Sacker. |
| 0:07.0 | Thanks for downloading this edition of the program. I do hope you enjoy it. |
| 0:12.2 | Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker. My guest today is widely regarded as the best British playwright of his generation. |
| 0:22.8 | James Graham is still in his 30s, but he's already had a string of hits on the London stage, |
| 0:29.0 | written and directed, acclaimed TV dramas, and seen one of his plays get top billing on Broadway. |
| 0:37.3 | Now, of course, stages across the world are silent. |
| 0:41.4 | No one knows when audiences will again be able to flock to the theatre to share the experience of live performance. |
| 0:49.7 | So what happens to the writers, performers, and the venues themselves? |
| 0:55.2 | Will a prolonged lockdown permanently destroy vital pieces of our cultural fabric? |
| 1:01.3 | James Graham has always enjoyed telling stories that illuminate our turbulent times. |
| 1:07.4 | So, what will emerge from this pandemic? |
| 1:12.6 | Well, he joins me now. James Graham, welcome to Hard Talk. |
| 1:14.6 | Thank you. |
| 1:15.6 | Theaters are closed right now. |
| 1:17.6 | Your job is very difficult to do in many ways. |
| 1:21.6 | Does it feel like this pandemic has brought your world crashing down? |
| 1:25.6 | It does feel like that, well, but I suppose, you know, it must feel like that across every sector at the moment. But the only problem is that even though the virus affects all sectors, it's just going to affect theatre the worst because of the nature of what we do. What makes theatre so special and brilliant to hundreds of millions of people around the world is it requires you to be close to |
| 1:44.5 | people and it's the one thing that we just can't we can't do at the moment and we're not sure based on |
| 1:48.2 | the science when that's ever going to happen so as companies as restaurants and bars begin to |
| 1:52.4 | open over the summer I just think we have to admit that that's not going to be the case with theatres |
| 1:55.7 | people have used phrases like existential threat a lot during this pandemic about different businesses and different |
| 2:03.1 | sectors. Perhaps more than any, they've used it about theatre. Some theatres say that they are |
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