Front Row

Simon Russell Beale was a choral scholar and the actor remains a serious musician who can play a Bach fugue. Now he is taking the role of Johann Sebastian in Nina Raine’s new play Bach and Sons and he talks to Samira Ahmed about his relationship with the composer. Does being able to play Bach help him to play Bach?French Exit stars Michelle Pfeiffer as a Manhattan heiress who has to downsize to Paris with her son and cat when her money runs out after her husband’s death. She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in the comedy drama directed by Azazel Jacobs, adapted by Patrick deWitt from his own novel. Hannah McGill reviews.Lisa Taddeo came to prominence in 2019 for her nonfiction book Three Women, a chronicle of her subjects' sex lives. Over the course of eight years, the writer not only interviewed the titular three women but also immersed herself in their worlds. The result was one of the hits of the year. Now she returns with Animal, a raw and intense debut novel about sexual trauma and female rage. She tells Samira about the process of writing it and her hope that women who have suffered similar experiences will feel less alone after reading it.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May Studio Engineer: Sue Maillot

It’s third time lucky for the National Theatre: it tried to re-open the Olivier, its largest auditorium, with The Death of England – Delroy in October. The first night was a triumph but, because of the lockdown, it was also the last night. Dick Whittington, the panto, was cancelled a fortnight before Christmas. But the Olivier sprang to life again this week with Under Milk Wood; Michael Sheen leading an almost entirely Welsh cast in Dylan Thomas’s much-loved play for voices - the voices of the townsfolk of Llaregub, a small port by the fishingboatbobbing sea, as they dream and remember through the bible-black night. But in the NT’s new production not all the words are provided by Dylan Thomas. There is additional material by playwright Siân Owen, which suggests director Lyndsey Turner is taking an original approach to this almost sacred text. John Wilson talks to Siân Owen to find out what she has added, and why.Film director Nick Broomfield discusses Last Man Standing: Suge Knight and the Murders of Biggie & Tupac, the sequel to his 2002 film Biggie and Tupac, which considered the background to the murder of two celebrated hip-hop artists and the rumoured involvement of the LAPD.Black TikTok creators are currently protesting the lack of credit they receive for the dance crazes they’ve generated by going on strike. Music journalist Jacqueline Springer explains why Black TikTokers are keeping their moves to themselves.Negative stereotypes of Essex man and Essex girls have been around since the Thatcher era but what do they mean today? We speak to Michael Landy about his new exhibition Welcome to Essex at Firstsite gallery in Colchester and Southend playwright Sadie Hasler about how they’ve been challenging Essex stereotypes in their work.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson

Ninety years since Dame Ninette de Valois founded what we know now as the Royal Ballet and 75 since her post war production of Sleeping Beauty, Tom Sutcliffe talks to Marianela Núñez, Principal Ballerina at the Royal Ballet about Sleeping Beauty's significance in the Royal Ballet's repertoire, the demands of playing such an iconic role and the challenges of rehearsing at home during lockdown. We explore The Design Museum in London’s exhibition, Charlotte Perriand: The Modern Life, It's a retrospective exploring the work of the pioneering designer, who, alongside better known male architects like Le Corbusier, was a defining influence on modernist furniture and interiors. The exhibition charts Perriand’s journey through the machine aesthetic to her adoption of natural forms, and later from modular furniture to major architectural projects. Design critic Corrine Julius joins us to review.This weekend the BBC will celebrate “The Glastonbury Experience 2021” in place of the cancelled festival. But Latitude has just announced that in just over one month’s time it will be the first major festival to go ahead this summer. We speak to Festival director Melvin Benn about how they intend to make it work in the current Covid-affected environment. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Oliver Jones

We're speaking to all the authors shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2021 and tonight it's the turn of Cherie Jones. Her novel, How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House, is set on and around the Barbados beaches of the 80s. Lala braids tourists’ hair in the idyllic setting but her home life is blighted by poverty, violence and lack of choices – and when she has a baby, a dangerous chain of events is set in motion. Cherie Jones talks about this debut novel that has been years in the writing. Anish Kapoor wrote an article earlier this month decrying what he described as a “hate-filled campaign to de-Islamify India…via the destruction of a world-class monument.” The monument he was referring to was India’s Parliament which he said was “the greatest set of government buildings anywhere in the world.” Professor Sarover Zaidi, from the Jindal School of Art and Architecture, and BBC journalist Geeta Pandey, who is based in the BBC’s Delhi bureau, join Samira to discuss the controversial Central Vista Project which aims to redevelop India’s Parliamentary district.In Tanika Gupta’s new play The Overseas Student the young man who comes from India to study Law is Mohandas Gandhi. While here he strove to fit in as an English gentleman, and was not politically active. But, the playwright tells Samira that his years living in Hammersmith and walking the streets of London shaped the man who became the great leader in India’s independence movement.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May Studio Engineer: Duncan HannantMain image: Esh Alladi in The Overseas Student at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. Image credit: Helen Maybanks

