Front Row

Adam Macqueen talks to Kirsty about his debut novel, Beneath the Streets, a counterfactual thriller set in London in the 1970s which imagines what might have happened had Liberal politician Jeremy Thorpe successfully arranged the murder of his ex-lover Norman Scott. The story, the historic version of which was recently dramatized by Russell T. Davies for television, features a cast of real-life characters including Prime Minister Harold Wilson, his senior adviser Lady Falkender, gay Labour peer Tom Driberg and the investigative journalist Paul Foot.Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson is Front Row’s Artist in Residence during the lockdown, performing live for us each week on the concert grand in the empty Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik. Tonight he plays an enigmatic piece by the French 18th Century composer Rameau, called La Cupis.Bryony Shanahan is joint artistic director of the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester. Dave Moutrey is Chief Executive at the venue HOME and Director of Culture for Manchester City Council. They talk about the challenges they face now their institutions are closed. What about their staff and their finances? Will things ever be the same again and what of their own working lives? What do they do, day to day, now?Last night the National Theatre streamed its popular production of Treasure Island and it is available, free, until next Thursday. When the show opened in the Olivier auditorium audiences were amazed by the set - it's a ship, a pub, a cave and a strange, pulsating island. And a pirate's corpse. It's impressive still on television. Kirsty talked to the designer, Lizzie Clachan on the set during a rehearsal just before the show opened, and we revisit this tonight. The Front Row Masterclass series continues. Amanda Litherland, presenter of 4 Extra’s Podcast Radio Hour and novelist and nature writer Melissa Harrison (who has just launched her own nature podcast The Stubborn Light Of Things) join Kirsty to talk about how to make your own podcast.The great American actor Brian Dennehy has died. His was a wide ranging career in films, on television and in the theatre. He was hailed for his performance as Willy Loman in the 50th anniversary production of Death of a Salesman, for which he won both a Tony and a Laurence Olivier Award. He spoke about his approach to this role in a programme called Playing the Salesman, and we hear some of his thoughts.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Julian May

Comedian Angela Barnes is the new host of Radio 4’s stalwart show The News Quiz. Fresh from recording the first episode of the new series, we ask how they’re keeping it funny when the only story is a deadly virus, and what it’s been like making the show under lockdown when there’s no audience to laugh at your jokes.When the coronavirus pandemic struck, Women’s Prize-winning novelist and games writer Naomi Alderman was in the middle of a new writing project. The subject? A piece of speculative fiction about a global pandemic. Alderman joins us to talk about the dilemmas a novelist faces when unpublished work is overtaken by real events.John Mullan on the delights of Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's first published novel, that juxtaposes pain and pleasure to powerful effect. And how the physical qualities of viruses are re-created by two very different artists: Luke Jerram – the latest in his Glass Microbiology series of glass sculptures is a replica of Covid 19 - and the political cartoonist Martin Rowson. They talk to Front Row about the terrible beauty of viruses and the human attributes we project onto them. Image: Covid-19 glass sculpture by Luke Jerram Image credit: Luke JerramPresenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Sarah Johnson

Sir Patrick Stewart has been releasing daily readings of Shakespeare's Sonnets on Twitter, recorded in different parts of his Californian home. He tells Kirsty why he's doing "A Sonnet a Day" during the lockdown and what he's discovered about Shakespeare in the process.Mik Scarlet reviews Devs, BBC 2’s new thriller miniseries created by Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later). Devs is about a computer engineer, played by Sonoya Mizuno, investigating the tech company she blames for the disappearance of her boyfriend.Shahnaz Ahsan on her debut novel, Hashim and Family: a story inspired by her grandparents' generation - about Bangladeshi migration to Britain, belonging, identity, race and family history.Image: Sir Patrick Stewart Image credit: Jemal Countess/Wire Image/Getty ImagesPresenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Timothy Prosser

Comedian Russell Howard on his new lockdown TV show, Home Time. Video conferenced from his childhood bedroom, he gives his entertaining take on life in quarantine, with remote music performances and interviews with comedians and key workers.The 2020 International Prize for Arabic Fiction has been announced today. The winner is Algerian novelist Abdelouahab Aissaoui for The Spartan Court which is set in the early 19th century when Algeria was invaded and captured by the French. Aissaoui is the first Algerian to win the prize, designed to increase the international reach of Arabic fiction. Scottish folk singer-songwriter Siobhan Miller is the three times MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards Singer of the Year and has also won a Radio 2 Folk Award. She discusses her fourth album, All Is Not Forgotten, and performs live.While we’re stuck at home John Mullan is making the case for us raising our spirits by reading, or re-reading, Austen novels. Tonight he makes the case for Northanger Abbey.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hannah Robins

Roy Hudd was a comedian, actor and music-hall veteran whose career spanned seven decades. He sadly passed away in March. Starting out as a redcoat at Butlins in the 1950s, Roy became one the UK's best-loved entertainers. His show The News Huddlines ran for 26 years on Radio 2. When Samira spoke to Roy in 2015, he was approaching his 80th birthday, and was about to play Dame for the first time in panto, in Dick Whittington at Wilton's Music Hall.He discussed a lifetime of entertaining audiences, his close relationship with Dennis Potter, who left Hudd a role in his will, and his grandmother, who raised him, and to whom he owed his passion for variety and music hall.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser

Masculinity, music, violence, guilt and redemption: one of the all-time great Hollywood directors Martin Scorsese in conversation about his latest film, The Irishman, and the themes that have fascinated and inspired him through his movie-making career. Main image: Martin Scorsese Image credit: Jon Kopaloff/Film Magic/Getty Images Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson

Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson will be Front Row's Artist-in-Residence during the lockdown, delivering weekly live performances on the grand piano of the currently empty Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík, Iceland. Each week will also feature a mini-masterclass about the piece. Tonight Víkingur performs his own transcription of Sigvaldi Kaldalóns’ Ave Maria. Kaldalóns was a doctor aswell as a composer and Víkingur dedicates this performance as a prayer to all the people suffering and to the health workers fighting against COVID-19. Winner of the Sky Portrait Artists of the Year, Christabel Blackburn, gives us top tips on how to draw a portrait ourselves at home, and discusses why she's so drawn to the genre and what it was like winning the show.British-Indian musician, producer and composer Nitin Sawhney discusses his forthcoming album Immigrants, a celebration of émigrés' culture across the globe, in which he showcases creations 'inspired and contributed to by artists who either identify themselves as immigrants, are from immigrant heritage or wish to express support for those international immigrants who have found themselves judged or disadvantaged by pure accident of birth.’We conclude our ‘listening week’, focusing on entertainment available for the ear, with a look at audiobooks. Over the past decade this $3.5bn industry has been the success story of an otherwise sluggish publishing market and in a moment when many have more time on their hands there’s no better way to consume books whilst being productive. Times audiobook critic Christina Hardyment discusses the best and worst recent releases and what goes into making a good recorded reading.Presenter Tom Sutcliffe Producer Jerome Weatherald

On Easter Monday ITV will broadcast the first instalment of Quiz, the adaptation by James Graham of his play about the coughing controversy and the major convicted of cheating on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Graham tells Kirsty Lang why the story remains important. It's about truth, fact and power - the power of television. And there's a remarkable performance by Michael Sheen as Chris Tarrant.Braids was scheduled to premiere at the Live Theatre in Newcastle this April. Longlisted for the Alfred Fagon Award, it follows two girls – Jasmine and Abeni - who navigate growing up as the only people of colour in a rural part of Durham. Kirsty is joined by writer Olivia Hannah, and actors Olivia Onyehara and Cynthia Emeagi, who will be performing a scene from the play.With Front Row focusing on ‘listening’ this week, music writer Kieran Yates considers the changing landscape of music, from live radio broadcasts to live streaming and ‘quarantine concerts’. She also discusses the listening experience of what’s called 8D audio, and the importance of listening on headphones.And the death of the singer songwriter John Prine, who won the respect of Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Kris Kristofferson.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Julian May Sound Operator: Emma HarthImage: MATTHEW MACFADYEN as Charles Ingram and SIAN CLIFFORD as Diana Ingram in Quiz Credit: Leftbank Pictures for ITV

AL Kennedy won the Costa Prize 2007 for her novel Day. She talks about her new book of short stories, the aptly named We Are Attempting to Survive Our Time – a powerful collection about characters living on the edge, from a woman finally snapping at a white man's racist tirade at a zoo, to the host of a podcast revealing why she is haunted by the state of New Mexico. Sam Sweeney, fiddle player in the trio Leveret and formerly of Bellowhead, has just released his second album, Unearth Repeat. It is, he says, is an un-concept album, where he simply plays the music he loves. He tells Samira what he means and plays a tune.As our routines are changed beyond recognition, what happens to regular activities like listening to podcasts and radio? Initial statistics suggest that most podcast listening is down, while radio listening is up. Podcasters Caroline Crampton and Joseph Fink consider what this means for listeners and for the people who make audio.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Dymphna Flynn Studio Manager: Duncan HannantImage: AL Kennedy Credit: Geraint Lewis 2013

On the eve of the 250th anniversary of the birth of the great English poet William Wordsworth, Juliet Stevenson reads some of his most famous poems and Michael McGregor, Director of the Wordsworth Trust, explains why Wordsworth is particularly relevant today, at a time of crisis. As Front Row begins a week of celebrating the joys of listening - to radio, podcasts, audiobooks, music and drama - radio critic Gillian Reynolds talks about the joys of entertainment for the ears.Actor Kerry Shale discusses his radio drama, The Kubrick Test, which tells the true story of his encounter with one of cinema’s most influential figures. For many years, the great director’s methods were shrouded in mystery. So when, in 1987, a young actor gets an invitation to enter Kubrick’s hidden world, he leaps at it. And, of course, gets more than he bargained for. The Kubrick Test will be broadcast on Radio 4 on Wednesday at 2.15 pm.Composer Nainita Desai is a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit, and is the International Film Music Critics Association Breakthrough Composer of 2020. She has scored many TV and film dramas as well as video games, and she discusses her score for For Sama, Waad al-Kateab’s Oscar-nominated film that won the BAFTA for Best Documentary this year.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Simon Richardson