Front Row

Musician, film maker and artist David Byrne discusses his new book A History of the World (in Dingbats) - a collection of more than 100 line drawings he created during the Covid-19 pandemic. The striking figurative drawings explore daily life and our shared experiences in recent years, and capture the changes and challenges of life today.As the Government announces fresh plans to ‘level up the arts’ outside of London, we speak to the Minister for the Arts, Lord Parkinson about how and where the additional £75 million of funding will be spent.Journalist and author Agnès Poirier sends us a cultural postcard from Paris, taking in a night at the opera; a film- Paris, 13th District- the new ensemble dating drama from director Jacques Audiard; a major exhibition marking the centenary of Proust’s death and the latest on the restoration of fire-damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral, nearly three years after the blaze.Hope Dickson Leach discusses the new production of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, an innovative production that uses cinematic techniques to create a live filmic experience as well as a theatrical one.

Samuel Bailey’s debut play, Shook, about three young men in a young offender's institution, won the Papatango New Writing Prize in 2019, glowing reviews, and a sell-out run. His new play, Sorry, You’re Not a Winner, explores the social price of higher education. Samuel Bailey talks to Tom Sutcliffe about the cost of great opportunities . Amid the current debate about the merits of sensitivity readers - a specialist editor who checks writers’ manuscripts for offensive content, misrepresentation, stereotypes, bias, lack of understanding - we talk to one: Philippa Willets, who advises on disability and LGBT issues, and a writer who has misgivings about the idea, Zia Haidar Rahman, author of the prize-winning novel In The Light of What We Know.Short form comedy on social media has thrived during the pandemic. Two luminaries of the genre - Munya Chawawa who came to wider public attention with his musical response to the news of Matt Hancock's extra-marital affair - and Rosie Holt - her "Tory MP" persona convinced some that she was the real thing - discuss the art of short form satire.Presenter Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Jodie Keane

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington and director Max Webster discuss their new production of Henry V, and why they chose to make Henry a more complex character than the usual patriotic hero.Jan Pieńkowski, who has died aged 85, was a brilliant illustrator of children’s books, including the Meg and Mog series. He was born in Poland and his family fled the Nazis, an experience, along with the fairy tales of Eastern Europe, that influenced his work. Chris Riddell, the former Children's Laureate, pays tribute to Pieńkowski. Radio 2 and 1Xtra presenter Trevor Nelson reflects on the life of Jamal Edwards, DJ and founder of the online music platform SBTV. He discusses Jamal's lasting influence on the music scene and his legacy.A landmark exhibition, Surrealism Beyond Borders at Tate Modern, is seeking to reveal the bigger picture beyond the art movement's Eurocentric and male dominated origins in 1920s France. Samira is joined by the co-curator, Matthew Gale and by Chloe Aridjis, the Mexican-American novelist, to consider Surrealism’s reach and resonance.

Artist Daniel Lismore describes himself as a ‘living sculpture.’ His elaborate creations have been worn by Naomi Campbell, Boy George and the cast of the English National Opera’s The Mask of Orpheus. Now his body of work is on display in the UK for the first time, in the exhibition Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in his hometown of Coventry. Author Naomi Alderman and writer and film critic Pamela Hutchinson join Elle to review new office-based sci-fi comedy Severance and documentary The Real Charlie Chaplin.The book Lady Joker has become a cultural touchstone in Japan since its 1997 publication, twice adapted for film and TV and often taught in high school and college classrooms. The author David Peace explains the excitement behind Lady Joker’s long-awaited translation and first UK publication.Presenter: Elle Osili-Wood Producer: Laura NorthedgeImage: Artist Daniel Lismore Photographer credit: Colin Douglas Gray

Comedy writer Sara Gibbs and actor and writer JJ Green discuss the portrayal of autistic characters on TV and film and call for change. Half a century ago director Mike Bradwell rented a run-down house in Coltman Street, Hull, gathered a few actor-musicians and started work. Hull Truck Theatre was born. It went on to become one of the most successful and influential companies in the country and is now housed in a beautiful purpose-built theatre. Bradwell had strong views about theatre: plays should be about the kind of people you might meet in Hull, not dead kings. He wasn't keen on jokes, and even less on scripts. So it's a bit of an irony that to celebrate their 50 years Hull Truck has commissioned the playwright Richard Bean, who can't resist a gag - he wrote One Man Two Guvnors - and whose work is carefully wrought and written. Bean, who is from Hull, talks about his new play 71 Coltman Street which recreates the genesis of Hull Truck Theatre.Sheila Heti, acclaimed author of Motherhood, talks about the ideas behind her new novel Pure Colour, an experimental story following a woman’s life through college, a love affair, and coming to terms with her father’s death – whilst God considers creating a second draft of the world. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian MayMain image: Joanna Holden in 71 Coltman Street Photo credit: Ian Hodgson