Joan Armatrading discusses her 22nd album, Consequences, and writing songs about love inspired by observation rather than personal experience and how, despite recording every element herself at her home studio, it’s not a lockdown album.Scottish contemporary composer Erland Cooper's latest work, Carve the Runes Then Be Content With Silence, marks the writer George Mackay Brown’s centenary. Written and recorded for solo violin and string ensemble over three movements, it is also distinguished by the unusual manner of its release. John Wilson finds out more. After reports that the EU is considering restricting the number of UK-made television programmes that can be broadcast in member states, we talk to the BBC’s Brussels Correspondent Nick Beake about the implications for UK TV. Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald

In two days' time, the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester will open its doors to an audience for the first time in over a year. And the first show to be presented will be a one-woman gig musical, a debut play from actor Lauryn Redding, she talks to Nick about penning the songs and the script and playing all the characters in Bloody Elle.Writer and director Harry MacQueen talks about his new film Supernova, starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as a couple struggling with a diagnosis of early-onset dementia who take a road trip together to reconnect with friends, family and places from their past.The Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 this summer is exploring the theme ‘How Will We Live Together?’ Architecture critic Oliver Wainwright tells us about the exhibitions on display at this year’s festival and what architecture can do to tackle big questions.And we talk to Cardiff Singer of the World Audience Prize winner Claire Barnett-Jones.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene AkalawuMain image: Lauryn Redding Image Credit: Pippa Rankin

50 years after last playing the Danish prince, Sir Ian McKellen is returning to the role of Hamlet, in an age, colour gender-blind production. At the age of 82, he has new insight to the character. He tells presenter John Wilson it’s clear to him Hamlet is bisexual, and how he is tackling the physical challenges of stage acting.He talks about his coming out in a BBC radio interview in 1988, how it liberated him and improved his acting. He also talks about his love of the theatre, how drama is an important aspect of British identity, and the joy of working in a company, the way his career began.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May Studio Engineer: Giles Aspen

We announce and speak to the winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Peggy Ashcroft said that Winnie, in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, ‘is one of those parts…that actresses will want to play in the way that actors aim at Hamlet – a ‘summit’ part’. She was right, several great actresses, Ashcroft herself, Billie Whitelaw and Maxine Peake, have – while buried above the waist, then up to the neck, in a mound - scaled that summit. In Front Row, Samira Ahmed talks to two more, Juliet Stevenson, an acclaimed Winnie in 2015 and Lisa Dwan, in the 60th anniversary production that opens tonight, about the joys and trials of playing this desperately cheerful woman. Tonight, the main stage of the Bristol Old Vic will play host to Outlier, a play about isolation, addiction and friendship in rural Devon. It is written by performance poet Malaika Kegode in her theatrical debut, and accompanied by the music of local Bristolian band Jakabol. While normally, debut playwrights may have been programmed for one of the theatre’s more intimate spaces, the pandemic has given emerging talent the opportunity to occupy the spotlight. Tom Morris, Artistic Director of the Bristol Old Vic, explains how the pandemic has actually enabled more risk-taking.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hilary Dunn Studio Engineer: Giles Aspen

Starring James McAvoy and Sharon Horgan, Together is a new BBC2 drama following a couple forced to re-evaluate their relationship during lockdown. Polar opposites in personality and political opinion, the unnamed characters “he” and “she” are only together for the sake of their young son. Can physical proximity create a new emotional connection? Critic Hanna Flint reviews. The winner of the 2021 CILIP Carnegie Medal for outstanding achievement in children’s writing was today announced as Jason Reynolds for his book Look Both Ways. It’s a series of intertwined stories that focuses on the unsupervised 15 minutes when children walk home from school and includes children dealing with bullying, homophobia, sick parents and anxiety. We speak to Jason about the stories and his work as US National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature.Colin Macleod’s home is on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, leading an outdoor life as a crofter and fisherman, accompanied by his two sheepdogs. But he’s also an acclaimed singer-songwriter who’s performed with Sheryl Crow, Van Morrison and Robert Plant. His new album Hold Fast is out this week – and he’ll be performing live especially for Front Row.Main image: Colin Macleod Image credit: Jack Johns

To play the celebrated British painter, J.M.W. Tuner, for Mike Leigh’s film, Mr Turner, the actor Timothy Spall learned to paint. Four years later, it was the paintings he created while playing the role of another famous British painter, LS Lowry, that led to his first commission for an exhibition of his own paintings. Timothy joins Front Row to talk about finding his own style as a painter.As a junior doctor and playwright, Shaan Sahota has a unique perspective on the past 18 months. In her new play Under the Mask, she has distilled her experience as a frontline doctor at the height of the pandemic into a 60 minute audio installation. She joins us to discuss the work, writing as therapy and experimenting with 3D binaural sound. Irish Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD has proposed a basic income guarantee for artists. She explains the details for the pilot scheme, what it would cost, who would be eligible and how much they’d get.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Simon Richardson