“By keeping it quite individualised and quite localised that helped me not to get lost in the geopolitics”

This week sees the start of Steve Waters’ Miriam & Youssef, a podcast and radio drama series for BBC World Service, charting the turbulent decades leading up to the founding of Israel. The playwright spoke to JR's Arts Editor Judi Herman about the ambitious project, which is told from the viewpoints of two former neighbours: Miriam, a Jewish refugee who emigrates to Palestine, and Youssef, a Palestinian Arab. Set between 1917 and the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948, their lives are intertwined with real historical characters and events. The series co-stars Shani Erez as Miriam and Amir el Masry as Youssef. Listeners may remember hearing Israeli actor Erez speaking to Judi last year, when she played Shylock as a proud widow and mother in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s hugely successful reimagining of The Merchant of Venice for schoolchildren.

At the heart of Waters' ambitious project is the city of Jerusalem, seen during the three decades of the British Mandate. The drama also features real-life figures, including David Ben-Gurion, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and American intellectual Rabbi Judah Magnes, whose lives intersect with the core fictional characters.

Episode one of Miriam & Youssef is available now on BBC World Service.