Front Row

Leo Woodall stars in the film Tuner, about a young piano prodigy who turns to crime, in cinemas on the 29th May.
The classical music world has been paying tribute to the soprano Dame Felicity Lott, who died on Friday at the age of 79. Critic David Benedict joins us to discuss her life in music.
Ronald Firbank is considered a pioneering queer voice of modernist fiction, but he's often overlooked. Sir Alan Hollinghurst and the poet and critic Jack Parlett join us to assess his literary impact and his legacy, a century on from his death.
Mary Astell championed women’s education and spoke out against what she saw as the tyranny of marriage in the early 18th century. But despite her impact she's in danger of being forgotten. Now a new play imagines her in conversation with another famous feminist philosopher, Virginia Woolf, encountering each other in a celestial waiting room. We speak to the playwright, Shelagh Stephenson about her play Astell & Woolf, playing now at Newcastle's Live Theatre.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Harry Graham

Observer Theatre critic Susannah Clapp and Heat's Entertainment Director Boyd Hilton join Samira to discuss The Christophers - Steven Soderbergh’s film about an ageing artist and a young forger hired to copy his work, starring Ian McKellen and Michaela Coel.
They also discuss the second series of Rivals, based on Jilly Cooper’s bonkbuster novel which was set in the affluent 80s world of commercial TV.
Plus, they talk about the West End transfer of 1536. It's Ava Pickett’s award-winning historical debut play about female friendship set around the backdrop of Anne Boleyn’s arrest for treason.
Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Claire Bartleet

From landmark releases to hidden treasures, director Mark Cousins on his 16-hour epic The Story of Documentary Film, which is screening at the Cannes Film Festival this week.
A hundred years since Virginia Woolf published her essay On Being Ill, writer Darcey Steinke is presenting a newly commissioned work in response at the Charleston Festival this week. She joins us alongside poet Jade Cuttle to discuss the challenges of writing about pain and sickness and about the most visceral examples in literature.
And with a raft of stage musical productions inspired by films opening around the country, Tony and Olivier Award-winning director John Tiffany, whose production Once is at Pitlochry Festival Theatre later this month and critic David Benedict discuss why certain scripts are deserving of multiple incarnations.
Presenter: Kirsty Wark
Producer: Mark Crossan

This year marks the tercentenary of polymath Sir John Vanbrugh, regarded as the rockstar architect of the Baroque era. Art historian Sir Charles Saumerez Smith, co-curator of the Vanbrugh exhibition at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, and Rory Fraser who is writing a biography on Vanbrugh, discuss the man happy creating dramas for the British stage and dramatic buildings on the British landscape.
Turner Prize-winning artist Lubaina Himid is known for her distinctive brightly coloured paintings of black characters. She reflects on representing Great Britain at this year's Venice Biennale, and her ambition as a painter to capture the awkward moment.
Marking tonight's first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest, television critic Scott Bryan assesses this year's runners and riders aiming to win the song for Europe.
Theatre and opera director Kip Williams on directing the UK premiere of the Pulitzer prize-winning opera Angel's Bone which has its UK premiere in Manchester tonight. Fresh from directing one-woman shows with Cynthia Erivo in Dracula, and Sarah Snook in The Picture of Dorian Gray, he talks about juggling the challenges of a contemporary genre-fusing opera.
Presented by Nick Ahad
Produced by Ekene Akalawu

Critics Ben Luke and Aviva Dautch bring us all the news from The Venice Biennale.

Following the death of the great Shakespearean actor Michael Pennington, we speak to former RSC Director Gregory Doran about his impact on the stage.
A new small exhibition Elizabeth I: Queen and Court Is running in London. It includes rarely seen portraits of The Virgin Queen that are normally held in private collections. Historians Tracy Borman and Siobhan Clarke join Tom to talk about the crossover between portraits and propaganda for 16th century monarchs
Hilary Mantel's controversial 2015 short story, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, has been adapted for stage at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre. We speak to playwright Alexandra Wood about why she chose to re-tell this story now.
Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe