))
This my retelling of the story of England, which is a regular, chronological podcast, starting from the end of Roman Britain. I’m a bloke in a shed, but I make sure this is good, properly prepared history, and then fill it with my enthusiasm. You’ll find the great events and people for sure – but also some of the byways, of how people lived, their language, and the forces that shaped their lives and destinies.(Note iTunes only displays a list of 300 episodes. There are rather more, which all ...
Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music.
Watch features and trailers for Digital Theatre productions from the Almeida, the English Touring Theatre, the Royal Court, the RSC and the Young Vic.
English Touring Theatre is one of the UK's most successful and exciting production companies, widely regarded as England's National Theatre of Touring. Led by Director Richard Twyman, the company works with leading artists to stage an eclectic mix of new and classic work for audiences throughout the UK and overseas; theatre that is thrilling, popular and, above all, entertaining.
F
Front Row
1
Touchstones Rochdale art gallery's radical 80s history, James Shapiro on Shakespeare
42:25
42:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:25
A Tall Order! Rochdale Art Gallery in the 1980s is the name of the show currently on at Touchstones Rochdale, which reflects on the gallery’s radical history supporting those who were, at the time, overlooked by the mainstream of the art world, some of whom have gone on to prestigious careers. Co-curators Derek Horton and Alice Correia join Front R…
F
Front Row
1
Danny Lee Wynter and play Black Superhero; badly behaved theatre audiences; violinist Pekka Kuusisto
42:28
42:28
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:28
Are theatre audiences behaving badly? After recent complaints, we discuss expectations of audience etiquette. Tom is joined by: Dr Kirsty Sedgman, Lecturer in Theatre at University of Bristol, researcher of audiences, and author of The Reasonable Audience: Theatre Etiquette, Behaviour Policing, And The Live Performance Experience; Lyn Gardner, thea…
F
Front Row
1
Lisa O’Neill performs live, Dance of Death from the National Theatre of Norway
42:25
42:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:25
Irish singer songwriter Lisa O’Neill talks to Samira Ahmed about her latest album, All Of This Is Chance, and performs live in the Front Row studio. The National Theatre of Norway have brought their production of Strindberg’s Dance of Death to the UK. Director Marit Moum Aune explains what led her to delve into the work of Strindberg, and acclaimed…
In 1633 Thomas Wentworth arrived in Ireland - and despite great administrative efficiency, managed to separately outrage each of the components of Irish Society Meanwhile in London, William Prynne and John Lilburne stood form against tyranny. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
F
Front Row
1
Richard Eyre on his film Allelujah, and climate change TV drama Extrapolations reviewed
42:19
42:19
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:19
Richard Eyre on directing the screen version of Alan Bennett’s play Allelujah, starring Jennifer Saunders, set on the geriatric ward of a fictional Yorkshire hospital, the Bethlehem, and on raising questions about how society cares for its older population.We review the star-studded Apple TV+ climate change series Extrapolations, and a new exhibiti…
F
Front Row
1
Scottish-Iranian film Winners, playwright Calum L MacLeòid, neurodiversity and creativity
42:21
42:21
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:21
Filmmaker Hassan Nazar talks to Kate Molleson about his new film Winners, a love letter to the art of cinema. Set in Iran, it follows two children who find an Oscars statuette. Playwright Calum L MacLeòid on his new Western, Stornaway, Quebec, which is set in 1880s Canada and performed in Gaelic, Québécois, and English.And to mark Neurodiversity Ce…
F
Front Row
1
Diversity at the Oscars and Baftas; plays and the cost of living; children's books; Phyllida Barlow
42:24
42:24
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:24
The conclusion of the Oscars marks the end of the film awards season, so Front Row took the opportunity to look at the progress made on representation in film and at awards. Tom is joined by the film critic Amon Warmann, Katherine Pieper of LA's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which looks at equalities at the Oscars, and Marcus Ryder of the Lenny H…
F
Front Row
1
Author Percival Everett, director Pravesh Kumar on Little English
42:12
42:12
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:12
Author Percival Everett on his novel Dr No; Director Pravesh Kumar on his film Little English; the new Yeats Smartphones poetry trail in BedfordAward-winning US novelist Percival Everett on his surreal new book, Dr No – in which unlikely heroes and uber-wealthy super villains chase after a box containing absolutely nothing.Pravesh Kumar has been ru…
F
Front Row
1
Film My Sailor, My Love; Atwood’s Old Babes In The Wood; Baillie Gifford prize; Nicole Flattery
41:53
41:53
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
41:53
New Irish film, My Sailor, My Love, by Finnish director, Klaus Härö, and a new collection of short stories, Old Babes in the Wood, by Margaret Atwood. To review, Tom is joined by author Ashley Hickson-Lovence and academic Sarah Churchwell. Plus the Baillie Gifford prize – the six books shortlisted for the ‘winner of winners’ award. And Irish author…
F
Front Row
1
Pioneering play Top Girls turns 40, do publishers owe a duty of care to memoirists? and the benefits of stopping the show
36:30
36:30
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
36:30
A reimagining of Caryl Churchill’s ground-breaking and celebrated play, Top Girls, opens this week at the Liverpool Everyman which sets the play – about female ambition and success across centuries and cultures - in Merseyside. Playwright Charlotte Keatley and theatre critic Susannah Clapp discuss the play’s themes and its continuing impact forty y…
F
Front Row
1
Daniel Mays on a new production of Guys and Dolls, and how accessible are venues and film sets for performers?
42:22
42:22
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:22
Daniel Mays talks to Samira Ahmed about starring as Nathan Detroit in a new immersive production of the musical Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre in south London.Front Row investigates how accessible theatres and gig venues are, not just for audiences but for performers. Reporter Carolyn Atkinson talks to a comedian and a DJ who have struggled w…
F
Front Row
1
Steven Moffat and Lucy Caldwell on writing about the Hadron Collider
42:28
42:28
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:28
Sherlock and Dr Who writer Steven Moffat, and Lucy Caldwell, winner of the BBC National Short Story Award, discuss writing short stories inspired by the science of the Large Hadron Collider for a new collection called Collision. The project pairs a team of award-winning authors with Cern physicists to explore some of the discoveries being made, thr…
The colonists that traveled to New England were very different to the Chesapeake, and the society they established also very different. For the indigenous peoples, the shock would be every bit as severe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
F
Front Row
1
Daisy Jones & The Six on TV. Lukas Dhont’s film Close. Edmund De Waal on potter Lucie Rie
42:28
42:28
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:28
Riley Keough and Sam Claflin star in the 10-part adaptation of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel Daisy Jones And The Six, the story of a fictional 70s band loosely inspired by Fleetwood Mac. Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s film Close, about two teenage boys whose close friendship is challenged by their schoolmates, won the Grand Prix at Cannes. Critics Ti…
F
Front Row
1
Barry Male Voice Choir, new play Romeo and Julie, WNO’s Blaze of Glory and Welsh culture minister Dawn Boden
42:14
42:14
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:14
On St David's Day Front Row is coming from Cardiff with Huw Stephens bringing the latest arts and culture stories of Wales. Welsh National Opera’s latest production is Blaze of Glory. The librettist Emma Jenkins and composer David Hackbridge Johnson talk to Huw Stephens about their new opera. Set in a Welsh Valleys’ village in the 1950s, it follows…
F
Front Row
1
Tracy-Ann Oberman, Director Michael B Jordan, Oldham Coliseum
42:25
42:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:25
Tracy-Ann Oberman on playing a female Shylock in the RSC's new 1936 version of The Merchant Of Venice at Watford Palace Theatre.As the Oldham Coliseum is forced to close at the end of March, reporter Charlotte Green updates the story of the diversion of Arts Council funding from the theatre to the local council. Actor Michael B Jordan tells Samira …
F
Front Row
1
Conductor Antonio Pappano on Puccini’s Turandot and the Ukrainian cabaret artists performing in exile
42:30
42:30
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:30
Conductor Sir Antonio Pappano tells us about his two new versions of Puccini’s opera, Turandot – a revival on stage at the Royal Opera House, and a new recording with tenor Jonas Kaufman, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky and the Orchestra dell’ Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.A year on from the invasion of Ukraine, Luke Jones hears from some of the …
Colonisation of the Chesapeake would be driven by its climate and its most successful crop - tobacco, defining the social structure of the colonists and the society they would form, and the impact the would have on the indigenous peoples. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
F
Front Row
1
Immersive David Hockney art and Korean film Broker reviewed; artist Mike Nelson; AI-generated writing
42:22
42:22
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:22
