Front Row

For our series Queer Icons, Christine and the Queens chooses Jenet Genet's novel Our Lady of the Flowers, set in the Parisian underworld of thieves and drag queens, as her favourite LGBTQ artwork. Christine and the Queens is the stage name of Héloïse Letissier, the French singer-songwriter of the best-selling album Chaleur Humaine.As the Spider-Man gets its third reboot in 15 years Jason Solomon reviews what Spider-Man: Homecoming brings to the franchise.On Front Row Rachel Weisz remarked that in order to play the title role in My Cousin Rachel she had to decide whether or not she was guilty, but she told no one, not even the director. Michael Simkins has played a murderer, and a suspect who turned out not to be guilty. He also played Sion Jenkins, who was tried for the murder - and eventually found not guilty - of his foster-daughter Billy-jo Jenkins, in a docu-drama. Michael talks to Samira Ahmed about acting guilty - and not.In our final look at the shortlisted institutions vying for the Art Fund Museum of

She was nominated for the Turner Prize as an artist and directed a movie which grossed $571 million world-wide but now Sam Taylor-Johnson has turned her attention to TV with Gypsy. The Netflix drama stars Naomi Watts as Jean, a well-heeled New York therapist who gets overly involved with the people in her patient's lives through her alter-ego Diane; putting her own family life at risk in the process. Sam Taylor-Johnson directed the first two episodes and is an executive producer on the series. She has been talking to John Wilson about the difficulties she encountered directing her last film Fifty Shades of Grey and her reasons for getting into TV.For Queer Icons, Front Row's celebration of LGBTQ culture, singer Will Young chooses Joan Armatrading's Everyday Boy, a song which helped him come to terms with his sexuality when he was a teenager. Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare's bloodiest play involving rape, incest, cannibalism and massacres. As the RSC begin their new production they have announced they will be

Today we launch Queer Icons, Front Row's celebration of LGBTQ culture to mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality. Prominent LGBTQ guests will champion the queer artwork that is special to them, from the poetry of Sappho to the songs of Frank Ocean. Guests include Alan Carr, Tony Kushner, Mary Portas, Olly Alexander, Paris Lees, Christine and the Queens, and opening the season tonight is the artist Maggi Hambling. The musician, producer and composer Nitin Sawhney was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at this year's Ivor Novello Awards. He talks to John about 25 years in music and forthcoming projects including a fully choreographed production of his album Dystopian Dream, and writing soundtracks for big budget blockbusters.Sir John Soane's Museum in London is the subject of the latest report on the finalists for the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2017. Artist Marc Quinn discusses his fascination with the eclectic collection.Presenter John Wilson Producer Jerome Weatherald.

The Donmar Theatre's latest show is catchily titled 'The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee takes oral evidence on Whitehall's relationship with Kids Company'. Kirsty Lang finds out from composer Tom Deering and lyricist Hadley Fraser how they turn such proceedings into a thought provoking and entertaining musical.Producer Tom Chivers reckons the Middle English poem 'The Vision of Piers Plowman' is entirely relevant to modern England. He explains why, and how, he's taking 'Fair Field', his theatrical version of it home to the Malvern Hills, where William Langland composed the poem 650 odd years ago. We hear the original language, the modern take on this, and music from the production.With the announcement next week of the winner of this year's Art Fund Museum of the Year, Front Row reports on each of the five finalists. Today the focus is on The National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art in Newmarket, where visitors can learn about the history, science, art and culture

For the first time the opening event of the Manchester International Festival isn't a big show or concert, instead it's a large-scale public event, What Is The City But The People, starring Mancunians. We hear from some of those selected to represent their city, and Jeremy Deller, the artist behind the commission, discusses making art for the public with the public. A Man Called Ove was a surprise international bestseller in 2014. The book, which depicts the effect of new neighbours on a grumpy middle aged man called Ove, has now been made into a film in the book's original language, Swedish. Briony Hanson reviews.In 2015 Kenneth Steven, a poet known for writing about the wilds of Scotland and the distant past, started writing a novel set five years hence. His story revolves around terrorist atrocity, retaliation from the far right and a fractured society. He talks to Samira Ahmed about his prescient book, called 2020.The Art Fund Museum of the Year is the world's biggest museum prize and back in April we rev

