Michael Billington talks to Paul Blezard

Renowned theatre critic Michael Billington explains to author and journalist Paul Blezard how he chose the 101 greatest plays written from the time of the Greeks to the present day and why they made his final list.

Billington has been theatre critic of the Guardian since 1971 and of Country Life since 1986. His choices are sure to provoke debate among theatre-lovers. He puts them into context with extended essays on their significance and performance history. And he questions what makes a great play? Do circumstances and the passage of time change what makes a great play? Are there common factors through the centuries? West End and television and film actor Michael Simkins, who played Dr Lionel Mead in the television series Doctors, and stage, film and television actress and graduate of Oxford School of Drama Amy Enticknap will read excerpts from selected plays.

Billington is Britain’s longest-serving theatre critic. He has written biographies of Harold Pinter and Peggy Ashcroft, critical studies of Tom Stoppard and Alan Ayckbourn, and a survey of post-war British drama, State of the Nation.

Sponsored by the University of Worcester.