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Front Row: Mark Rylance; prisons on television; actors on songs

Mark Rylance; prisons on television; actors on songs

13/09/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Mark Rylance; prisons on television; actors on songs

Mark Rylance on directing Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones. Plus TV prison dramas.

Actor/director Mark Rylance discusses his staging of Much Ado About Nothing, with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones. Plus why prisons continue to fascinate TV drama writers.

With Kirsty Lang.

Mark Rylance is currently taking a break from acting, and is concentrating on directing a new production of Much Ado About Nothing, which stars Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones. He discusses his approach to the play, and reflects on the success of his role in Jez Butterworth's play Jerusalem, for which he won numerous awards as hard-living Johnny 'Rooster' Byron.

Prisons and the lives of prisoners have provided an enduring fascination for film and TV producers and viewers alike, with series such as Porridge and Prisoner Cell Block H, and more recently Bad Girls and Prisoners' Wives. This summer has seen two new prison dramas - Wentworth Prison, Channel 5's re-imagining of Prisoner Cell Block H, and Orange Is the New Black, the Netflix series which has proved a great success for the streaming network. To examine why prisons offer such a draw, Front Row brought together Dick Clement, co-creator and writer of Porridge, Pete McTighe, scriptwriter for Wentworth Prison, and Maureen Chadwick co-creator and writer of the ITV series Bad Girls.

As actor Dominic West makes a speaking appearance on Rizzle Kicks' new album, David Quantick considers the other thespians who have lent their voices to pop records, from Brian Blessed to Vincent Price and Stephen Fry.

Producer Stephen Hughes.

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