This Friday the new Exhibition Road Quarter at London's Victoria & Albert Museum opens to the public. The architect behind the six-year project, Amanda Levete, and the museum's new director Tristram Hunt, discuss the £48m design which features a new porcelain-tiled courtyard, entrance hall, and a cavernous underground gallery for the museum's temporary exhibitions.Risk, a new documentary about Julian Assange from Academy Award-winning director Laura Poitras, was filmed over six years and with unprecedented access to the Wikileaks founder. The film was originally shown at last year's Cannes Film Festival, but Poitras has since re-cut it to incorporate the DNC email leaks that took place during the US Presidential election, and the sexual abuse allegations brought against one of the film's subjects. The director discusses her controversial film.After the result of last year's European referendum, Meike Ziervogel, founder of Peirene Press, commissioned Anthony Cartwright to write a novel in response to it, o

2017 sees the 30th anniversary of Ian Rankin's creation Detective Inspector Rebus. Rankin was just 24 when he wrote the first book Knots & Crosses in his Edinburgh student flat and he's now gone on to sell over 30 million copies making him the UK's No 1 best selling crime writer. He talks to John about the enduring popularity of John Rebus.American artist Gregory Crewdson is known for his large cinematic photographs of suburban America - he often takes days or weeks to prepare, light and stage a single shot. As his latest exhibition of new work opens - Cathedral of the Pines - Gregory discusses his move to a more rural subject matter and the lasting appeal of ambiguous narratives which leave the viewer unsettled.The National Rural Touring Forum supports high quality art experiences at rural venues. As Arts Council England announce increases to investment outside London, board member Elizabeth Freestone discusses the Forum's work as well as the inaugural awards which are presented on 28 June. The Royal Phi

After the very British flavours of the Cornetto Trilogy: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's End, director Edgar Wright has made a very American heist movie. Baby Driver tells the story of a young getaway driver who listens to music constantly to sound track his great escapes and combat tinnitus. The cast includes Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Lily James and Jamie Foxx, but as Kirsty Lang found out, music is the big star. She spoke to the director about car chases, Star Wars and of course killer tracks.In the first of a new Front Row series, Hooked, in which actors, singers and writers discuss their current cultural obsessions, actor Julie Hesmondhalgh reveals her love for Manchester, poet Tony Walsh, and Oasis.Earlier this month the artist Sam Durant gave the rights to his controversial artwork, Scaffold, to the Dakota community in Minneapolis. The artwork had been bought by the Walker Art Centre in Minneapolis but after its installation in their sculpture garden there were protests from the local Native A

Okja, a new Netflix feature film about a young girl in the South Korean mountains raising a giant pig, stars Tilda Swinton and the young Korean actor An Seo Hyun. The film was co-written by the British author and journalist Jon Ronson, who discusses the film and his career.It's 20 years on Monday since JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book was published and a whole generation of millennial Muggles have grown up with him in books, films and on stage. To mark the anniversary Front Row asks Tim Burke, the visual effects supervisor on most of the Harry Potter films; Viv Groskop, comedian, writer and parent; Rhianna Dhillon, film critic and self-confessed Potter nerd; Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust; and the pupils of Oasis Academy in Salford what Harry means to them, and whether a world in which he'd never been created is even imaginable.Among the many victims of the Grenfell Tower fire was the 24-year-old artist and photographer Khadija Saye. Her images attracted international attention

Playwright Jez Butterworth and director Sam Mendes, two of the biggest names in theatre, discuss The Ferryman, one of the hottest plays of the year. The pair, who had previously worked together on Bond, reveal how a mutual love of football resulted in this latest collaboration.In a Front Row special John Wilson goes behind the scenes at the Gielgud Theatre as the cast and crew prepare to open in London's West End.The play is set in rural Derry in 1981 against the backdrop of the Troubles. The Carney family are preparing for the harvest feast when unwelcome visitors bring news of the discovery of a body forcing patriarch Quinn to confront the IRA past he had tried to escape. Northern Irish actress Laura Donnelly tells John the true story from her family's history that inspired the play and film star Paddy Considine discusses making his stage debut as part of a huge cast including a baby, a real rabbit and a live goose.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Marilyn Rust.

