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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

Tom Sutcliffe

Saturday Review: Under the Skin; Cézanne; W1A new comedy

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15/03/2014

Under the Skin; Cézanne; W1A new comedy

BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Review, Under the Skin; Cézanne; W1A new comedy

Under the Skin, Cezanne, new comedy W1A, Urinetown the musical, and Decoded by Mai Jia.

Scarlett Johansson in Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin; Cezanne at The Ashmolean in Oxford; W1A, a new comedy from the creators of 2012; Urinetown The Musical; Decoded by Mai Jia.

Under The Skin is the new film from Jonathan "Sexy Beast" Glazer. Starring Scarlett Johansson, it's the story of an alien on earth and her encounters with humans. It's been booed and cheered at film festivals around the world, what do our humanoid reviewers make of this unconventional almost- psychedelic spacey work? 

Henry Pearlaman was an American cold storage magnate and a collector of impressionist and post-impressionist art. A selection from his collection has come to the UK for the first time - and it includes some stunning works. How does Oxford's Ashmolean Museum present such a sumptuous array of riches? 

The Olympic-themed sitcom Twenty Twelve was a rip-roaring award-winning success, and the BBC's follow up is set in The Corporation's HQ; New Broadcasting House. Is it full of self-indulgent in-jokes funny only to those "who work in the media" or do the bizarre machinations of any big organisation lend themselves to rib-tickling comedy? 

Urinetown is the uninvitingly named new musical that has just opened. Set in a town where one man controls the public lavatories, and his attempt to quell the opposition who want to "pee for free". It originated on Broadway and was garlanded with awards, it subverts conventional expectations of what musicals should be. But does it do so in a way that will beguile our reviewers and British audiences more generally? 

"Arguably the most successful author in China today", Mai Jia has sold more than 5 million copies. His espionage novels are a hit in the most populous nation on earth, but can they break out to the wider world? We look at his latest - Decoded -which deals with cryptographers in a top secret government department.

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