Directors Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry on Kinsuke's Kingdom, their hand-drawn animated film which features a shipwrecked boy who learns about the natural world from a Japanese soldier who's been living secretly on an island since the end of World War II. How closely do we watch trailers when deciding which film to watch next? Film critic Larushka Ivan Zadeh and Sam Cryer from Intermission Trailer House discuss the art of the movie trailer, whether they are now too long and reveal too many spoilers...
Aug 05, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Rhianna Dhillon and Viv Groskop to review novel Echoes by Evie Wyld, which focuses on Max, a ghost who, stuck in the flat they had shared, watches his girlfriend grieving and discovers secrets about her. Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor talks about his upcoming performance of the longest concerto ever written, the Piano Concerto by Ferruccio Busoni, whose centenary is celebrated at this year’s Proms. We'll also review the film Didi, a coming of age film set in 2008, focussin...
Aug 01, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Labour MPs are having a moment on the stage with Jennie Lee, the UK's first Arts Minister, the subject of Lindsay Rodden's eponymous new play for Mikron Theatre, and Education Minister Ellen Wilkinson the focus of Paul Unwin's new play, The Promise, about the 1945 Labour Government. Lindsay and Paul join Front Row to discuss dramatizing parliamentary politics. Acclaimed music journalist writer Jon Savage joins to discuss his new book The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Resistance Shaped Popular Culture...
Jul 31, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast A new production of The Grapes of Wrath opens at the National Theatre with Cherry Jones taking on the role of matriarch Ma Joad. She joins Samira to talk about Steinbeck's tale of poverty and the hostility the poor face in America - plus her thoughts on art, violence and America today. Deadpool & Wolverine is the new Marvel film, its director Shawn Levy discusses the latest in the superhero film franchise. Plus, we have music from Haitian-American folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Leyl...
Jul 31, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast A new production of The Grapes of Wrath opens at the National Theatre with Cherry Jones taking on the role of matriarch Ma Joad. She joins Samira to talk about Steinbeck's tale of poverty and the hostility the poor face in America - plus her thoughts on art, violence and America today. Deadpool & Wolverine is the new Marvel film, its director Shawn Levy discusses the latest in the superhero film franchise. Plus, we have music from Haitian-American folk musician and multi-instrumentalist Leyl...
Jul 30, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Colm Toibin, Bonnie Greer and Mendez join Samira Ahmed to celebrate the life and work of the American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, author of the landmark gay novel Giovanni's Room, as part of a series of programmes on BBC Radio 4 and 3 marking the 100th anniversary of his birth. Colm Toibin is author of the book On James Baldwin Bonnie Greer is writing a memoir of her own personal encounter with James Baldwin Mendez is author of the autobiographical novel Rainbow Milk Presente...
Jul 29, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Novelist Stephanie Merritt and literary editor of the Spectator Sam Leith are Tom Sutcliffe's guest reviewers. They give their verdict on the new production of Hello Dolly at London's Palladium starring Imelda Staunton, Netflix's The Decameron - which depicts the haves and the have-nots in plague-ridden 14th century Florence - and the 3 hour long Turkish film, About Dry Grasses, which features the travails of a teacher posted to a rural school in a bleak but beautiful landscape. Presenter: Tom S...
Jul 25, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hollywood star Keanu Reeves and award-winning author China Miéville have joined forces for The Book of Elsewhere, which is based on Keanu's hit comic book series BRZRKR and tells the story of an immortal warrior and his journey through time. As Paris prepares to welcome the world for the Olympic and Paralympic Games this week, the writer and broadcaster Agnés Poirier reports on the City of Light's Cultural Olympiad. Nick visits Blackburn to meet co-founder and co-director of the National Festiva...
Jul 24, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Samira discusses the perilous situation facing arts sponsorship in the UK, amid growing protests and campaigns, with leading figures from the worlds of arts and finance. As literary and music festivals have been engulfed in sponsorship rows this summer, resulting in many severing ties with major donors such as the investment firm Baillie Gifford. what are the implications for the future of arts institutions? She is joined by Peter Bazalgette, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Baillie Giffor...
Jul 23, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tom talks to the creators of the hit Australian musical Fangirls, Yve Blake and Paige Rattray, as it opens in London. Countertenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski makes his Proms debut tomorrow night, and talks about combining his career as a top international soloist with breakdancing and modelling. Actor Samuel West discusses a new report from Campaign for the Arts, which reveals new findings about the state of the arts in the UK. Children's literature expert and broadcaster Bex Lindsay recommends summer...
