Front Row

Louise Doughty, author of Apple Tree Yard, has a new novel: a thriller with a difference. Platform Seven’s narrator is dead – and she haunts the eerie half-light of Peterborough Railway Station weaving her way through the lives of the commuters and staff. The spirit of the late Lisa Evans pieces together a backstory which reveals the reality of an abusive relationship, but also offers an uplifting perspective on the dignity of the lives being lived in a place of transition. Theatre director Robert Icke discusses The Doctor, his new adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1912 play Professor Bernhardi. Juliet Stevenson plays the titular doctor, who is running a medical facility but faces searching questions about her own motives and ethics following the death of one of her patients.Often themes emerge among the work at the Edinburgh Festivals. This year lots of performers have sought to contextualise the collapse of old structures, the threat of climate change and new perspectives on gender. Joyce McMillan, columni

Live from the Edinburgh Festivals : Ian Shaw, son of actor Robert Shaw, discusses his play, The Shark is Broken, based on Jaws. Using his father’s diaries, it’s the story of how Shaw, Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss are tortuously confined together on the boat Orca while filming - enduring endless delays, studio politics, foul weather and a constantly broken mechanical shark called Bruce. The show's getting five star reviews - they’re going to need a bigger venue.Benjamin Zephaniah is one of our best loved poets, despite his avowed rejection of the establishment. Ahead of his appearance at the Edinburgh International Books Festival, he performs his poem White Comedy, inspired by a TV interview he saw with Muhammed Ali as a young boy.With the vogue at this year's Fringe for confrontational, confessional shows based on artists' personal trauma, we talk to two performers about how they look after themselves and their audience. Artist and writer Scottee’s show Class confronts the gulf between his working clas

Musical impressionist Christina Bianco reveals how she captures the voice and style of so many different musical divas like Shirley Bassey and Celine Dion, with a special performance on the Front Row stage.The surprise hit of this year’s Fringe has been Basil Brush Unleashed. The children’s TV icon is celebrating fifty years in showbusiness with a chat show aimed at adults. Basil talks to Kirsty about his career highlights, and his Edinburgh show and how keeps it the right side of PC.Edinburgh based author Mary Paulson-Ellis has used foxy themes in her novels The Other Mrs Walker and The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing. She gives Front Row a guide to the Fox in Fiction from Aesop's Fables, the medieval stories of Reynard to Kate Atkinson's Life After Life. A big trend at this year’s Edinburgh Festivals is the number of shows about climate change. Kirsty discusses how they are capturing hearts and minds with Alanna Mitchell whose one-woman show Sea Sick is about a crisis in the world’s oceans, and Oli Savag

Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio discuss their new film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. In the ninth film directed by Quention Taratino, set in the late 1960s, DiCaprio plays an actor in the twilight of his Hollywood career, with Pitt as his buddy and stunt double. The Chief Conductor of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sakari Oramo, guides Stig Abell in on what to listen out for when listening to a symphony. Oramo will conduct the annual Proms performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony next Monday evening.In a row over colours the Turner Prize winner Sir Anish Kapoor has been banned from an art shop which is employing a full-time security guard with orders to keep him out. The artist and art shop owner Stuart Semple is angry that Kapoor secured the exclusive rights to Vantablack, that in response he's created his own blackest black paint, available to everyone, except Anish Kapoor. Stig Abell made it through the security checks and into his shop to talk to Stuart Se

Live from the Edinburgh Festivals - comedian Henning Wehn is the self-styled German Ambassador of Comedy. Henning came to the UK seventeen years ago to improve his English and decided to stay due to the good weather and tasty food. His show is called Get On With It which he describes as an unbiased look at Brexit: light on facts and heavy on casual xenophobia.After someone threw a burger at them and shouted a transphobic slur, performance artist Travis Alabanza became obsessed with burgers, and has written a show about how to reclaim an act of violence. They perform from the show Burgerz for Front Row.Fringe of Colour is a grassroots organisation campaigning to make the Edinburgh Festival Fringe less white, more culturally relevant and more welcoming to people of colour. Its founder Jessica Brough discusses their work bringing BAME performers together and a new scheme offering free tickets to people of colour for shows by people of colour.Novelist Chris Brookmyre and his wife Dr Marisa Haetzman, a consultan

