Ideas

The shiny, handsome and undeniably cool saxophone has been a staple of jazz music and popular culture for nearly a century. But some music historians say that what’s often been overlooked are its deep roots in spiritual beliefs and religious ritual. *This episode originally aired on March 3, 2020.

Universities in the 21st century face a host of challenges, from bloated budgets to overworked contract faculty. And in a competitive economy, many students are wondering if a B.A. is still worth the time and money. IDEAS considers the idea of universities in crisis, what can be done to make them better and whether the system — as we know it — is worth saving. *This episode originally aired on October 12, 2021.

The playwright Anton Chekhov wrote to a friend that he was writing a play with "a great deal of conversation about literature, little actions, tons of love." The Seagull is not unlike our own lives, where there isn't a ready-made plot with a neat ending. This episode is a collaboration between IDEAS and Soulpepper Theatre Company's audio drama series Around the World in 80 Plays. It originally aired on May 12, 2021.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, a series of Persian travellers from Iran and India to visit cities all over the world. They wrote popular travelogues describing the cultures and ideas they encountered and asked the questions fundamental to all of us: who am I? What is our relationship to each other, and to the world? * Originally broadcast on March 9, 2020.

In Jamaica, life for queer people often consists of navigating a society where both church and state reject the LGBTQ community. In her play She Mami Wata and the Pxssywitch Hunt, Jamaican-Canadian playwright and dub poet d'bi.young anitafrika untangles this complex state of affairs. This is the latest episode in our collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, and its audio drama series Around the World in 80 Plays.

The 12th century Persian poem, Conference of the Birds, tells the extraordinary story of a group of birds setting out in search of God only to realize after much struggle and hardship, that God was always within. This episode of IDEAS is in collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company, and their audio drama series, Around the World in 80 Plays.*This episode originally aired on May 26, 2021.

Science isn’t just facts and theories about the universe. As Aaron Collier’s one-person play, Frequencies, shows, science is also experienced on an intimately personal level through our senses. Nahlah Ayed moderated a panel inspired by Frequencies at the National Arts Centre's Theatre and Physics Symposium in November.

Hayavadana tells the story of three friends caught in a love triangle that leads to an intense identity crises after the heads of two of them are switched. It is considered one of the most important Indian plays of the 20th century. This audio drama is part of a collaboration with Soulpepper Theatre Company's Around the World in 80 Plays series. It originally aired on May 19, 2021.

Last November, the National Arts Centre staged its Theatre and Physics Symposium; it featured plays about some of the principles and towering figures of theoretical physics to show how quantum science can shed light on the equally mysterious world of human relationships.

Six characters whose story was never written take matters into their own hands by gatecrashing a theatre rehearsal, turning reality on its head. From Soulpepper Theatre Company’s Around the World in 80 Plays, the metatheatrical masterpiece of Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. *This episode originally aired on May 5, 2021.