Joseph Fiennes joins Kirsty to discuss his role of the Commander in the sinister television adaptation the Handmaid's Tale currently on Channel 4.Daljit Nagra, Radio 4's poet in residence, reads a new poem commissioned for the summer solstice. Plus he discusses British Museum, his third volume of poetry which marks a significant departure of style. One hundred years since Wyndham Lewis was first commissioned as an official war artist in 1917, a major retrospective at Imperial War Museum North tells the story of the controversial and radical British artist. The exhibition's curator Richard Slocombe joins Kirsty to discuss. Scottish mezzo-soprano Catriona Morison has been awarded the 2017 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World title. Already a surprise finalist, she was the judges' choice as their wildcard entrant to compete in the final, she is also the first British winner of BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. She speaks to Kirsty from Germany where she is currently based as an ensemble member of Wuppertal Opera.

Broadway star Audra McDonald has won more Tony Awards than any other performer. She discusses the challenge of her new show Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, in which she sings and performs as Billie Holiday, and what it was like doing Carpool Karaoke with James Corden.The Anglo-American artist John Singer Sargent's reputation as a portraitist reached its peak at the turn of the 20th century for his paintings of the distinguished personalities of his day. During painting expeditions to Southern Europe and the Middle East, he also mastered the medium of watercolour, and whilst often dismissed as simple travel souvenirs, a major new exhibition of Sargent's watercolours argues that they were an integral part of his artistic production. Guardian art critic Jonathan Jones reviews. Equity, the actors' union wants the way plays, films and television shows are cast to be made clearer, fairer and more inclusive. Ahead of the launch of their manifesto calling for changes, actor and President of Equity Malcolm Sinc

Diane Keaton talks Annie Hall, The Godfather, and her latest film Hampstead - about an American widow who forms an unlikely alliance with a man living on a nearby Heath - while also giving her views on charming men and dressing flamboyantly. Today the winners were announced of the 80th anniversary Carnegie Medal and the 60th anniversary Kate Greenaway Medal. Ruta Sepetys has won the Carnegie Medal for Salt to the Sea while the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustration has gone to a book about collective nouns, There is a Tribe of Kids, written and illustrated by Lane Smith. Samira speaks to both winners live in the studio.We review new Netflix drama Glow, which follows a struggling actress in 1980s LA who joins the all-female Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling in a bid to launch her career. Sports fan Alex Clark reviews.Theatre critic Matt Wolf reflects on the recent controversy engulfing New York Public Theater's production of Julius Caesar in Central Park in which Caesar is depicted as a Donald Trump-like figure with

Fleet Foxes' songwriter and frontman Robin Pecknold talks to John Wilson about their new album Crack-Up, and his return to music following several years at college. Marianne Elliott - director of some of the National Theatre's most successful shows, including The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, War Horse and Angels in America - has left to form her own company, which launches in the Autumn with a new play by Simon Stephens called Heisenberg: The Uncertainty Principle. As the first major retrospective of Turkish artist Fahrelnissa Zeid opens at Tate Modern, Kerryn Greenberg reveals the extraordinary life of one of the 20th century's most overlooked artists.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Timothy Prosser.

David Grossman and his translator Jessica Cohen have been announced as the winners of the Man Booker International Prize 2017 for A Horse Walks Into a Bar, about a stand-up comedian who goes to pieces on stage one night. This is the second year that the Man Booker International Prize has been awarded on the basis of a single book, with the £50,000 prize divided equally between the author and the translator. Both David Grossman and Jessica Cohen join John to discuss their work.The great Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin has taken a sabbatical recently, and written a book. In 'Memoirs and Reflections' he chronicles his childhood passion for the piano and sketches portraits of family members and teachers who nurtured his genius. He discusses performing and memory, and reveals other talents, translation and recitation - in Yiddish.For delegates at this month's London Festival of Architecture, which invites architects, designers, engineers and planners from around the world to conferences and debates, the horrific fir

Australian composer Brett Dean talks about on his new opera, Hamlet, for the Glyndebourne Festival, which is one of the most eagerly anticipated operatic premieres of the year.Laura Barnett's latest novel, Greatest Hits, focuses on Cass, a successful singer songwriter who retires from public life, and then plans her return 10 years later with her greatest hits. Singer songwriter Kathryn Williams has written a soundtrack to accompany the book and the two discuss their collaboration with Kirsty Lang.Theresa vs Boris, a docu-drama about the Conservative Party's 2016 leadership campaign, will be broadcast on BBC Two this weekend. Yet, after the 2017 general election the docu-drama already looks to be overtaken by the shenanigans in Westminster. Documentary maker Michael Cockerell and playwright Jonathan Maitland discuss the pitfalls and the pleasures of creating programmes based on recent political events, and if it is ever too soon to begin making such programmes. For BBC Music Day tomorrow all 40 BBC Local Radi

Andrew Scott is best known for playing Moriarty to Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock. But Scott also has a reputation as an intense stage actor. Now he is taking on the most famous stage role of all - Hamlet. Kirsty Lang talks to him and director Robert Icke, who is famous for shedding new light on classic plays. Amanda Craig discusses her latest novel The Lie of the Land - a suspenseful, 'state of the nation' black comedy that highlights the growing disconnect between life in London and the rest of the country.Whitney : Can I Be Me is the new documentary by Nick Broomfield about the life and death of Whitney Houston. Jacqueline Springer reviews the film that Houston's estate tried to stop from being made.It's 50 years since the Monterey Pop Festival in California which is remembered for the first major American appearances by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who and Ravi Shankar, as well as the first major performance by Janis Joplin and the introduction of Otis Redding. Music producer Joe Boyd marks the anniv

Brian Cox discusses playing the most famous man in British politics in his new film Churchill.Sci-fi writer Sophia McDougall reviews the Barbican's new exhibition : Into The Unknown, A Journey Into Science Fiction.From Cherie Blair to Medea via Narcissa Malfoy in Harry Potter, and Polly Blair of Peaky Blinders, Helen McCrory has played many strong women. Her latest is Emma Banville, a campaigning lawyer who fights to free a man she believes was wrongfully convicted of killing a schoolgirl, a part created for her by Homeland writer Patrick Harbinson. Helen McCrory reveals why she wanted to be in Fearless and why she'll always be an actress, not an actor.This year has already seen new re-boots of many classic film franchises, including Alien, Pirates of the Caribbean, Wonder Woman and The Mummy. With more in the pipeline for this summer, Adam Smith considers what it takes to breathe new life into an old brand (and whether it's a good idea in the first place...)Presenter : Samira Ahmed Producer : Rebecca Armstro

Fearless Girl, a 130cm bronze statue of a young girl in New York's financial district, is at the centre of a fierce debate about public art, corporate power, and feminism. New York-based arts journalist David D'Arcy reports from the city. Now that the results are in, the official artist of the 2017 general election, Cornelia Parker RA, discusses documenting the 10-week campaign and the finished artwork she'll be creating for the parliamentary art collection.The leading American tenor Lawrence Brownlee talks about singing as fast and sweepingly as a jazz sax solo, and delivering jive talk in grand classical style, in the European premiere of the opera Charlie Parker's Yardbird. Radio 4's Poet in Residence, Daljit Nagra, discusses the work of poet and novelist Helen Dunmore, who died on Monday, and responds to Hold Out Your Arms, her final poem written just two weeks ago.Presenter Nikki Bedi Producer Jerome Weatherald.

Hollywood star Rachel Weisz talks about the unusual ambiguity in her latest role as the beguiling widow Rachel in a big screen adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier's psychological drama My Cousin Rachel. Two years ago Bamber Gascoigne inherited West Horsley Place, a crumbling 15th century stately home and 380 acres in Surrey, along with a restoration bill of £7.3m. So he built the first opera house in the UK this century in the woods behind the house, which opens tonight. He gives us the guided tour along with the woman behind the project, Grange Park Opera impresario Wasfi Kani.It's rare for a novel to hit the news headlines but that's happened this week for Arundhati Roy's The Ministry of Utmost Happiness as it's twenty years since her first - and only other - novel, The God of Small Things, became a much loved and huge bestseller, winning the Booker Prize and selling over 8 million copies around the world. In the meantime, she's become known as an activist in her home country, India. This novel takes readers on