Cassa Pancho and Billy Trevitt on the future of British dance, the "father of Impressionism" Pissarro and Florian Zeller and Christopher Hampton on new play The Forest.Presnter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Laura NorthedgeMain image: The Ballet Black company Photographer's Credit - Ballet Black and Nick Gutteridge

Michael Morpurgo’s book Private Peaceful has been made into a film, a solo stage show and a radio drama. As a new ensemble version opens at Nottingham Playhouse, before touring the country, the author and adapter Simon Reade talks to Nick Ahad about the power of this story of two brothers, caught up in the trauma of the First World War.We talk to the newly announced winner of the Barbellion Prize, dedicated to the furtherance of ill and disabled voices in writing: Lynn Buckle’s on her novel, What Willow Says, a meditation on nature and deafness.Soprano Barbara Hannigan first sang the role of Elle, the jilted lover in Poulenc’s one woman opera La Voix Humaine, in 2015. Now she’s simultaneously singing and conducting the opera, based on Jean Cocteau’s original monologue, with the London Symphony Orchestra at The Barbican. Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Simon RichardsonImage: Daniel Rainford in Private Peaceful Credit: Manuel Harlan

Japanese film Drive My Car has been nominated for four Oscars, including Best Director for Ryusuke Hamaguchi. With his next film Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy released in the UK on Friday, critic Briony Hanson joins Samira Ahmed to review both films.It’s a truism that Shakespeare is as relevant today as ever. But some of his plays are regarded as problematic and recently the celebrated actress Juliet Stevenson requested that a couple of them “should be buried”. Is she right? And which plays speak most powerfully to us? Juliet Stevenson and directors Abigail Graham - whose production of The Merchant of Venice is about to open at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse - and Justin Audibert join Samira. The BBC Concert Orchestra has begun a three year residency in Great Yarmouth, with the aim of ‘raising aspiration and improving wellbeing.’ For Front Row, BBC Radio Norfolk’s Andrew Turner reports on what the town already has to offer and how the cultural scene might benefit from the residency.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian MayImage: Hidetoshi Nishijima and Toko Miura in the film Drive My Car, directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi Credit: Modern Films

Monochrome is having a moment at this year’s awards season in films such as Belfast, The Tragedy of Macbeth and C’mon C’mon. To discuss the comeback of black and white and its enduring appeal, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Edu Grau, Director of Photography for Passing and Ellen Kuras, who won the Cinematography Award at Sundance for her debut feature film, Swoon, shot in black and white in 1992. She’s since become the first woman to receive the American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award and is about to embark on Lee, a biopic of the black and white photographer, Lee Miller.As the 2022 Oscar nominees are announced, we talk to Maggie Gyllenhaal who is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay with The Lost Daughter, the actor’s directorial debut, as well as Andrew Garfield, who bagged a best actor nomination for musical tick, tick... BOOM! Husband and wife animation team Les Mills and Joanna Quinn, writer and director respectively about their Best Animated Film-nominated Affairs of the Art also join us. Film critics Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Leila Latif provide analysis.And we discuss a new experimental drama for Radio 4, An Artificially Intelligent Guide to Love, which sees writer Hannah Silva collaborate with a machine-learning algorithm to create an audio guide to romance.Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Simon Richardson Production co-ordinator: Lizzy HarrisPhoto: Ruth Negga as Clare Bellew and Tessa Thompson as Irene "Reenie” Redfield in the film Passing Credit: Netflix

Fresh from a special concert in their home city of Leeds to mark Independent Venue Week, James Smith, lead singer of Yard Act talks to Samira about the group’s success with the release of their debut album. Their character-driven debut album, The Overload - designed to provoke "an open discussion about capitalism" - went straight into the charts at number two.Novelist Esi Edugyan, author of Washington Black and Half Blood Blues, talks to Samira about her latest collection of essays, Out of the Sun, in which she delves into the history of Western Art and the truths about Black lives that it fails to reveal, and the ways contemporary Black artists are reclaiming and reimagining those lives.Jason Katims has written and developed several hit US television series including Friday Night Lights and Parenthood. His latest creation is As We See It, which focuses on the lives of three young people with autism.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Jodie KeaneImage: Yard Act Photo credit: Phoebe Fox