Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 281,699 playable programmes from the BBC

Front Row

Peter Blake; Gaslight; Sarah Ruhl; Leviathan

Duration: 30 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW

Available for over a year

With Kirsty Lang.

The artist Peter Blake's new exhibition Under Milk Wood is the culmination of a 25-year project, in which he's created a series of illustrations, portraits, watercolours, and photographs based on Dylan Thomas's 'play for voices'. Peter Blake looks back over his ambitious project and discusses his fascination for Thomas's celebrated work.

A new film documentary, Leviathan, provides an insight into the harsh world of North Atlantic commercial fishing. With no narration, little dialogue, and long lingering shots of life aboard a fishing vessel, the film has divided audiences. Documentary film maker Molly Dineen gives her response.

Iain Sinclair and Professor Jeffrey Richards tell the story of the chequered history of Gaslight, Thorold Dickinson's adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's play, which was suppressed by a Hollywood studio when it bought up the rights. Legend has it that the film only survives now because the director smuggled out a copy under the cloak of darkness.

Sarah Ruhl's play In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play) was nominated for three Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize after its initial Broadway run in 2009. Opening tonight at the St James Theatre in London, the play shows how 19th Century medicine used the female orgasm as a cure for hysteria, and how the invention of electricity transformed the treatment. Sarah Ruhl discusses the inspiration for the play and reflects on why it has been a hit in some surprising locations.

Producer: Stephen Hughes. Show less

Contributors

Presenter:
Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest:
Peter Blake
Interviewed Guest:
Molly Dineen
Interviewed Guest:
Iain Sinclair
Interviewed Guest:
Jeff Richards
Interviewed Guest:
Sarah Ruhl

About this data

This data is drawn from the data stream that informs BBC's iPlayer and Sounds. The information shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was/is subject to change and may not be accurate. More