Poet Lemn Sissay discusses his new memoir, My Name Is Why, which tells the story of his fractured childhood within the now infamous Wigan care system in the '60s and '70s. Since then he has gone on to become the official poet of the London 2012 Olympics, the Chancellor of the University of Manchester, and most recently won this year's PEN Pinter Prize.This Friday the BBC Proms celebrates the 200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth with a concert featuring Stephen Hough who will be playing Victoria’s own gold piano that she bought in 1856. Sally Goodsir from the Royal Collection Trust discusses the history of the grand piano which is being loaned for the first time by HM The Queen, as well as Victoria & Albert's keen enjoyment of music.The new HBO drama Euphoria is an uncompromising look at drug addiction, sex and the exhausting pressure of social media on a group of teenagers. The show has garnered criticism for its controversial depiction of sexual violence among young people desensitised by porn – b

Bohemian Rhapsody, The Crown and a new production of Equus have all used Movement Directors to capture the physicality and movements of their characters. But how do they do it and why is it a role in demand? Polly Bennett, who has worked with Rami Malek and Oliva Coleman, and Shelley Maxwell, who is helping the actors in Equus capture the movement of horses, discuss the role of the Movement Directors.The stormy weather is taking its toll on Britain's festivals with announcements this week that several music festivals this weekend, including Houghton Hall in Norfolk and the Boardmasters festival in Watergate Bay, Cornwall, have been called off. What are the financial implications when festivals are cancelled at the last minute? John speaks to Tim Thornhill,director of Integro, the UK’s leading insurance company which specialises in underwriting festivals.A new ITV drama Deep Water set in the Lake District brings together actresses Anna Friel, Sinead Keenan and Rosalind Eleazar to explore the lives of three wom

Martyn Brabbins, the Music Director of English National Opera, is turning 60 next week and to celebrate he’ll be conducting a new take on Elgar's Enigma Variations at the Royal Albert Hall. He discusses the mystery theme to the original version and the importance of cultural exchange with international musicians.Playmobil: The Movie is the next in the long line of toys-to-screen animated films. Daniel Radcliffe, Anya Taylor-Joy and Meghan Trainor lend their voices to the film where two orphaned children find themselves magically transported into a Playmobil world from their imaginations. BBC Radio 6 Music film critic Rhianna Dhillon reviews.Scribe Paul Antonio discusses historic and contemporary calligraphy - from laws intricately and elegantly written on vellum and signed by the Queen to high-end fashion events - and offers Shahidha some handy tips for the perfect Copperplate script. Presenter Shahidha Bari Producer Jerome Weatherald

Candace Bushnell whose 1996 book Sex and the City was a runaway best seller and adapted into a successful HBO television series and two films, talks to John Wilson about her new memoir Is There Still Sex in The City? - a wry look at sex, dating and friendship in New York City after fifty.We talk to choreographer and Artistic Director of National Dance Company Wales, Fearghus Ó Conchúir, about Rygbi: Annwyl i Mi / Dear to Me, a dance production celebrating rugby in Wales, which he developed alongside professional rugby players. The work premieres at the Welsh National Eisteddfod this week and will travel to the Rugby World Cup in Japan later in the year.Audible has announced a new “captioning” facility, which will allow audiobook listeners to see the words of a text as they are spoken by the narrator. It’s set to start in America in September, but publishers there have reacted furiously, saying the rights to produce an audiobook are entirely separate to the rights to reproduce a text. Nicola Solomon, chief exe

Toni Morrison, the Nobel prize winning writer whose novels explored black identity in America and in particular the experience of black women, has died aged 88. To pay tribute to the author of Beloved, Stig is joined by the writers Claudia Rankine, Walter Mosley, Ladee Hubbard and literary critic Diane Roberts. Plus Front Row's 2015 interview with Toni Morrison. How do you create the sound of Space in music? Steven Price, who won an Oscar for his score for the film Gravity, and Carly Paradis, whose music includes the theme for The Innocents, talk about the particular demands in writing science fiction music, ahead of a Prom devoted to the music of Space, which also features music by Hans Zimmer. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Timothy Prosser

The Crucible drew inspiration from the paranoia and fear of McCarthyism - so we find out if a new Scottish Ballet production of Arthur Miller's classic is drawing on our own turbulent political times. Kelly Apter of The Scotsman gives us her verdict. The performance is part of the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival. And two musical takes on The Peterloo Massacre. Folk trio Peter Coe, Brian Peters and Laura Smyth give us a live rendition of a song from their album The Road to Peterloo, which brings together broadside ballads from the time of the massacre. And right up to date Robin Richards, composer and member of the bands Dutch Uncles explain how his new work to mark a bicentenary commemoration of the massacre, From the Crowd, draws on a similar thread of first hand radical testimony. The Reverend Patrick Bronte was ahead of his time, allowing his famous literary daughters to read freely and express their creativity. A new installation at The Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth has drawn inspiration from a

We review the ninth in the Fast & Furious franchise and its first spin-off, Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham as the eponymous duo. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh considers the lasting success of one of the biggest franchises in the history of cinema which has amassed almost $5bn worldwide.The youngest person and first woman to be a principal guest conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra is Finnish conductor Dalia Stasevska. We speak to her ahead of her Proms debut to ask why Finland produces such a high number of conductors and how she's related to the great Finnish composer Sibelius.Life in the American West in the 18th century is tough - a young man on the run hides among the US Camel Corps, while a woman desperate for water awaits her husband and sons' return to their parched homestead. Orange Prize for Fiction winner, Téa Obreht discusses her second novel, Inland.Recorded sounds from the blanket bogs of Caithness and Sutherland’s Flow Country are the main inspirati

k.d. lang, who has been revisiting and touring her best-selling 1992 album Ingénue, talks about its significance in terms of LGBT rights, her coming out during its promotion, and why she feels now is the time to retire from music: “The muse is eluding me. I am completely at peace with the fact that I may be done”. As three works by Peter Lanyon, one of the most important postwar British painters, have been acquired for the nation in lieu of £900,000 inheritance tax, we discuss how the scheme works, what cultural artefacts are involved and the impact on the public, with lawyer Mark Stephens and Robert Upstone, a member the panel that decides which works are eligible.Kenyan-born Magdalene Odundo discusses her new exhibition The Journey of Things at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich which features 50 of her own works alongside international artworks from the last 3,000 years which have inspired the design of her ceramic vessels.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Harry Parker

Olivier Latry has been the Organist of Notre-Dame de Paris since 1985, is about to play the Royal Albert Hall organ at the Proms. He talks about his talent for improvisation, his feelings about the fire that nearly devastated Notre Dame, and how he thinks the cathedral should be rebuilt. Gurinder Chadha, director of Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice, discusses her latest film, Blinded by the Light. Based on Sarfraz Manzoor’s memoir Greetings from Bury Park, it is a coming of age drama set in 1980s Luton where a teenager of Pakistani origin uses the inspiration of Bruce Springsteen songs to help him challenge the traditional values of his family.Rupert Everett’s first foray into directing for the stage is a new production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya. Everett also takes on the eponymous role of the disillusioned country gentleman, in this adaptation by David Hare for the Theatre Royal Bath. Dominic Cavendish reviews.Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Jerome Weatherald

This week sees the 200th anniversary of the birth of Herman Melville, writer of one of America's greatest novels, Moby Dick. Sarah Churchwell and Richard King discuss the extraordinary tale of Captain Ahab's pursuit of the white sperm whale that had bitten off his leg. The story of Ahab's revenge is famously narrated by Ishmael, who is on his first whaling expedition, with one of literature's most celebrated opening lines : Call me Ishmael. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins is reunited with Chris Pine in new TV drama I Am the Night. Set in 1950s America it follows the true story of Fauna Hodel, a young woman in search of her biological family after discovering she’s adopted and not mixed race as she’d been told, but white. Both Fauna, and a down-and-out reporter played by Pine, end up on the trail of famous gynaecologist, Dr. George Hodel who's somehow connected to the gruesome Black Dahlia murder.Is there something to be said for Luddism? The machine-wrecking rebels of the Industrial Revolution are the su

American opera singer, Tamara Wilson withdrew from her final ever performance of Aida at the weekend. She was scheduled to be conducted by Placido Domingo at the Arena Di Verona but announced on Instagram that her absence was due to illness. But it comes after her public opposition to the use of ‘blackface’ for the role - heavy "chocolate brown" make-up. Tamara speaks out about the incident and why she feels the industry and Aida needs to change.New Zealand writer Fiona Kidman discusses her new novel This Mortal Boy, based on the true story of a young Northern Irishman, Albert Black, who emigrated to Wellington in 1953 to seek work. Just two years later at the age of 20 he was facing the prospect of execution by hanging after an incident in a café that led him to be described as the ‘Jukebox Killer’.Some people just dread Shakespeare; they never 'bond' with him. Sean Allsop has always felt alienated by The Bard whilst simultaneously feeling that maybe he is missing out. So we sent him along to the home of

Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans, starring Kim Cattrell as Agrippina and Craig Roberts as Emperor Nero, is the first foray into cinema of the popular children’s TV series. Classics author Natalie Haynes gives her verdict. On the 400th anniversary of her birth, we assess the life and work of Venetian composer Barbara Strozzi with Professor Susan Wollenberg and mezzo-soprano CN Lester; who will also perform an excerpt of Strozzi’s work alongside harpist Alison Henry.Playwright and author Barney Norris talks about his latest novel The Vanishing Hours, in which two strangers meet by chance in a bar in a quiet English town, and share their stories. Protest pieces by global activist group Extinction Rebellion have been added to the V&A’s Rapid Response Collecting Gallery. Senior Curator, Corinna Gardner, discusses the cultural importance and impact of the items.Presenter: Kirsty Lang Producer: Ben Mitchell

Roger and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! is Chichester Festival Theatre’s new summer musical, starring Josie Lawrence as Aunt Eller and Hyoie O’Grady and Amara Okereke as the young lovers. Fiona Mountford reviews. Following violence and verbal abuse directed at ushers, some theatres are issuing them with body cameras, hoping this will deter aggressive behaviour by audience members. Theatre critic Fiona Mountford and Kirsty Sedgman, author of ‘The Reasonable Audience’, discuss the ways audience behaviour is changing and what is acceptable.The shortlist for the Mercury Prize was announced today. Music writer Kieran Yates gives her response to the 12 albums selected by the judges, by artists including Foals, Dave and Little Simz.And sculptor Sean Henry's piece Seated Figure, 2016 has had to be moved from its place on the North York Moors to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park because of damage to the land by so many visitors. The artist speaks to Front Row.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson

Literary critics Arifa Akbar and Toby Lichtig dissect the longlist of the 2019 Booker Prize longlist. For the full list see below.Tea is the most widely-consumed drink after water. Julie Finch, director the Compton Verney gallery, guides Julian May through their new exhibition A Tea Journey: From the Mountains to the Table. The show navigates the cultural history of the cuppa from the delicate bowls of Tang dynasty China to the British builder’s mug as well as new work made by artists in response to this history. Why have Fleabag’s black jumpsuit, the yellow coat from Keeping Faith and Villanelle’s pink dress all become firm favourites on the high street? Fashion historian Amber Butchart examines the long links between fashion houses, TV and Hollywood. Margaret Atwood (Canada) - The Testaments Kevin Barry (Ireland) - Night Boat to Tangier Oyinkan Braithwaite (UK/Nigeria) - My Sister, The Serial Killer Lucy Ellmann (USA/UK) - Ducks, Newburyport Bernardine Evaristo (UK) - Girl, Woman, Other John Lanches

Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon star in The Current War, as Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse. It's the electrifying story about the race to supply people with electricity and power. The film has had a turbulent production, plagued with unfavourable reviews at 2017 Toronto Film festival premier and then caught up in the scandal surrounding the Harvey Weinstein allegations. Film Critic Tim Robey discusses the changes made to the film since its initial release and the impact of events behind the scenes. Love Island 2019 is in its final week, so we wondered whether or not we can make assessments about the state of modern relationships by how they are presented on the screen? Cultural commentator Louis Wise and YouTube relationship expert Hannah Witton discuss this and ponder which programmes best hold up a mirror to reality, or actually start to shape it?Lucy Ellmann’s new novel Ducks, Newburyport has been attracting headlines and admiration; but not just for its literary qualities. It's 1,000 page