Ria Zmitrowicz on The Power, The ENO’s The Dead City and God’s Creatures reviewed
Ria Zmitrowicz talks about her role in The Power, the TV adaptation of Naomi Alderman’s novel. She plays Roxy Monke, the daughter of a notorious crime boss whose aspirations to join the family business are realized when she gains a mysterious new power.
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by author Michael Arditti and critic Alexandra Coughlan review the ENO’s new production of Korngold’s opera The Dead City and new film God’s Creatures, which stars Paul Mescal and Emily Watson .
Lee Stockdale has won the National Poetry Competition for a poem about his father. His poem won out over 17,000 other entries from more than 100 countries. He explains how he became a poet and what winning means to him.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Kirsty Starkey
3/30/2023
42:24
Cash Carraway on BBC drama Rain Dogs, the might of the UK gaming industry, Kidnapped on stage
Rain Dogs, billed as ‘a love story told from the gutter,’ is a new comedy drama series starring Daisy May Cooper. Shahidha Bari is joined in the studio by the writer and creator of the series, Cash Carraway.
Ahead of the BAFTA Games Awards we discuss the state of play in the UK games industry with Chris Allnutt, gaming critic for the Financial Times and with games producer Charu Desodt, whose interactive crime drama As Dusk Falls is nominated for Best Debut Game.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped is being retold as a swashbuckling rom-com by the National Theatre of Scotland. Shahidha speaks to Isobel McArthur and Michael John McCarthy about adapting the 1868 coming–of-age classic.
Presenter: Shahidha Bari
Producer: Harry Parker
3/29/2023
42:31
Musician Natalie Merchant, poet Victoria Adukwei Bulley, library funding
Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant talks to Samira Ahmed about Keep Your Courage, her first album in nearly a decade.
Libraries were awarded the smallest amount of money from the Cultural Investment Fund, which was announced last week. Front Row speaks to Nick Poole, Chief Executive of CILIP, the Library and Information Association.
And Victoria Adukwei Bulley discusses winning the Rathbones Folio Prize for poetry for her collection Quiet.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Kirsty McQuire
3/28/2023
42:18
Barbara Demick on North Korea; Dungeons and Dragons controversy; folk musicians Hack-Poets Guild
Award-winning journalist Barbara Demick’s book 'Nothing to Envy' has been short-listed for this year’s Baille Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction Winner of Winners Award; North Korean defectors spoke about love, family life and the terrible cost of the 1990’s famine.
Front Row examines the controversy surrounding Dungeons and Dragons, the world's most popular table-top role playing game and now a Hollywood film, as fans protest against a clampdown on fan-made content. Professional Dungeons and Dragons player Kim Richards and Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law, Dr. Hayleigh Bosher, join Tom Sutcliffe to discuss what this means for fans and copyright owners.
Hack-Poets Guild is a collaboration between the renowned folk musicians Marry Waterson, Lisa Knapp and Nathaniel Mann. Their new album Blackletter Garland is inspired by the collection of broadside ballads in the Bodleian Library, news sheets that circulated between the 16th and 20th Centuries.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Olivia Skinner
3/27/2023
42:34
Steven Knight on Great Expectations, After Impressionism at the National Gallery
Writer and director Steven Knight, whose work includes Peaky Blinders and SAS Rogue Heroes, discusses his new BBC adaptation of Great Expectations which stars Olivia Coleman as Miss Havisham.
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by critics Ben Luke and Isabel Stevens to review some of the week’s cultural highlights including Spanish film The Beasts, the After Impressionism exhibition at the National Gallery and the return of TV drama Succession.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Sarah Johnson