Jul 22, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jason Solomons and Kate Maltby join Tom to review Those About to Die, the new 10-part ‘sword and sandal’ series from Amazon Prime, directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Anthony Hopkins. The film Thelma which follows an elderly grandmother who turns action hero to track down her scammer, inspired by her favourite film series – Mission Impossible. And Echo at the Royal Court, the new play from the Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour, starring a new unrehearsed performer every night. The like...
Jul 18, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Writer actor Ryan Sampson and actor Danny Dyer on their new sky comedy series Mr Bigstuff which explores the relationship between two brothers and masculinity . Pete Bellotte is one of the world’s greatest songwriters. With a catalogue of over 500 songs he is best known for his work with Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder. Earlier this year he won a Grammy after the 1977 song “I Feel Love” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. As an exhibition on Paris 1924: Sport, Art and the Body opens at t...
Jul 17, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast As Disco makes its debut at the Proms, conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, who will be leading the BBC Concert Orchestra at Saturday’s Everybody Dance! The Sound of Disco Prom, talks about the link between the music which dominated the 1970s pop charts and the orchestral world. Today the Welsh First Minister, Vaughan Gething and four of his cabinet ministers including the Culture Secretary resigned. Jane Henderson, President of The Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales, and Emma Scho...
Jul 16, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Anne-Marie Duff talks about her role in the crime thriller Suspect and her career from Shameless to Bad Sisters, Al Murray and Matthew Moss on the ongoing fascination with World War II in festivals, podcasts and films, an interview with Melvyn Hayes, well known for It Ain't Half Hot Mum, and curator Bakul Patki and artist Dawn Woolley discuss A Real Woman, a billboard art exhibition exploring representations of femininity. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Eliane Glaser
Jul 15, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Boyd Hilton and Dreda Say Mitchell join Samira to review the 12 time Tony nominated Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris which has just opened in London, having premiered, not without controversy, in New York in 2018. The film Fly me to the Moon starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum is a rom com set during the 1960s Space Race between the USA and Russia. Sunny is a future set thriller TV series in which an American woman living in Japan loses her family in a plane crash and is sent a robot by...
Jul 11, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast For the first time ever, breaking (known commercially as break dancing) is going to be featured as a sport at the main Olympic Games when they are hosted in Paris this summer. But what exactly is breaking and where did it come from? Tom Sutcliffe speaks to DJ Renegade, one of the world’s top breaking judges who came up with the original judging system the Olympics competition is based on and Crazy Smooth, one of Canada’s top street dancers. We visit the Museum of the Home in East London to speak...
Jul 10, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Playwright Mike Bartlett and theatre director Robert Hastie on their new stage production of Chariots of Fire As preparations are made for a major redevelopment of the Pompidou Centre in Paris, Catherine Croft, Director of the 20th Century Society and Olivia Salazar-Winspear Culture Reporter for France 24 discuss the iconic building. BBC Russian senior reporter Sergei Goryashko on the sentencing of the Russian playwright, Svetlana Petriychuk, and theatre director Yevgenia Berkovich for their pro...
Jul 09, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Laurie Anderson, the Grammy award-winning artist and musician whose career has spanned five decades, discusses her latest work. a song cycle based on the final flight of the aviation pioneer Amelia Earheart. And we hear her reflections on the unexpected chart success of of O Superman back in in 1981. While most of the incoming cabinet are already familiar with their briefs ministers, Lisa Nandy has just been appointed Culture Secretary having not shadowed the role. Lara Carmona of the industry b...
Jul 08, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Author Abir Mukherjee and critic Sarah Crompton join Tom Sutcliffe for the review show. After opening 40 years ago, Starlight Express has been updated and opens in London in a specially designed auditorium. Rosarita by Anita Desai tells the story of Bonita, a young Indian woman who travels to Mexico to study and stumbles upon unknown evidence that her late mother had once been there. Monia Chokri's award winning French-Canadian rom-com The Nature of Love follows a philosophy professor navigating...
Jul 04, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Irish giant of verse Paul Muldoon is this year’s Writer in Residence at Ledbury Poetry Festival. He discusses the importance of workshopping and his new collection Joy in Service on Rue Tagore. Filmmakers Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd discuss their new film, Unicorns, a love story in which drag queen Aysha and mechanic and single father Luke embark on a romance against the backdrop of the gaysian club scene. As the play Visit from An Unknown Woman opens at Hampstead Theatre, we ta...
