Controversy surrounds this year's Nobel Prize for Literature; unusually there are two winners, Polish Olga Tokarczuk and Austrian Peter Handke. Handke has been vocally supportive of the Serbs during the 1990s Yugoslav war including accusing the Bosnian Muslims of staging attacks. Jonas Eklöf, Editor in Chief of Swedish literary magazine Vi Läser, reports on the presentation ceremony in Stockholm today. Traces is a forensic crime thriller set in Dundee based on an idea by Val McDermid and written...
Dec 10, 2019•29 min
Last month Baltimore Museum of Art announced that in 2020 it would only collect works of art by women, because in the last decade just 2% of global art auction spending was on work by women? At 26 major American museums just 11% of all acquisitions and 14% of exhibitions were by female artists. Frances Morris, Director of Tate Modern. and arts journalist Julia Halperin join John Wilson to discuss why there is such a gender imbalance in art collections and what can be done to rectify this. In 201...
Dec 09, 2019•28 min
Inua Ellams, writer of the hit play Barber Shop Chronicles, has transposed Chekhov's Three Sisters to 1960s Nigeria, on the brink of the Biafran Civil War. His new version of Three Sisters is at London's National Theatre. Two bananas taped to a wall with duct tape have just been sold for $120,000 each at the Art Basel fair in Miami. These works of art were created by Maurizio Cattelan, whose 18 carat gold toilet was stolen from Blenheim Palace recently. So has the artworld gone bananas? Art crit...
Dec 06, 2019•28 min
Sarah Gosling is joined by Ferris & Sylvester, music director Kojo Samuel and composer Tom Foskett-Barnes, in a show recorded at the recent BBC Music Introducing Live weekend in London's Tobacco Docks. Ferris & Sylvester are a blues folk duo, championed by BBC Introducing, who played Glastonbury this year and are recording their debut album. Izzy Ferris and Archie Sylvester perform two of their songs, Flying Visit and London's Blues. Kojo Samuel is one of pop music's top music directors,...
Dec 05, 2019•28 min
Lesley Manville, who was nominated for an Oscar for her last screen role in Phantom Thread, talks about her new film, Ordinary Love, which co-stars Liam Neeson and which explores the impact a diagnosis of breast cancer has upon an older couple. It was announced last night that the four artists shortlisted for this year’s Turner Prize are to share the £40,000 award after the contenders sent a letter to judges proposing they should win as a collective. One of the prize's judges, Alessio Antoniolli...
Dec 04, 2019•28 min
Stand up comedian Nish Kumar was booed off stage at a charity gig for The Lord's Taverners. How do comedians cope when the audience disagrees with their political stance or just takes against them? Ayesha Hazarika is a much-in-demand comedian with well-known strong political views. What are her strategies for coping when facing vocal hostility from the people who've paid to see her perform? Honey Boy is a new film written by Shia LaBeouf, a largely autobiographical story of an actor in rehab who...
Dec 03, 2019•28 min
Edward Norton on his new film Motherless Brooklyn, which he wrote, directed, produced and stars in, as a lonely private detective with Tourette Syndrome in 1950s New York. The film also stars Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin and Willem Dafoe, and is based on Jonathan Lethem's 1999 novel. Bristol–based artist Luke Jerram discusses his latest artwork, Extinction Bell, which he hopes will help raise awareness of the issue of biodiversity loss. The bell will toll once, 150-200 times a day...
Dec 02, 2019•28 min
The Boy in the Dress is a major new musical at the RSC in Stratford based on the book by David Walliams, with songs by Robbie Williams and Guy Chambers, a script by Mark Ravenhill and directed by Gregory Doran. With such a pedigree will it match the success of Matilda? Nick Ahad reviews. The Turner Prize is one of the biggest art prizes in the UK and offers £25,000 to its winner. Front Row goes to the Turner Contemporary in Margate where the Turner Prize exhibition is hosted this year to meet th...
Nov 29, 2019•28 min
Atlantics is a Senegalese supernatural romantic drama directed by Mati Diop. She made history when the film premiered at Cannes, becoming the first black woman to direct a film featured In Competition at the festival. Atlantics went on to win the Grand Prix. Be Manzani reviews. Now that the political parties have released their manifestos, the BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz, and Kieran Yates, journalist and author who writes about culture and politics, assess the parties’ planned commitment to ...
Nov 28, 2019•28 min
The deaths of two giants of the arts were announced today. The Australian poet, critic, broadcaster, poet, translator and essayist, Clive James, and the theatre and opera director, actor, author and medical doctor Sir Jonathan Miller. Shahidha Bari is joined by Ian McEwan, Eric Idle, Norman Lebrecht, Melvin Bragg and Pete Atkin to pay tribute. Presenter: Shahidha Bari Producer: Tim Prosser and the Front Row team
Nov 27, 2019•28 min
We exclusively reveal and analyse the 2019 Costa Book Prize shortlist. Critics Alex Clark and Sarah Shaffi discuss the books chosen in the five categories: novel, first novel, poetry, biography and children's fiction. Category winners will appear on the programme in January and Front Row will announce the overall prize-winner on 28 January 2020 Rian Johnson is the director of new film Knives Out - a murder comedy with an all-star cast. His previous work includes Star Wars: The Last Jedi and sci-...
Nov 26, 2019•28 min
Rapper Wretch 32 discusses his new memoir, Rapthology. Part autobiography, part guide to creativity and part cultural history, Rapthology unpacks the songs that have shaped him over the last 30 years, from gospel music to dancehall anthems, offering a portrait of his life through his best-known works. Two cinema chains have pulled the film Blue Story, about a violent street rivalry in south London, from its screens. The decision came after a violent brawl at a Birmingham leisure complex and, acc...
Nov 25, 2019•28 min
Coldplay's new album Everyday Life is released today after a performance at sunrise in Jordan this morning. Also out is Leonard Cohen's posthumous album Thanks for the Dance, completed by his son Adam. Kieran Yates reviews. The controversial comedian Roy Chubby Brown is at the centre of a row in Middlesbrough, as Mayor Andy Preston has sanctioned the booking of the entertainer and the Head of the Town Hall Lorna Fulton resigns, reportedly in protest. Stig is joined by Andy Preston and Philip Ber...
Nov 22, 2019•28 min
The story of the slave abolitionist Harriet Tubman has finally made it to the big screen where she is played by Cynthia Erivo. Gaylene Gould reviews. After France’s President Macron was reportedly “shaken by the accuracy” of new French film Les Misérables, depicting life today in the deprived outer suburbs of Paris, French critic Agnès Poirier joins us to discuss modern attitudes toward social realist cinema in the UK, France and elsewhere. The Christmas sales are the most important time in the ...
Nov 21, 2019•28 min
Idina Menzel, famous for singing Let It Go from the film Frozen, provides the voice once more of Elsa, now Queen of Arendelle and still with magical powers, in the sequel Frozen 2. The singer discusses the early concept for her character in what became the biggest-grossing animated film of all time, and how Elsa has grown up in the years since the original. The new Frozen 2 film has been long awaited but does the plastic merchandise brought out to accompany the film line up with its environmenta...
Nov 20, 2019•28 min
RJ Palacio’s first novel Wonder has been published in 45 languages, sold 5 million copies worldwide and been made into a film starring Julia Roberts. We speak to RJ about her new graphic novel White Bird which tells the back story of the classroom bully from Wonder, Julian, whose Jewish grandmother fled from the Nazis. A row involving Taylor Swift and her former record label has been resolved - for now. Music industry lawyer Duncan Lamont explains whether the company has the right to block Swift...
Nov 19, 2019•28 min
Dear Evan Hansen is the Tony award winning musical about a socially anxious teenager who, via a web of lies, gets caught up in social media adulation following a classmate’s suicide. As the musical opens in London’s West End amidst much anticipation, co-creator Steven Levenson talks about turning such a sensitive story into a life affirming show. We speak to former child soldier, Sudanese hip-hop star Emmanuel Jal, about his fifth album, Naath, a collaboration with his sister who lives in Kakuma...
Nov 18, 2019•28 min
As Northern Ballet reaches its half century, the company's Artistic Director David Nixon discusses his love of telling stories through Dance. Ever fancied sleeping in an artwork? Soon you’ll be able to do exactly that at the Art B&B – a new hotel in Blackpool which has commissioned 30 artists to turns its rooms into works of art. Michael Trainor, Creative Director of the Art B&B explains the vision for the hotel, and Arts journalist Laura Robertson shares her thoughts on the new establis...
Nov 15, 2019•28 min
With Italy set to declare a state of national emergency in Venice after the Unesco world heritage site was engulfed by a 6ft 'acqua alta', flooding its historic basilica and many other sites of great historic interest, art critic Jonathan Jones discusses the cultural significance of the imminent threat from flood and fire and what is being done to protect the city’s invaluable architectural and artistic heritage. And John Wilson talks to artist Katie Paterson about the metaphorical representatio...
Nov 14, 2019•28 min
This edition of Front Row has a regal air. As the third series of The Crown airs next week, with Olivia Coleman taking over the role of Queen Elizabeth from Claire Foy, Stig Abell talks to Tobias Menzies about the challenges of playing Prince Phillip, previously Matt Smith's part. Covering the years 1964 – 1977, in this series the Royals have all four of their children and are more settled in their domestic lives. But events in the wider world are making their impact, from the election of Harold...
Nov 13, 2019•28 min
Portrait painter Lorna May Wadsworth has forged a remarkable career with subjects including David Tennant, Michael Sheen, David Blunkett and Baroness Thatcher. As a major retrospective of her work - Gaze - opens at the Graves Gallery in her home town of Sheffield, Lorna May Wadsworth talks about the importance to her of the “female gaze." Marriage Story is the new film from director Noah Baumbach, well known for relationship dramas like The Squid and the Whale and Greenberg. Starring Adam Driver...
Nov 12, 2019•28 min
HG Wells’ classic novel The War of the Worlds has been adapted many times including the infamous occasion on which Orson Welles’ radio version convinced some American citizens that Martians really were invading the Earth . Now a new BBC TV version is coming, with a female narrator and subtexts about empire and climate change. Writer Peter Harness talks to Front Row about the choices he’s made for this version. Today the National Gallery in London announced an appeal to raise the final £2m needed...
Nov 11, 2019•28 min
Emilio Estevez discusses his forthcoming film The Public which he has written, directed and stars in, along with Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater, set in Cincinnati Public Library in the middle of winter. 100 Novels That Shaped Our World have just been chosen by a panel including Front Row presenter Stig Abell. The list is part of a BBC Arts season celebrating 300 years since the publication of Robinson Crusoe, often regarded as the first novel in English. The list has thrown up some controvers...
Nov 08, 2019•28 min
Emilia Clarke talks about her new film Last Christmas, inspired by the music of George Michael and destined to be one of the major movies of the season. It's written by and also stars Emma Thompson. Emilia plays a young woman who accepts a job as a department store elf during the holidays. She also discusses starring in Game of Thrones and overcoming a stroke whilst filming. Theatre critic and author Michael Coveney talks about the issues facing West End theatres following the incident at the Pi...
Nov 07, 2019•28 min
Alison Balsom, Britain's leading trumpet soloist, talks about her new album Royal Fireworks, a collection of Baroque pieces by Bach, Telemann, Handel and Purcell, played on the "natural" trumpet, a baroque instrument without any valves, which means that each note is made by the shape of the lips. The inaugural Drake YolanDa British Producer and Songwriter Prize has been won by the jazz musician Fez, who had to compete against other producers to write and record a new song in front of the judges ...
Nov 06, 2019•28 min
With a reported budget of $160m, Martin Scorsese returns to the familiar territory of The Mob and organised crime in America in his new Netflix film The Irishman. The three-and-a-half-hour-long drama spans 50 years and reunites Scorsese with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci for the first time in 24 years, alongside Harvey Keitel and Al Pacino. Briony Hanson has been to see if for Front Row and can tell us whether or not it's vintage Scorsese. Abomination: A DUP Opera, which opens Belfast’s Outburst ...
Nov 05, 2019•28 min
New Amazon Original docudrama The Report sees an idealistic Washington staffer played by Adam Driver tasked by his senator boss to lead an investigation of the CIA’s Detention and Interrogation Program, which was created in the aftermath of 9/11. His relentless pursuit of the truth leads to explosive findings that uncover the lengths to which the nation’s top intelligence agency went to destroy evidence, subvert the law, and hide a brutal secret from the American public. Kirsty Lang talks to The...
Nov 04, 2019•28 min
Patti Smith, legendary musician and poet, looks back at a troubled year, 2016, in a new memoir, Year of the Monkey. Director Tom Harper discusses his new film The Aeronauts set in 1862, starring Eddie Redmayne as a pioneering meteorologist and Felicity Jones as a balloon pilot, who attempt to advance knowledge of the weather and fly higher than anyone in history. As a horror film The Shining is a hard act to follow but Doctor Sleep attempts to do just that. Ewan McGregor stars as Danny, the psyc...
Nov 01, 2019•28 min
Screenwriter Jack Thorne discusses his new HBO/BBC adaptation of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, said to be the BBC's most expensive drama yet. Ken Loach’s new film Sorry We Missed You concerns a parcel delivery driver and his carer wife as they try to make ends meet, and the effect of that struggle on their family. Scottee reviews this portrayal of the gig economy on working lives. The 19th century British mathematician Ada Lovelace, cited as the first person to publish a computer programm...
Oct 31, 2019•28 min
In their new film, The Good Liar, Ian McKellen plays Roy Courtnay, a con artist who when he meets Betty McLeish, a well-to-widow played by Helen Mirren, can't believe his luck. Sir Ian talks to John Wilson about this role, which involves playing someone who is himself acting. Guilt, a new 4-part BBC Two drama set in Edinburgh, stars Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives as two very different brothers who find themselves having to join forces when they run over and kill a man. As they cover their tracks th...
Oct 30, 2019•28 min
