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Saturday Review

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Sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events, with Tom Sutcliffe and guests

Presenter Tom Sutcliffe and guests offer sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events

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Tom Sutcliffe

Maria Delgado

Jim White

Cahal Dallat

Oliver Jones

Saturday Review: Blue Is the Warmest Colour; Dylan Thomas; No Place to Go

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23/11/2013

Blue Is the Warmest Colour; Dylan Thomas; No Place to Go

BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Review, Blue Is the Warmest Colour; Dylan Thomas; No Place to Go

Tom Sutcliffe and guests discuss Palme d'Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Colour.

In Cardiff, Sir Peter Blake interprets Under Milk Wood, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of poet Dylan Thomas's birth. Plus, Palme d'Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Colour.

Palme d'Or winning film Blue is the Warmest Colour has proved controversial, in part because of its subject matter - it's a story of two young lesbians who fall in love. The author of the original bande dessinee has described the film as porn, and the lengthy explicit sex scenes have caused consternation. And since its release the two actresses have said that they feel exploited. So it's a prize-winning film mired in problems but is it worth paying money to go and see?

Have you ever wondered what Arthur Conan Doyle would make of contemporary crime fiction ? Or how the Marquis de Sade feels about the fact that his plays are largely forgotten and that his name is mostly associated with sexual peccadilloes? A new book from Granta allows present day authors to imagine interviews with artists who - long ago - shuffled off this mortal coil. Is this merely a vanity project for the authors to stretch their skills or can it offer some sort of insight into the mind and working of their dead heroes?

2014 will mark the centenary of Dylan Thomas's birth. The great Welsh poet's most famous work - Under Milk Wood - has long been an inspiration to artist Sir Peter Blake. A new exhibition just opened in the Cardiff shows his interpretation of the story and its characters - he still listens to the radio play at least once a week. How successfully can an Englishman translate one of the classics of Welsh literature?

How can you turn redundancy into art? Earl Lipton is a New Yorker who has created a cabaret show about being made unemployed when his company relocated operations "to Mars". With songs including "Thank You (Financial Crisis Blues)"and "(When I move in with) My aging middle-class parents" it takes a satirical look at the problems that having no job can entail. It also includes a song sung by an abandoned sandwich. No Place To Go is at the Gate Theatre in London.

Jim Al-Khalili OBE is a theoretical physicist and Professor of Theoretical Physics and Chair in the Public Engagement in Science at the University of Surrey. He has a new series on BBC4/Open University that explores what 95% of what the universe is made up of. Can even he explain to a layman what dark matter is?

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by professor Maria Delgado, journalist Jim White and poet Cahal Dallat.

Producer: Oliver Jones.

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