Reviews of the new immersive show David Hockney: Bigger & Closer (not smaller & further away) at Lightroom in London and Korean film Broker, with Larushka Ivan Zadeh and Ekow Eshun.Installation artist Mike Nelson on the art in his new retrospective at the Hayward Gallery in London and the challenge of reconstructing such epic work.Plus AI writing. …
F
Front Row
1
New film The Strays, artists Chila Kumari Singh Burman and Dawinder Bansal, Janet Malcolm’s photography memoir
42:18
42:18
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:18
Nathaniel Martello-White on making his directorial debut with the psychological thriller The Strays, set between a south London estate and an affluent English suburb.Chila Kumari Singh Burman’s show at FACT in Liverpool, Merseyside Burman Empire, references her MBE for services to Visual Art, awarded last year in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, and h…
F
Front Row
1
Michael Douglas, culture in Ukraine a year after invasion, visual effects and animation in the UK
42:21
42:21
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:21
Hollywood star Michael Douglas talks about his double-Oscar winning movie career, how he’s still learning the craft of acting and about his new film, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, which is in cinemas now.As the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches, we hear from two artists working in the country under conflict - Oksa…
F
Front Row
1
Hugh Jackman, Kevin Jared Hosein, the future of opera
42:06
42:06
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:06
Hugh Jackman talks to Samira Ahmed about his role in Florian Zeller's new film The Son, in which he plays a father struggling with his child’s mental health issues. Kevin Jared Hosein, who won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize in 2018, talks about his first novel for adults. Hungry Ghosts tells the stories of the marginalised Hindu people of Trini…
'By what right?' In this episode we think about how the early English colonisers viewed their Westward Enterprise, and legitimised their activities. And then turn to the region Eric Williams described as 'The Hub of Empire'. The Caribbean. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
F
Front Row
1
Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, Alice Neel, Spitting Image
42:25
42:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:25
On today's Front Row, Samira Ahmed talks to stand-up comedian Al Murray about putting the puppets of the political satire TV show Spitting Image on stage for the first time, in a new production, Spitting Image - Idiots Assemble, at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. And she discusses the Oscar and Bafta-nominated animation Marcel The Shell With Shoe…
F
Front Row
1
Asif Kapadia's dance film Creature; the Barbellion Book Prize winner; South Asian and South East Asian galleries in Manchester
42:24
42:24
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:24
The Oscar-winning filmmaker Asif Kapadia tells Tom Sutcliffe about collaborating with the Olivier-winning choreographer Akram Khan on the dance film Creature. Originally conceived for English National Ballet on stage, Creature is inspired by Georg Büchner’s play Woyzeck and Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein.Today Letty McHugh was announced as the w…
F
Front Row
1
Tracy Chevalier on Vermeer exhibition; live v streaming theatre audiences; American poet A. E. Stallings; The King's Singers
42:27
42:27
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:27
Tracy Chevalier discusses a historic Vermeer exhibition at Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, the largest collection of his paintings ever assembled including Girl with a Pearl Earring, which was celebrated by Chevalier's 1999 novel of the same name.Bristol Old Vic is collaborating with four universities in the West Country for a major study into audience re…
F
Front Row
1
Kate Prince on her suffragette musical, the art of casting, set design at the Brits.
