Front Row

Critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Medieval English Literature lecturer Dr Eleanor Parker join Samira Ahmed to discuss the BBC’s historical epic King and Conqueror starring James Norton. They’ve also read Boudicca’s Daughter by Elodie Harper, and watched Young Mothers by the award-winning filmmakers the Dardenne Brothers. Plus Samira talks to artistic director Seán Doran about the Arts Over Borders project FrielDays, which over the course of five years will celebrate work of dramatist Brian Friel by staging all 29 of his plays either side of the Irish border.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Claire Bartleet

Theatre producer Nica Burns, who has run the Edinburgh Comedy Awards since 1984, and judge Ashley Davies discuss the acts shortlisted for this year's prize, the most prestigious annual award for comedy in the UK, which has previously been won by the likes of Steve Coogan, Jenny Eclair, The League of Gentlemen and Tim Minchin. The founder of theatre company Complicité, Simon McBurney, who himself won that award back in 1985, joins us in the studio to talk about Figures In Extinction, a collaboration with Nederlands Dans Theater and acclaimed choreographer Crystal Pite, which addresses urgent questions about climate change. Writer and performer Edgar Jacques of Teater Cego in Brazil and actor and stand-up comedian Jasmine Thien discuss their theatre productions - Another Sight and I Dream In Colour - which draw on their experiences of blindness. And ahead of a performance at the Edinburgh International Festival, indigenous Australian didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton performs live in the Front Row studio. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

Tom Hiddleston on becoming a dancing accountant in new Stephen King inspired film, The Life of Chuck. Sir Anish Kapoor on making a protest artwork in the North Sea with Greenpeace. A report from Bradford as artist Luke Jerram works with local communities to create a giant ball of yarn for new work, A Good Yarn, which celebrates the region's textile heritage. Michael Frayn's play Noises Off is a landmark of British theatre which relies on showing the two sides - on stage and off stage - of a theatre production for its powerful comedic punch. Artistic director Paul Robinson discusses the challenge of presenting the play in the round at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene Akalawu

As the National Theatre’s production of The Importance of Being Earnest transfers to the West End with Stephen Fry taking the role of Lady Bracknell, but do older actresses lose out when men are cast in women’s roles? Nikolai Foster, Artistic Director of the Leicester Curve Theatre and Nicky Clark, founder of the Acting Your Age Campaign discuss. The bestselling author of Yellowface, R.K. Kuang, discusses her new novel Katabasis.Director Daniels Evans talks about his production of Born With Teeth which sees actors Ncuti Gatwa and Edward Bluemel reimagine the relationship of Marlowe and Shakespeare.And we hear archive of the late actor Terence Stamp, one of the defining cinematic figures of his generation talking about working with Federico Fellini.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Ruth Watts

A revival of Brigadoon at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre; is it Scottish cultural cringe or a tartan triumph? The Bitter Water of the Lake by Italian novelist Giulia Caminito, tells a story about poverty and anger from the point of view of a young woman in Rome in the noughties Norwegian film Love, directed by Dag Johan Haugerud, is part of The Oslo Trilogy - Dreams Love and Sex. Taiwanese TV series Zero Day has been accused of scaremongering about a potential invasion by China. We speak with showrunner Cheng Hsin-Mei.Tom is joined by Robbie Collin and Arifa Akbar.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Scottish Ballet's new production Mary, Queen of Scots is a punk inspired production which tells the story of the ill-fated queen through the imagination and memories of her cousin, Elizabeth I, who authorised her execution. And a Fringe production Mary Queen of Rock portrays Mary as a rock star in a world in which rock and roll is banned. We discuss why her story continues to inspire so many productions today. Eva Victor, star of Sorry, Baby, the opening film of this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, talks about her darkly comic treatment of the aftermath of a sexual assault. Theatre critics Fergus Morgan and Neil Cooper talk us through some of the highlights of this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe - from Eat the Rich (But Maybe Not Me Mates X), a one-woman show by Liverpudlian actor and director Jade Franks in which she tells the story of being a misfit at Cambridge University to Lost Lear, a retelling of Shakespeare's King Lear told through the eyes of a woman with dementia. Show discussed: She's Behind You by Johnny McKnight at The TraverseEat the Rich (But Maybe Not Me Mates X) by Jade Franks at The PleasanceWindblown by Karine Polwart and Pippa Murphy at The Queen's HallLost Lear by Dan Colley at The TraverseRed Like Fruit by Hannah Moscovitch at The TraverseClub NVRLND at Assembly Checkpoint Philosophy of the World at Summerhall Plus a live performance from musician Hamish Hawk, who is paying tribute to the late great poet and eccentric Ivor Cutler at this year's Edinburgh International Book Festival, complete with Cutler's own harmonium.

Norwich Castle has reopened to the public after a major revamp. Historian Alice Loxton joins Tom to discuss what has been done to bring the 900 year old site up to 21st century tourist expectationsAt 21 years old, Aigul Akhmetshina was the youngest singer to perform Carmen at the Royal Opera House. She'd already come a long way from home, a rural village in the Russian Republic of Bashkortostan.Award winning director Adrian Noble talks about directing The Gathered Leaves – a play about turning 75 – an age which Noble himself has just reached. The former RSC Artistic Director also talks about how theatre can secure it's future in an age of TikTok and microdramas.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

Peter Sellers was a comic genius who changed British comedy forever. With this year marking his centenary, Samira is joined by Dick Fiddy, curator of an new season of his films at the BFI, and comedy historian Robert Ross to discuss his films and legacy.The Edinburgh International Book Festival got underway at the weekend. The theme is repair, but the festival has to navigate a fractious cultural landscape. Festival director Jenny Niven speaks to Samira. A new novel from Nicola Barker is always an event. Her latest, Tony Interruptor, is set in a world that some Front Row listeners will recognise. That of live performance and what can happen when a member of the audience stands up and disrupts it. The BAFTA Award-winning composer Jessica Curry talks about her new album of choral works, Shielding Songs. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Harry Graham

Noah Hawley talks about creating Alien: Earth which is the first ever TV series based on the blockbuster Alien films created by Ridley Scott. Film critic Rhianna Dhillon and poet and editor Tristram Fane Saunders join Tom Sutcliffe to review the series. They also review Celine Song's new romantic comedy-drama Materialists starring Dakota Johnson as a New York Matchmaker. And John Burnside's final collection of poetry, The Empire of Forgetting. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Claire Bartleet

A special edition of the programme recorded in front of an audience at the Edinburgh Festivals earlier this week. Emmy and Olivier Award-winning actor Brian Cox discusses his role as the ghost of economist Adam Smith in James Graham's satirical play Make It Happen. The National Theatre of Scotland production at the Edinburgh International Festival chronicles the rise and downfall (in 2008) of the world's biggest bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and also features an actor playing the role of the bank's former chief executive, Fred Goodwin, and an onstage chorus. We're joined by Zainab Johnson - a black female Muslim comedian from Harlem whose show Toxically Optimistic is her debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and by comedian, Taskmaster star and the voice of Netflix's Too Hot to Handle Desiree Burch, whose show The Golden Wrath tackles themes including death, menopause, spirituality and nationality. Plus music from leading trumpeter Jay Phelps, whose show Miles at the Fringe reflects on the legacy of the bestselling jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, and from The Bengsons, an Obie-winning husband and wife indie folk duo whose production Ohio is a celebratory true story about losing faith and finding hope in the darkest of places and is produced by the team behind Fleabag and Baby Reindeer. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan