Front Row

A special edition of Front Row from the BBC's poetry and performance festival - Contains Strong Language
Since self-publishing a poetry pamphlet in 2020, Donna Ashworth has gone on to become the UK's bestselling living poet of the decade. She talks about her new book, The Art of Being Easily Pleased: Words To Unlock A Wonderful life, and shares some of her new poems.
The phenomenally successful musical, Operation Mincemeat, which looks at a WW2 deception operation, began life as a 15 minute performance at The Lowry as part of the art centre's artist development programme. Natasha Hodgson and David Cumming, two of the original members of the team that created the show, discuss one of the musical's best loved songs, Dear Bill, and there'll be a special performance of it.
Anthony Almeida is directing a new production of Othello, set in 1980s Britain which draws parallels between the political and military turmoil of that time with those of Shakespeare's 16th century setting in Venice and Cyprus. He talks about the play's language of leadership in challenging times.
The TS Eliot Prize-winning poet Joelle Taylor set her collection, Maryville, in a butch bar to explore the lives of four butch lesbians and the underground landscape of queer culture. She discusses the new performance version of these poems that she'll be presenting at the Contains Strong Language festival.
Presenter - Samira Ahmed
Producer - Ekene Akalawu

In this week's Review Show, our guest critics Hannah McGill and Fergus Morgan join Kirsty Wark to discuss three dystopian thrillers:
Bestselling novelist Emily St John Mandel's latest work of speculative fiction, Exit Party, chronicles how a range of characters respond to a complete collapse in society - in America, where Texas and California are now republics, and militia roam the streets, and in Paris, where a giant dome has been constructed to protect elites.
An alien invasion in the heart stopping South Korean sci-fi action thriller Hope, by writer, director and producer Na Hong-jin, which received an enthusiastic ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and went on to become a smash box office hit.
And a new adaptation of George Orwell's seminal 1984, in which a couple's love affair is an act of rebellion against a totalitarian regime, which is touring Scottish theatres between now and November.
Producer: Mark Crossan

Comedian Russell Kane tells us about playing an older Romeo in a new take on Shakespeare’s famous tragedy.
Author Samantha Ellis gives her verdict on the new film adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility starring Daisy Edgar-Jones.
This week marks 100 years since the birth of John Coltrane. Saxophonist Soweto Kinch and Grammy award winning music historian Ashley Khan discuss Coltrane’s significance and legacy.
And we reveal this year’s Booker Prize shortlist live on air. Literary critic and journalist Alex Clark joins Tom to discuss the six shortlisted titles.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Claire Bartleet.

Roger Taylor has been a driving force behind Queen, one of the most successful bands in history. The songwriter, drummer and singer talks to Tom Sutcliffe about his 7th solo album Violence Insane in a Beautiful World.
Stars Wars legend George Lucas has long sought to fulfil his dream to open a museum for his vast art collection, which includes everything from the comics of R. Crumb and Moebius to the art of Frida Kahlo, Banksy and Norman Rockwell. Art critic Jocelyn Silver joins to tell us about what fans can see when the Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts opens in Los Angeles tomorrow.
Imagine a scenario where Russia attacks the UK and the decisions about how the country responds are down to you. That's the task taken on by ex-politicians from across the political parties in a new TV series called The Wargame. Tom talks to ex MP Jim Murphy, who took part as the Foreign Secretary, and one of the Executive Producers Nicola Brown.
As the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport has announced a new committee to look into Eurovision, journalist and Eurovision expert William Lee Adams explains why we don’t have the best track record with song success and what the committee could learn from other countries.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Andrea Kidd

Robbie Collin and Sarah Crompton join Samira Ahmed to review:
Rose Tremain’s new book, The Housekeeper, which imagines how Daphne du Maurier’s classic novel, Rebecca, came to be written.
Queen at Sea, a film starring Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay, which takes on the moral quandaries that occur with care in the advanced stages of dementia, when someone has lost the ability to make critical decisions.
Thelma & Louise the new musical which is playing at the Young Vic in London.
And we’ll have an interview with Laura Beatty, a finalist in the BBC National Short Story Awards, for her story Two Minutes to Midnight.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Jonathan Blackwell