42:25
42:25
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:25
Sylvia is a new hip hop, funk and soul musical telling the story the fight for women’s – and universal – suffrage, through the life of Sylvia Pankhurst. It wasn‘t just the patriarchy she had to struggle with, but her family, especially her mother, the indomitable Emmeline. Kate Prince has co-written, choreographed and directed it. She talks to Sami…
News of the History of England Chester to Chepstow Tour in September 2023. https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/resource/the-history-of-england-tour-september-2023/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
F
Front Row
1
Georgia Oakley director of Blue Jean, Burt Bacharach obituary, Salman Rushdie's Victory City and Peter Doig exhibition reviewed
42:23
42:23
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:23
Director and screenwriter Georgia Oakley talks about her BAFTA nominated debut feature film Blue Jean, which tells the story of a female closeted PE teacher in Newcastle in 1988 when Section 28 came into effect. The death of Burt Bacharach has been announced. The acclaimed lyricist Don Black pays tribute to the extraordinary composer and we hear ar…
F
Front Row
1
The Reytons, film-maker Saim Sadiq, The Beekeeper of Aleppo
42:07
42:07
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:07
From a pop-up shop in Meadowhall Shopping Centre in Sheffield to the top spot in the album charts - The Reytons join Front Row to discuss their breakthrough second album, What’s Rock and Roll?, making their music videos with family and friends, and the power of telling your own story.Since Saim Sadiq’s feature film debut, Joyland, premiered at the …
F
Front Row
1
Les Dennis and Mina Anwar, writer Tania Branigan, Kerry Shale on Yentl
42:04
42:04
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:04
Mina Anwar and Les Dennis discuss their new production of Spring and Port Wine at the Bolton Octagon. They explain why the 1960s classic play about a family in Bolton, and tensions between the generations, still has resonance today. Writer Tania Branigan talks about her new book Red Memory. Based on her research as a journalist in China, it tells t…
F
Front Row
1
Costume designer Sandy Powell, playwright Chris Bush, Donatello sculptures at the V&A
42:21
42:21
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:21
Sandy Powell is the first costume designer to receive a BAFTA Fellowship. She talks to Tom Sutcliffe about collaborating with directors Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes and designing costumes for films including Velvet Goldmine and Shakespeare in Love.Postponed the pandemic, and after a second run at the Crucible in Sheffield, the musical At the Sky…
The 1630's saw an acceleration of English colonisation in the Americas. What cultures and peoples will they meet when they get there? A horribly brief survey of cultures north of the Rio Grande before the English came. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
F
Front Row
1
TV drama Nolly and film The Whale reviewed, director M Night Shyamalan
42:28
42:28
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:28
Noele Gordon was the star of Crossroads, the soap that ran on ITV from 1964 to 1988, attracting audiences of 15 million in its heyday. She was sacked from the show in 1981, returning briefly a few years later. What happened? And what was the role of TV soap at that time, with women at the heart of its casts and audience? Russell T Davies' new drama…
F
Front Row
1
Sonia Boyce, The Quiet Girl, Theatre Freelance Pay, Oldham Coliseum
42:15
42:15
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:15
Sonia Boyce’s exhibition, Feeling Her Way, won the top prize at the Venice Biennale international art fair. As the sound, video and wallpaper installation arrives at the Turner Contemporary gallery in Margate, Sonia tells Samira why she wanted to form her own girl band and help them to achieve imperfection through improvisation.Director Colm Bairéa…
F
Front Row
1
Beethoven's Für Elise, playwright Garry Lyons, film director Rajkumar Santoshi
42:22
42:22
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:22
Beethoven’s love life has long fascinated music scholars primarily because so little is known about it despite some tantalising clues. In his new book, Why Beethoven, music critic Norman Lebrecht, identifies the dedicatee of Beethoven’s well-loved melody Für Elise, while Jessica Duchen has written a novel, Immortal, which provides one answer to the…
F
Front Row
1
Film director Sarah Polley, novelist Ann-Helen Laestadius and deep fakes on TV
42:22
42:22
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:22
Director Sarah Polley discusses her latest film, Women Talking, nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Based on the true story of the women in a remote Mennonite colony who discovered men had been attacking the women in their community, the film focuses on their debate about what to do next. Deep Fake Neighbour Wars, the new ITVX comedy which us…
F
Front Row
1
The Fabelmans and Noises Off reviewed, Joe Cornish on new TV drama Lockwood and Co.
42:23
42:23
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:23
Tom Sutcliffe is joined by critics Karen Krizanovich and Michael Billington to review The Fabelmans and the 40th anniversary production of Noises Off. Steven Spielberg’s new film, The Fabelmans, is a portrait of the artist as a young man, chronicling the development of Sam Fabelman, a boy drawn irresistibly to film-making. He finds meaning, and ach…
F
Front Row
1
Mel C on dancing with Jules Cunningham, film-maker Laura Poitras, musician Rasha Nahas
42:12
42:12
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:12
Melanie C, aka Sporty Spice, is best known for being in one of the most successful girl groups of all time. But this week she’s swapping the pop world for the dance world and performing a new contemporary piece by the choreographer Jules Cunningham at Sadler’s Wells. Melanie C and Jules Cunningham discuss their collaboration, How Did We Get Here?Ra…
F
Front Row
1
Artist John Akomfrah, Oscar Nominations, Arts Council England responds
42:41
42:41
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:41
John Akomfrah was announced today as the artist chosen to represent the UK at the next Venice Biennale - the world's biggest contemporary art exhibition. Known for his films and video installations exploring racial injustice, colonial legacies, migration and climate change, he discusses why watching a Tarkovsky film as a teenager opened his mind to…
F
Front Row
1
The play Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons; conductor Alice Farnham; the short film An Irish Goodbye.
