Listen to Howard Brenton on BBC's Free Thinking

Lawrence after Arabia writer Howard Brenton talks to BBC Radio Three's Philip Dodd for Free Thinking. 

If you missed the interview live, follow the link below to hear the interview on BBC iPlayer Radio. 

Howard discusses his latest play Lawrence after Arabia, running on the Main Stage until Saturday 4 June, in conversation with Adrian Noble, director of Ross at Chichester Festival Theatre. 

August, 1922. The most famous man in England has vanished without a trace: T.E. Lawrence has completely disappeared. But in the idyllic calm of the village of Ayot St Lawrence, on the top floor of the home of Mr and Mrs Bernard Shaw, the ‘uncrowned King of Arabia’ is hiding – with slabs of homemade carrot cake for comfort.

Wearied by his romanticised persona and worldwide fame, disgusted with his country and himself, Lawrence is craving normality. But when you’re a brilliant archaeologist, scholar, linguist, writer and diplomat – as well as a legendary desert warrior – how can you ever be normal? And beyond the Shaws’ garden wall, nobody cares how he feels: England just wants its hero back. Can he ever return?

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