Jul 03, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast The hit series The Bear is back for a third series. Samira talks to Ebon Moss Bachrach, who plays Richie. His cousin Carmen has been trying to transform their family-run restaurant from a cheap and cheerful operation into The Bear - a serious dining experience. Series 2 ended with a successful but highly stressful first night with Richie as the maitre d' - and tensions are set to rise again in series three of the drama created by Christopher Storer who was inspired by a family restaurant where h...
Jul 02, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lynda la Plante discusses her final Jane Tennison novel, Whole Life Sentence and discusses the enduring legacy of Prime Suspect. Lea Ypi remembers the late Albanian writer and poet Ishmail Kadare, author of The General of the Dead Army and The Palace of Dreams. How is AI impacting music copyright? Hayleigh Bosher of Brunel University London, Reader in Intellectual Property Law and the music business journalist Eamonn Forde discuss. And Julie Finch, CEO of Hay Festival, discusses the future of bo...
Jul 01, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Reviews of: The ITV comedy drama Douglas is Cancelled - a four part series written by Steven Moffat, starring Hugh Bonneville as middle-aged television broadcaster, Douglas Bellowes, who finds himself on the wrong side of 21st century social mores; A new exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield, Ronald Moody Sculpting Life, puts the spotlight on the Jamaican-born artist who engaged with key moments in 20th-century art; A new production at the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester of Oscar Wilde's The...
Jun 27, 2024•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Next to Normal stormed Broadway in 2009 with its portrayal of a woman struggling with her mental health. It went on to win three Tonys and a Pulitzer Prize. Now staged in London, its creator Tom Kitt and star Caissie Levy talk about this deeply emotional musical and Caissie performs live. Early 20th century Ukrainian art is the focus of the Royal Academy’s In the Eye of the Storm exhibition. Curator Katia Denysova talks about how Ukrainian art was able to flourish in a brief window, between the ...
Jun 26, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Violinist Rachel Podger has assembled an intriguing selection of English Baroque chamber pieces on her new CD The Muses Restor'd. She tells Kate about some of the lesser known composers who were active in 17th and 18th century England and performs live in the studio. A new play at the Park Theatre in London explores the conspiracies surrounding Marilyn Monroe's death. Creators Guy Masterson and Vicki McKellar discuss the truth behind the fiction. Emma Glass's new book Mrs Jekyll realises Deborah...
Jun 25, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast The UN climate conference in Kyoto in 1997 is the setting for a new play at the RSC. Its writers Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson talk about the dramatic potential they saw in that moment and in the decade leading up to it. Nathaniel Rateliff is a singer songwriter based in Denver, Colorado whose style of Americana and collaboration with the Nightsweats has garnered a steady following of fans due to his talent in storytelling and performance. He joins us to play live. We celebrate Midsummer’s Day wi...
Jun 24, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Philippa Gregory and Briony Hanson join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss the National Portrait Gallery’s Six Lives: The Stories of Henry VIII’s Queens, award winning film Green Border and Federer: Twelve Final Days co-directed by Asif Kapadia and Joe Sabia. Tom is also joined by the Children’s Laureate Joseph Coelho who’s just been announced winner of the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing for his book The Boy Lost in the Maze. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet
Jun 20, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Musician Graham Gouldman performs live from his new album, as well as talking about his Lancashire upbringing and and playing in the band 10cc 50 years ago Steven Spielberg was filming his adaptation of Peter Benchley's shark thriller Jaws - a problematic shoot that nonetheless resulted in a classic movie. Critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and writer Robert Lautner assess the film's legacy and look at the many shark attack movies that have followed in its wake, including new releases Something in the W...
Jun 19, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Stephen Fry stars in Treasure, where he plays a jovial Holocaust survivor who returns to his native Poland from his home New York with his stubborn American-born daughter, played by Lena Dunham. She is keen to build a stronger relationship with him by helping him relive his traumatised past, while he tries to sabotage her plans at every turn. How do you make space for new stand-up comedians new stand-ups? Darrell Martin, founder of comedy club Just The Tonic which turns 30 this year, and comedia...
Jun 18, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Broadway star Stephanie J Block performs So In Love from the new production of Kiss Me Kate, at London’s Barbican. Tom talks to her and the Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher about creating the musical show within a show, which is based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. The BBC’s Culture Editor Katie Razzall on what the political parties have included in – and left out of - their manifestos on the Arts and Culture. We also hear from The Lowry’s CEO Julia Fawcett and The Times’ Chi...
Jun 17, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast