logo
episode-header-image
About this episode

“I'm really interested in the relation between performance and ritual. Where do those two separate?”

Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, attended the Juilliard School in New York, and then studied social relations at Harvard. Over the last five decades, he has written about social life in cities, changes in labour, and social theory. His books include The Performer: Art, Life, Politics, The Hidden Injuries of Class, The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, The Culture of the New Capitalism, The Craftsman, and Building and Dwelling. Sennett has advised the United Nations on urban issues for the past thirty years and currently serves as member of the UN Committee on Urban Initiatives. He is the Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and former University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.

“I want to show what is kind of the basic DNA that people use for good or for ill. What are the tools they use, if you like, of expression that they use in the creative process?”

Episode Website

www.creativeprocess.info/pod

Instagram:@creativeprocesspodcast

Up next
Aug 1
Art, Empathy & Resilience with CADY McCLAIN, Actor, Director, Writer, Artist, Musician - Highlights
“I had to become the father of my family very young because my parents divorced when I was 12. My situation was a little bit unusual in that my father kind of disappeared, and I had been making a fair amount of money as a kid, doing commercials and television and film. We needed ... Show More
11m 20s
Jul 31
A Life in Acting with Emmy Award-winning Actor, Director, Writer CADY McCLAIN
“I won my first Emmy when I was 21, which was the result of absolutely devoting myself day and night for two years to doing all the scene work. I attended classes simultaneously and did plays until my mother died. I studied with Michael Howard for eight years. Even when I was so ... Show More
1h 6m
Jun 2025
An Actor Prepares - SHARON LAWRENCE on Crafting Complex Characters - Highlights
“I would encourage you, as I do if you're an actor, to know your own equipment, know your own psychology, and use the great teachers that are synthesized in my favorite teacher's book, Moss, who I studied with later. There is a book called Intent to Live that distills down Uta Ha ... Show More
20m 42s
Recommended Episodes
Jul 28
Mariska Hargitay On Freeing Herself From Generational Trauma
The Law & Order: SVU actor was just 3 years old in 1967 when her movie star mom, Jayne Mansfield, died in a car crash. Hargitay's new documentary highlights the intelligent woman behind her mom's crafted persona. Hargitay has a new HBO documentary about her "archeological dig" on ... Show More
44m 35s
Sep 2024
Kate Winslet - ‘I remember thinking: I do not want to be famous’
Look, I don’t like to brag but in case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve got Kate Winslet on How To Fail this week. ACTUAL KATE WINSLET! The one and only! And oh my goodness, what an incredible guest she is: acutely intelligent, funny and brilliantly forthright. We covered so much ground ... Show More
58m 1s
Feb 2025
Fashion Neurosis with Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett is an Australian actor and film producer. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including two Oscars. One of the great performers of our time, Cate has the ability to both dazzle with that specific film star radiance, and blend into a natural setting - whether i ... Show More
1h 17m
Jun 2024
Mom and Dad: supporting an actor in the family
I’ve done the impossible. I convinced my mom and dad to be on the podcast. I know, we thought it would never happen and yet here we are! I am so proud to bring on Rich and Debbie Valentine, and interview them on what it was like to raise an actor and support me in my dreams. You ... Show More
35m 51s
Jun 2019
201. Chris Moukarbel (WIG and GAGA FIVE FOOT TWO filmmaker) – The closest thing to actual magic
When I was in middle school in the suburbs of Maryland, a man—let’s call him Robert—started doing some occasional gardening and housecleaning for my parents. By high school, Robert was our full-time housekeeper and a nanny for me and my sister, a family member, really. And he had ... Show More
45m 45s
Oct 2024
Julie Bowen: ‘Modern Family’ Success Came After I Gave Up on My Shakespeare Dreams
Julie Bowen is a celebrated actress and two-time Emmy winner who brought the iconic character of Claire Dunphy to life for 11 seasons.In this episode, Julie chats with Guy Raz about her childhood love of theater in Baltimore, waiting tables while studying acting in New York, brea ... Show More
1h 2m
Dec 2022
Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody; Qatar art, architecture & the World Cup; Hannah Khalil
Director Kasi Lemmons discusses her new film, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, a biopic of the performer Whitney Houston, whose unmatched vocal power saw her become one of the best-selling musical artists of all time. She talks about exploring the darker sides of Whitney’s life and w ... Show More
42m 22s
Jan 2025
Sharon Horgan - ‘My marriage failed but it had such a positive impact on my life’
Sharon Horgan is a writer, actor and director. She has an uncanny ability to craft complex, compelling and heartfelt characters who find comedy even in the darkest of situations: just like in her hit series Bad Sisters - which has won a Peabody Award and four Emmy nominations. Yo ... Show More
48m 43s
Jan 2025
Dame Harriet Walter - ‘I wish I’d had all this attention when I was 40’
Olivier and Emmy-award-winning Dame Harriet Walter must have acting in her blood: her uncle is the legendary horror star Christopher Lee, she turned down a place at Oxford in favour of drama school, and began her career at the Royal Shakespeare Company. On screen you’ll know her ... Show More
55m 42s
Oct 2023
S18, Ep7 Gillian Anderson on sex, body image and rebellion
Continuing this season's line-up of ICONIC AND INCREDIBLE WOMEN, I am veritably trembling with delight to bring you today's guest: the extraordinary Gillian Anderson. Her 30-plus year career has taken her from playing FBI Special Agent Scully in The X Files to Prime Minister Marg ... Show More
41m 44s