Queen Mary History of Emotions The Centre for the History of the Emotions, QMUL

As part of 'The Sound of Anger' series, cultural historian Fern Riddell speaks with Thomas Dixon about gender, emotions, and politics. Fern is an expert on the histories of suffragism and sexuality and the author of a biography of the radical suffragette Kitty Marion, called 'Death In Ten Minutes'. Fern and Thomas debate the meaning of 'anger', how it looks and feels, whether it is always expressed in violence, and what place it had in the suffragettes' struggle.
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Do we live in an age of rage? And if so, what can we learn about our furious feelings, and how to control them, from the experiences and ideas of great thinkers in the past? Those are the questions explored in a pair of thought-provoking and darkly funny new audio dramas by playwright Craig Baxter, commissioned by the Living With Feeling project at Queen Mary University of London’s Centre for the History of the Emotions, and directed and produced by Natalie Steed.

SENECA ANNOYED is a philosophical tragicomedy about emotions and ideas set in ancient Rome. When the order comes to him from Emperor Nero that he kill himself, the Stoic philosopher Seneca determines to dispatch himself in a calm and dignified manner. He hasn’t counted, though, on the frailty of his own body, the incompetence of his friends, or the blind fury of his wife, Paulina.

CAST: Seneca is played by Adam Kotz, Paulina by Jasmine Hyde, and Fabius by Geoffrey Streatfeild. The centurion is Michael Bertenshaw.

Produced and directed by Natalie Steed.
Recorded by David Chilton and Lucinda Mason Brown.

Historian of emotions Thomas Dixon completes his personal odyssey through the history, feelings, and meanings of angry emotions. In this episode, he asks whether domestic, everyday anger is the same thing as political anger, and wonders about the relationship between angry dads, angry protesters, and emotional health.

Thomas hates his own anger and dreams of a world with no anger, but learns reasons that others see it as politically essential. Backstage at the 2019 Free Thinking Festival in Sage Gateshead, Thomas talks to Matthew Dodd of BBC Radio 3 about being an angry dad, and hears from Professor Kehinde Andrews about the importance of anger for Malcolm X. In a conversation about male privilege, sexual violence, and political anger, Thomas is guided by Dr Fern Riddell towards evidence of the fury and violence of suffragettes in the 1910s.

Neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel talks about the possibility of protesting without angry emotions, and Thomas ends up pondering whether disagreements about the necessity and value of political anger reveal underlying differences of both class and philosophy. And finally, what can a Stoic philosopher such as Seneca teach us about anger and emotional health?

Contributors: Matthew Dodd, Fern Riddell, Kehinde Andrews, Charlotte Rose Millar, Sarah Garfinkel.

The voice of Christabel Pankhurst: Karina Fernandez

Presenter: Thomas Dixon
Producer: Natalie Steed

Historian of emotions Thomas Dixon continues his exploration of angry emotions. In this episodes he tries to discover how anger sounds, feels, and looks. Again, diversity seems to be the norm. Different bodies feel furious in different ways, and not all cultures have the same ways of expressing emotions. Thomas hears from opera singer Lore Lixenberg, political journalist Jo-Anne Nadler, and historians Imke Rajamani and Fern Riddell. He also introduces listeners to one of his favourite books about anger, by anthropologist Jean Briggs.

Contributors: Laura Rosenthal, Lore Lixenberg, Jo-Anne Nadler, Charlotte Rose Millar, Jerry Parrott, Imke Rajamani, Matthew Dodd, Sarah Garfinkel, Jim Russell, Fern Riddell,

The Voice of Jean L Briggs: Karina Fernandez

Extracts used with permission from Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family by Jean L. Briggs, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Copyright © 1970 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Presenter: Thomas Dixon
Producer: Natalie Steed

As part of 'The Sound of Anger' series, psychologist Jim Russell is in conversation with historian of emotions Thomas Dixon about the idea of "anger" and basic emotions. Jim is an internationally recognised expert on the psychology of emotions and explains Paul Ekman's ideas about 'basic emotions' and the problems with the theory, especially in relation to facial expressions.

Do we live in an age of rage? And if so, what can we learn about our furious feelings, and how to control them, from the experiences and ideas of great thinkers in the past? Those are the questions explored in a pair of thought-provoking and darkly funny new audio dramas by playwright Craig Baxter, commissioned by the Living With Feeling project at Queen Mary University of London’s Centre for the History of the Emotions, and directed and produced by Natalie Steed.

In DARWIN VEXED, Charles Darwin elicits the help of his love-struck daughter Henrietta, her dog Polly and flamboyant photographer Oscar Rejlander to put the finishing touches to his latest book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). The challenge for them all is how to capture and control their powerful but fleeting emotions.

CAST: Charles Darwin is played by Michael Bertenshaw, Henrietta by Jasmine Hyde, Oscar Rejlander by Geoffrey Streatfeild, and his wife Mary by Karina Fernandez. And introducing Olly as Polly, Henrietta Darwin’s terrier.

Produced and directed by Natalie Steed.
Recorded by David Chilton and Lucinda Mason Brown.