Front Row

Susannah Clapp, theatre critic of The Observer reviews the new age-blind production of Hamlet starring Ian McKellen, which officially opened up at the Theatre Royal Windsor last night, 50 years since the 82-year-old actor first played the part.The Mercury Prize nominees were announced today. Laura Snapes gives us her thoughts on the list, what it tells us about music over the past year, and makes her prediction for who will win.The historian and screenwriter Alex von Tunzelmann has turned her attention to the deeply contested subject of statues. She joins Samira to discuss her new book, Fallen Idols, which shows that the erection and toppling of statues has been a perennial hot topic across the world.

American musician Jon Batiste has many strings to his bow – he’s an activist, recording artist, band leader for a daily TV late night chat show, a singer, pianist and an Oscar-winning film composer. Batiste discusses his new album, We Are, as well as his Broadway musical about Jean-Michel Basquiat, and An American Symphony being performed at Carnegie Hall next year. Art critic Louisa Buck assesses this year's Art Fund Museum of the Year 2021 shortlist which was announced today. Despite being closed for most of the year, five galleries and museums across the UK have been rewarded as contenders for the prestigious £100,000 award, the world's largest museum prize. Yesterday in Berlin saw the opening of The Humboldt Forum, the largest cultural development in Europe and the most ambitious in Germany this century. It has cost 700m Euros, covers 44,000 square metres, and even before the foundation stone was laid in 2013, it’s been mired in controversy. We speak with Rüdiger Schaper, Head of Culture for Tagesspiegel newspaper about its significance for Germany. Presenter Tom Sutcliffe Producer Oliver JonesMain image: Jon Batiste Image credit: Louis Brown/UMG

Ivorian director Philippe Lacôte talks about his film Night of the Kings, set in a notorious Abidjan prison run by the inmates, in which he explores the West African tradition of the griot or storyteller. Every year the Best Film Oscar is hotly contested and often the source of much debate and consternation. We speak to two podcasters from “Best Pick” which is aimed squarely at movie lovers and has reviewed and assessed every Best Film winner from the very first in 1929 to the most recent -Parasite. What have they learned on the course of their mammoth undertaking? The artist Tirtzah Bassel wants to reimagine art history. She talks to Kirsty about her painting project – Canon in Drag - which recasts and repurposes famous artworks by swapping male figures with female figures, and makes childbirth a subject worthy of the artist’s eye.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Harry Parker

Chart-topping New York post-punk group Blondie have more than 40 years of chart success under their belts and in 2019 they decided to travel to play some concerts in Havana Cuba. We speak with singer Debbie Harry about the warmth of the reception they received, about integrating local styles and musicians in their set and much more. A new EP is about to be released which shows the fruits of their labour.This Friday marks 10 years since Amy Winehouse died. In a new film 'Reclaiming Amy' to be shown on BBC Two, director Marina Parker spoke to her friends and her mum Janis to get their side of her story, and how Amy's life and death affected them. She explains to John about working with them and showing the world a different side of the singer.Natalie Williams and Troy Miller both worked with Amy Winehouse. They delve into her musicianship and reassess her legacy as a singer, jazz musician and song writer.

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino is a Hollywood veteran and it was the ending of Hollywood’s golden age that was the subject of his last film – Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He’s now returned to the story of that film for his debut novel. In his only UK broadcast interview, he explains why he wanted to create a novelisation of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.It’s 25 years since Melvin Burgess wrote Junk, a story about heroin addiction. It was an early title in what’s become known as YA and showed the fearlessness to take on challenging topics that has become typical of the genre. His book, Three Bullets, is out this week: it imagines a Britain somewhat like our own but that has been torn apart by war and extreme ideology. It has a mixed-race Trans girl, Marti, as its first person narrator. Melvin Burgess talks about his new book and YA more generally, alongside Sarah Ditum, as part of our series this week looking at the publishing industry. Has fearfulness taken over or is caution a necessary corrective? What stories can be told and by whom? As some voices have been un- or mis-represented in YA fiction, what is the best way ahead for the genre?Our man on the Croissette, film critic Jason Solomons, gives the last of his Cannes reports and discusses the films competing for the film festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or.The painting of a smiling woman selling vegetables had languished for years in a cupboard at Audley End, the grand 17th-century house in Essex. When conservator Alice Tate-Harte began a much needed clean-up she was surprised to discover it was two centuries older than was thought and that the smile was a later addition. Alice tells Kirsty Lang why she wiped the smile off the woman's face, and, also what the array of enticing vegetables tell us.

