Arts & Ideas

In this edition of weekly highlights, David Benedict reviews the New Year Blockbuster Les Misérables. Philip Dodd is joined by Professors Michael King and Linda Woodhead, and theologian Mark Vernon, to explore whether we can make any sense of the idea of ‘spirituality’ without religion. And Anne McElvoy and guests discuss the life and work of the Russian director Konstantin Stanislavski, born 150 years ago this month.

Django Unchained, the newest Quentin Tarantino film causing controversy, is reviewed by Philip Dodd with cultural commentator Kit Davis and film critic Tim Robey. Author Lucy Hughes-Hallett joins Philip to discuss the life of Italian writer Gabriele D'Annunzio, the subject of her new book The Pike. We explore the complex code of English manners with Henry Hitchings, whose new book tells their history, and Chinese writer Xiaolu Guo. And Philip interviews Sharon Olds, winner of this year’s T S Eliot prize for Poetry.

Anne McElvoy and guests discuss the life and work of the Russian director Konstantin Stanislavski, born 150 years ago this month. Adam Mars-Jones reviews Utopia, a new drama on Channel 4. Which should be our priority, growing the economy or protecting the environment? Environmental campaigner Tony Juniper joins Anne, along with Dr Benny Peiser to discuss. And the historian Jonathan Healey, one of our New Generation Thinkers, reflects on the proposals to change succession laws and what they might mean for the future of our monarchy.

To mark the 60th anniversary of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations, Rana Mitter is joined by philosophers Rupert Read and Barry Smith, and Wittgenstein’s biographer Ray Monk, to examine his legacy in Western philosophical tradition. Graham Stewart talks about his new book which details the influence and paradoxes of the 1980s. And Aidan Foster-Carter and Shakuntala Banaji discuss the ‘soft’ power that K-Pop and Bollywood have generated for their respective countries.

Fiona Shaw takes to the stage with Samuel Coleridge’s epic The Rime of the Ancient Mariner; she joins Philip Dodd to discuss language, endurance and death. Professors Michael King and Linda Woodhead, and theologian Mark Vernon, explore whether we can make any sense of the idea of ‘spirituality’ without religion. And David Benedict reviews the New Year Blockbuster, Les Misérables.

Matthew Sweet picks over the bones of the Profumo affair with the historian Richard Davenport-Hines, author of a passionate new account of the scandal. There’s also a discussion of Gangster Squad – the latest love letter from Hollywood to the world of rackets, mobsters and molls. And to round things off in real style, Matthew talks to the writer, Michael Frayn, whose 80th birthday is being celebrated with a short series of radio plays including one of his best known works; Copenhagen.

Best-selling novelist Philippa Gregory talks to Rana Mitter about writing historical fiction, her fascination with the Tudors, and how her fiction turns the spotlight on the lives on women at significant moments in history. Recorded at The Sage Gateshead at Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival on Sunday 4th November 2012.

Bernard Rose, whose new film Boxing Day is a modern rework of Tolstoy’s Master and Man, is in conversation with Philip Dodd. In a year when public inquiries have been especially resonant, we consider what we mean by ‘the public’ and its right to justice. Historian Helen Bynum talks about the history of tuberculosis and how the disease has been romanticised in culture. And Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Nandini Das spots an unexpectedly seasonal image in the British Library’s new exhibition about Mughal India.

Matthew Sweet discusses The Girl, a new film about Alfred Hitchcock’s vexed relationship with Tippi Hedren, with the leading lady herself and actor Toby Jones. We celebrate the centenary of Tarzan with author Michael Chabon and the former ‘Ape Man’ stars Johnny Weissmuller and Ron Ely. And Matthew examines the compelling creations of the writer, artist and creative polymath, Alasdair Gray.

Anne McElvoy talks to the director Ang Lee about his latest film The Life of Pi. Susannah Clapp reviews August Strindberg's play The Dance of Death which has a new adaptation by Conor McPherson. Polish-born writer and critic Agata Pyzik and Jatinder Verma who founded the South Asian theatre company Tara Arts discuss why some immigrant groups make more cultural impact than others. And Anne talks to Valery Rees about her new book, From Gabriel to Lucifer: A Cultural History of Angels.