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Next week finally sees the release of Tenet, the latest big-budget film by Christopher Nolan. For our Friday Review, film critic Ryan Gilbey and novelist and short story writer Irenosen Okojie give their response to the film, and consider the future of cinema in light of the pandemic. And they’ll be discussing their cultural picks – the TV series Broad City and Lovecraft Country. Algorithm-downgraded A level student Jessica Johnson on her strangely prescient Orwell Youth Prize winning short story about an algorithm that decides school grades according to social class. The British Museum is the UK’s most-visited tourist attraction but during lockdown it’s had no visitors. Now they’re getting ready to reopen with limited numbers. We speak to the director Hartwig Fischer about how the museum has been using the hiatus to rethink the ethos behind displaying its extraordinary collection. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower’s voyage. While the story of the “Pilgrim Fathers” is well known, the history of the Wampanoag people they met is less so. Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America is a touring exhibition which hopes to change this. This new exhibition is presented by The Box, Plymouth and grew out of a partnership with Wampanoag Advisory Committee to Plymouth 400 and the Wampanoag cultural advisors SmokeSygnals. The wampum belt is a tapestry of tribal history made from thousands of handcrafted beads. Paula Peters, founder of SmokeSygnals and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Nation, explains. Shedinburgh is an online festival attempting to capture the spirit of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe by live streaming performances from sheds around the country. Theatre producer, Francesca Moody, who also made Fleabag explains the endeavour. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Sarah Johnson Studio Manager: Nigel Dix
Some of our major theatres are wrapped in pink today as part of the #missinglivetheatre campaign. Designer Tom Piper talks about the project. Novelist Sara Collins and actor Daniel York Loh make up our Friday Review panel. They’ve watched the newly released recording of the smash hit musical Hamilton, written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, which allows viewers to replicate the theatrical experience at home. Also on the agenda, Michaela Coel’s BBC One drama I May Destroy you, which continues to make waves; and what the cancellation of pantomimes means for theatres and actors. The Black Lives Matter movement has thrown into sharper focus the role of schools in providing an appropriately diverse curriculum, with many saying that Black British history for example should take a greater place. But what about the curriculum in arts subjects? Is change needed and if so what? Bennie Kara is the author of the upcoming A Little Guide for Teachers: Diversity in Schools and a deputy head teacher in the East Midlands. BBC Proms director David Pickard discusses his plans for this year’s festival as the official guide is published, and how he’s had to adapt to the restrictions he faces for the safety of live audiences and performers. From Fargo to The Silence of the Lambs, via James Bond, whenever someone in a film is about to meet a particularly grisly end it seems, these days, their demise has to be accompanied by the most beautiful classical music. It wasn’t always this way. Critic Theodore Gioia considers why, and what this means. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May Studio Manager: Matilda Macari Main photo shows: The National Theatre on London's South Bank wrapped in bright pink barrier tape reading "Missing Live Theatre" (c) John Wilson/BBC
Rebel Wilson discusses her new TV series Last One Laughing, where ten comedians are locked in room and if they laugh they get kicked out. The last one standing wins a big cash prize. The death was announced today of the actor Sir Ian Holm. Theatre critic Michael Billington pays tribute. Bob Dylan has just released a new album, Rough and Rowdy Ways. For our Friday Review, music journalist Laura Barton and commentator Michael Carlson give their verdict on whether this is vintage Dylan. And they discuss The Luminaries, a new BBC drama based on the Booker-winning novel by Eleanor Catton set during New Zealand’s Gold Rush in 1866. Unemployed theatre professionals in Minneapolis have been putting their skills to good use, protecting businesses during recent Black Lives Matter protests in the city where George Floyd lived and was killed. As the protests subside, Daisuke Kawachi discusses the University Rebuild project that she's been working on. Alison Brackenbury has been Front Row’s poet-in-residence this week, reading one of her Museums Unlocked poems every evening. Alison travels about the country to give poetry readings. She makes a point, wherever she goes, of visiting the museum or art gallery. With most now closed, Alison has written new poems about some of the museums she has visited. Her final poem is inspired by a letter she came across in Charles Dickens’ house. During the lockdown author Rebecca Stott has re-read Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year, a fictional account of the bubonic epidemic of 1665; Rebecca tells Kirsty Lang how the book resonates during Covid-19. Presenter Kirsty Lang Producer Sarah Johnson Studio Manager Matilda Macari
The new Netflix thriller White Lines takes the viewer to the sunshine and drug-fuelled world of 90s raves in Ibiza. A Spanish-British production, it stars Laura Haddock, Daniel Mays and Angela Griffin. For our Friday Review, Rowan Pelling and Gaylene Gould give their verdicts on that and Rainbow Milk, the debut novel by Paul Mendez, which depicts a childhood in the West Midlands where religion and family put pressure on Jesse to repress his sexuality before he escapes to London. Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson continues his weekly live performances from the empty Harpa concert hall in Reykjavík, as Front Row’s Lockdown Artist in Residence. Tonight Víkingur plays Bartók’s Three Hungarian Folksongs from Csík. Have you been to the theatre, or heard a play or watched a TV series and thought 'I could write something better than that' but didn’t know how to get started? To point you in the right direction, Deirdre O’Halloran from London’s Bush Theatre, and stage and screenwriter Vinay Patel (Murdered By My Father and Doctor Who), offer advice about where to start. Director and writer Eliza Hittman on depicting the harsh reality for a teenage girl seeking an abortion in America in her acclaimed new film drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Presenter Samira Ahmed Producer Jerome Weatherald Studio Manager Emma Harth
For Front Row’s Friday Review, BBC journalist Sophie Raworth and the novelist Naomi Alderman discuss the new TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s extraordinarily successful novel Normal People. They also review the new collection of short stories by Frances Leviston, The Voice in my Ear. Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson, Front Row's Artist in Residence during the lockdown, continues his weekly live performances from the Harpa Concert Hall in Iceland. This week Víkingur will play the sublime Andante from Bach's Organ Sonata No.4, transcribed for piano by August Stradal. The poet Seán Hewitt's discusses his first collection, Tongues of Fire, which contains poems about encounters in the natural world, with owls, trees and plants. He signed his book contract the day his father died and the pervading grief makes this a collection for our condition today. Theresa Lola, the Young People's Laureate for London, has launched an online initiative encouraging young people to write something that describes what is bringing them calm during the lockdown, Say your Peace. For Front Row's Culture Club, Theresa and Seán offer tips on how to begin writing a poem - and how to know when it's finished. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Timothy Prosser