This summer Somerset House in London will be home to a new work by composer Anna Meredith, Bumps Per Minute, which has a distinctly fairground feel. It uses the random interactions of dodgem cars to create a new piece of music. And members of the public are invited to take part in the composition as dodgem drivers. Anna Meredith talks about what inspired her to create a work which mixes fun, frivolity and musical experimentation.The British Podcast Awards have been created to highlight the best podcasts of the year in the UK. Laura Grimshaw, presenter of Podcast Radio Hour on Radio 4 Extra, takes a look at a selection of this year’s 29 winners – from 1600 entries - which includes two new categories; best documentary and best lockdown podcast.We continue our exploration of debates within the publishing industry. Tonight we consider different generational attitudes around ideas of censorship, the moral role of publishing houses and the responsibilities of individual employees when it comes to which works get published. In rows over authors from Mike Pence to Woody Allen many younger publishers have signalled reluctance to work on books they deem hateful and literary agent Clare Alexander described what she saw as a “watershed moment" at a recently parliamentary hearing about freedom of expression. We talk to Tanu Shelar, Chair of the Society of Young Publishers and Caroline Wintersgill, Programme Director of University College London’s MA in publishing.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Oliver Jones

A new documentary Witches Of The Orient' looks back at the last time that Tokyo acted as host. Volleyball made its debut in The 1964 Summer Olympics. And the success of the home team in women’s volleyball became one of the most watched domestic TV events ever. French film director Julien Faraut discovered this now-largely-forgotten event and was captivated by it. The historical biographer Lady Antonia Fraser reveals an unknown aspect of her writing life as four of her poems are set to music by Stephen Hough. Two were written in and about lock-down, one wittily recalls a whirlwind American book tour book and the last is a tender memory of Harold Pinter. Just after their premiere today she told Elle Osili-Wood about them and her lifelong habit of writing verse.We continue this week’s series around debates in the book world. Tonight: reviews. Is the traditional media giving readers what they want? Does getting your book reviewed in the broadsheets matter any more? And how might the way books are reviewed be done differently, from broadening the pool of reviewers to shifting the aesthetic hurdles required to assess writing of quality? Elle is joined by Professor Sandeep Parmar, founder of the Ledbury Poetry Critics Scheme, a national programme to encourage diversity in poetry reviewing culture aimed at new critical voices along with Michael Caines, Assistant Editor at the Times Literary Supplement and founder of the Brixton Review of Books. Presenter: Elle Osili-Wood Producer: Simon Richardson Studio Manager: Donald MacDonaldMain image: a still from the Witches of the Orient documentary film. Image credit: Courtesy of Modern Films

Uberto Pasolini made his name in the film industry as a producer with the international success of his film - The Full Monty. He’s continued to produce but in recent years he’s also turned his hand to writing and directing. As the third film that he’s helmed in this way, Nowhere Special, is released in cinemas, he talks to Samira about why he felt the true story of a father with a terminal illness looking for a new family for his four year old, was the foundation for a film he wanted to create himself.From Chaucer, heralding spring in his Canterbury Tales, to Hockney's digital landscapes artists have always celebrated the rich variety of Britain's flora and fauna. Art about nature is crucial to our culture. But last month the House of Commons Environment Audit Committee reported that 'of the G7 countries, the UK has the lowest level of biodiversity remaining.' Front Row investigates this anomaly with George Monbiot, who tomorrow will be streaming Rivercide, a live documentary about the terrible state of our rivers, and artist Ruth Maclennan, whose project Treeline explores the point where forests begin, end and what this reveals. What, they discuss, is the role of art in the environmental crisis?We're exploring issues in contemporary publishing each night this week on Front Row. Yesterday we talked about the gender split in who is getting published now. Tonight Chris Paling talks about his new book A Very Nice Rejection Letter, which tracks the trials and tribulations of the mid-list novelist from selling screenplays to writing alongside the day job. He tells Samira about the realities of life as a writer and we consider the question: can writers actually make a living today?Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hilary Dunn

The mural of footballer Marcus Rashford which was defaced with racist graffiti after England lost the Euro 2020 final last night was part of Withington Walls, a community street art project in the suburbs of southern Manchester. Its head, Ed Wellard, discusses the art work, the British-based Vietnamese street artist Akse who created it, and the role art can play in the community.Late last week Front Row asked Ian McMillan, poet in residence at Barnsley FC, to write a poem in response to the European Cup Final. He talks to John Wilson about his approach to this tricky commission this evening, and reads his poem, 'This Sporting Life'. We start a new series today exploring current debates within book publishing, beginning with a look at the gender split in current literary tastes. Is it harder for young male writers to get published, win prizes and make a splash now? And if so, after millennia of male dominance, does it matter? John talks to Nesrine Malik who is judging the Women’s Prize for Fiction this year, and novelist and publisher Luke Brown.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Jerome Weatherald

Film critic Jason Solomons brings a touch of glamour to tonight’s proceedings with his report from this year’s Cannes Film festival which opened this week.Tove Jansson was the Finnish creator of the Moomins, stories much loved by children (and adults) the world over. A new film, Tove, tells the story of her extraordinary life in post-war Helsinki, the ambivalence she felt towards the success of the Moomins, and how her ideas about freedom were challenged when she fell in love with theatre director Vivica Bandler. The film's director, Zaida Bergroth, talks about the choices she made in telling the story of this iconic author and artist.Welsh culture that is ancient, and modern: Catrin Finch, commissioned by the Llangollen Eisteddfod, plays the harp and is working with a choir - but not just male voices, a choir of singing refugees and asylum seekers. A beat boxer is involved, too. Meanwhile the artist Luke Jerram has turned to another Welsh tradition, throwing a huge, beautiful patchwork quilt over the town bridge.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Harry Parker