41:59
41:59
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
41:59
Jenna Coleman (Clara in Dr Who) and Aidan Turner (Poldark) are appearing in a new production of Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at The Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End, before touring to Manchester and Brighton. Playwright Sam Steiner tells Samira Ahmed about his romantic comedy in which the characters are restricted to speaking just 1…
With Parliament banished, there was little restraint on Laud and Charles to implement the reforms they felt were needed to improve the quality of religious observations and the spiritual wealth of all English. Not everyone would approve their efforts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…
F
Front Row
1
Spain and the Hispanic World exhibition, new film Holy Spider, artist Clarke Reynolds
42:00
42:00
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:00
Samira Ahmed and guests Maria Delgado and Isabel Stevens review two of the week’s top cultural picks. They discuss a new exhibition of Spanish art, Spain and the Hispanic World, at the Royal Academy in London and Holy Spider, a film by Iranian director Ali Abbasi based on the true story of a serial killer in the holy city of Mashhad in 2001.Blind a…
F
Front Row
1
Hepworth, Moore, landscape and cows' backs; fiddle player John McCusker; novelist Victoria MacKenzie
42:32
42:32
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:32
A new exhibition at The Hepworth Wakefield celebrates the relationship that two of the UK’s greatest sculptors, Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore, had with the Yorkshire landscape they grew up in. Eleanor Clayton, the curator of the exhibition, Magic in this Country, joins the landscape photographer Kate Kirkwood - who has just published a new book,…
F
Front Row
1
Poet Anthony Joseph, new novels about witches and the fall in female film-makers
42:24
42:24
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:24
Over the last three weeks Front Row has broadcast a poem by each of the 10 writers shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize for Poetry. The winner was announced last night: Anthony Joseph, for his collection Sonnets for Albert. Anthony talks to Samira Ahmed about his sequence of sonnets exploring his relationship with his often absent father, winning the…
F
Front Row
1
Rebecca Frecknall on A Streetcar Named Desire, Rick Rubin, Clarinetist Kinan Azmeh
42:17
42:17
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:17
Nine-time Grammy winning record producer and Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin has produced hits for artists including Run DMC, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Johnny Cash. He discusses drawing on his experience for his new book The Creative Act: A Way of Being.Theatre director Rebecca Frecknall discusses her new production of A Streetcar Named Desire and th…
The Ship Money in 1637-8 was a courtroom battle sought for by both the king, and Hampden and the 'Warwick house' faction, where battle lines were clearly drawn, in the bright light of public fascination and scrutiny. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The film critic Clarisse Loughrey and literary editor Sam Leith join Tom Sutcliffe live in the studio to review the new HBO series The Last of Us, based on the critically acclaimed video game, and the film Enys Men, a Cornish folk horror by Mark Jenkin, the BAFTA winning director of BAIT.In the most recent in an occasional series of interviews abou…
F
Front Row
1
Filmmaker Todd Field on Tár, Glyndebourne tour cancellation, Debut novelist Jyoti Patel
42:30
42:30
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
42:30
Tár is a psychological drama about an imaginary conductor, Lydia Tár, which has already made waves both for its central performance by Cate Blanchett and for its striking, sometimes dreamlike story about the abuses of power. It is tipped for awards and Cate Blanchett has already won the Golden Globe for her performance. The writer and director, Tod…
F
Front Row
1
How AI is changing art, the TS Eliot Prize for poetry and the folk music of wassailing
41:57
41:57
Play later
Play later
Lists
Like
Liked
41:57
Designer Steven Zapata and artist Anna Ridler discuss whether AI art poses a threat to artists and designers. Imagine reading more than 200 new books of poetry. That was the task faced by the judges of the T S Eliot Prize. Jean Sprackland and fellow judge Roger Robinson talk to Tom Sutcliffe about their experience and what they learned about the ar…
