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Front Row

Christian Bale, Ella Fitzgerald, Theatre artistic directors

Duration: 30 minutes

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

Available for over a year

The British actor Christian Bale started his film career as a child star but has gone on to become a hugely successful adult actor. With the release of his latest film The Promise - an epic set in First World War Turkey - film critic Angie Errigo looks at his choice of roles and assesses what it says about Bale as a serious actor.

The clash of creative differences at Shakespeare's Globe has put the role of Artistic Director into the spotlight. But what exactly is that role and what are the pressures facing the people leading theatres? Daniel Evans, who has just started his first season at the helm of Chichester Festival Theatre, and Tamara Harvey, now in her second year at Theatr Clywd, discuss.

On last night's Front Row John Wilson hosted a debate about the future of museums with with Hartwig Fischer, the new director of the British Museum, Tristram Hunt, who's just taken up his post as director of the V&A, Sarah Munro, director of the Baltic Centre for Contemporary art in Gateshead, and Stephen Deuchar, director of Art Fund. The debate continued off air and in tonight's programme, and last night's podcast, you can hear the panellists discuss the importance of museums working with schools, local communities and each other.

This week is the 100th anniversary since the birth of a singer who has been dubbed the Queen of Jazz. Ella Fitzgerald sold over 40m albums and won 13 Grammy awards. Singer Peggy Lee described her as 'the greatest jazz singer of our time, the standard by which each of us is measured'. To celebrate Lady Ella's centenary week, Kevin Le Gendre picks three stand-out moments from her vast canon of work which highlight what makes her so special.

Presenter Kirsty Lang
Producer Harry Parker. Show less

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