Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.

Natalie is a recovering comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome. Each week she takes a different figure from the Ancient World and tells their story through a mix of stand-up comedy and conversation.

Today she stands up in the name of Phryne, the Greek courtesan famed for her extraordinary wit and beauty. Glossy of skin and a model for statues of the goddess Aphrodite, Phryne was as clever as they come and minted to boot.

Outrage, outrageousness and as always, a lot of gossip from a couple of thousand years ago.

With special guests comedian Katy Brand and classicist Professor Edith Hall.

Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.

Natalie is a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome.

This time Natalie stands up in the name of Greek writer Lucian. Expect to hear about the possible origins of 'The Life of Brian', the possible inspiration for Mickey Mouse and a trip to the moon about a thousand years before NASA.

With special guests Professor Edith Hall and Matthew Sweet.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.

Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.

Natalie is a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome.

Now she standing up in the name of Greek writer Lucian. Expect to hear about the possible origins of 'The Life of Brian', the possible inspiration for Mickey Mouse and a trip to the moon about a thousand years before NASA.

With special guests:

Professor Edith Hall

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2017.

Natalie Haynes and guests return for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.

Natalie is a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome.

This time she's standing up in the name of Greek poet, Sappho, about whom we know so little, and most of what we think we know is made-up. But one thing is certain: her poetry is scorching, and unforgettable.

There will also be a lot of gossip from over a thousand years ago.

With special guests:

Novelist Stella Duffy

With music from:

LiTTLe MACHiNe.

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017.

Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2016.

Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.

Natalie is a reformed comedian who is a little bit obsessive about Ancient Greece and Rome.

She's standing up in the name of one of the world's greatest thinkers, Plato.

With the help of:

Psychotherapist, Philippa Perry

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2016.

Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.

With special guests:

Llewelyn Morgan

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2016.

Join Natalie Haynes and guests for half an hour of comedy and the Classics from the BBC Radio Theatre in London.

Rosie Wyles

Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2016.

A fresh look at the ancient world.

Natalie Haynes, critic, writer and reformed stand-up comedian, brings the ancient world entertainingly up to date.

In the first of four programmes, she profiles a figure from ancient Greece or Rome and creates a stand-up routine around them. She then goes in search of the links which make the ancient world still very relevant in the 21st century.

Women in ancient Greece were supposedly not seen, not heard and not talked about. Meet Aspasia -the woman who broke all the rules – all the more remarkably for the fact that she was the partner of one of the most powerful men in Greece at the time, Pericles.

Natalie explores how writers and comedians used Aspasia’s reputation as a way of attacking the statesman – a practice which hasn’t changed much over 2,500 years.

With classicist Sarah B Pomeroy, Dr Ian Jenkins of the British Museum and Cate Haste, co-author with Cherie Booth of a book on the lot of the statesman’s spouse.

Producer: Christine Hall

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.

Natalie Haynes, critic, writer and reformed stand-up comedian, brings the ancient world entertainingly up to date.

In each episode, she profiles a figure from ancient Greece or Rome and creates a stand-up routine around them. She then goes in search of the links which make the ancient world still very relevant in the 21st century.

Dido is the classic wronged woman and the Aeneid contains the best ding-dong between a man and a woman in all Latin literature, culminating in Dido’s memorable promise “If you go I’m going to kill myself and then I will pursue you from beyond death with black fires!”

With Pamela Helen Stephen who's sung Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, bee-keeper Gordon Cutting and Dr Llewelyn Morgan who talks about the greatest poet in the Roman world.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2014.