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Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music

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John Wilson

Andrew Dickson

Nan Goldin

Ian McKellen

Shahidha Bari

Dymphna Flynn

Front Row: Ian McKellen, Nan Goldin, The Past, New Worlds

Ian McKellen, Nan Goldin, The Past, New Worlds

25/03/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Ian McKellen, Nan Goldin, The Past, New Worlds

Arts news with John Wilson, including Sir Ian McKellen on playing Estragon.

Arts news with John Wilson, including Sir Ian McKellen on playing Estragon, photographer Nan Goldin, French film The Past and a review of restoration drama New Worlds.

With John Wilson

Andrew Dickson reviews Channel 4's new drama series New Worlds, set in the turbulent 1680's, a time of torture and show trials as the reign of Charles II goes from tolerance to tyranny. New Worlds stars Jamie Dornan and Freya Mavor.

American photographer Nan Goldin talks to John about her latest collection of work which comprises of more than 300 photographs exploring the theme of childhood, why digital photography is not for her, and how the camera saved her life.

To mark Radio 4's forthcoming Character Invasion Day - when fictional characters will be taking over the network - Front Row asked five of Britain's leading actors to talk about their experience of playing an iconic character. Sir Ian McKellen discusses taking on the role of Estragon in Waiting for Godot - a play voted the most significant English language play of the 20th century in a National Theatre poll of 800 playwrights, actors, directors and journalists.

The Past is the new film from the Iranian writer and director of the Oscar-winning A Separation. In Asghar Farhadi's latest film, Bérénice Bejo (from The Artist) plays a French woman who embarks on a new relationship after her Iranian husband leaves her behind and returns to his homeland. But when she arranges for a divorce he returns to find unexpected tragic consequences. Shahidha Bari reviews.

Producer : Dymphna Flynn

Image: Ian McKellen in Waiting for Godot performed in rep with No Man's Land by Harold Pinter, directed by Sean Mathias at Broadway's Cort Theatre, New York
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus 2013.

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