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Saturday Review Podcast bigger text

Saturday Review

Magazines & Reviews

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

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

BBC Radio 4 LW

Tom Sutcliffe

Mark Billingham

Saturday Review: Calvary, Birdland, Jamaica Inn, Teju Cole, The First Georgians

Calvary, Birdland, Jamaica Inn, Teju Cole, The First Georgians

12/04/2014

BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Review, Calvary, Birdland, Jamaica Inn, Teju Cole, The First Georgians

Tom Sutcliffe's guests including Mark Billingham discuss Calvary, Teju Cole and Birdland.

John Michael McDonagh's film Calvary, Birdland at the Royal Court, the BBC's adaptation of Jamaica Inn, Teju Cole's novel, The First Georgians exhibition at Buckingham Palace.

John Michael McDonagh's film Calvary reunites him with Brendan Gleeson after their success together on The Guard in 2011. This time it's about a priest who is told in confession that - in one week's time - he will be killed. It has an allstar Irish cast and was rewarded with prizes at The IFTAs. Does the mix of serious subject matter and offbeat humour work?

Simon Stevens is probably best known for his stage adaptation of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time -which is about to transfer to Broadway. His newest work Birdland opens at London's Royal Court Theatre and features Andrew Scott as a disintegrating rock star; could it achieve the same degree of success?

The BBC's new adaptation of Jamaica Inn is a sumptuous brooding production starring Jessica Brown Findlay (Lady Sybil from Downton Abbey). Filmed in Northern Ireland and Cumbria, does it do justice to Daphne du Maurier's Cornish setting?

Nigerian-born Teju Cole won widespread acclaim for his first published work Open City, setting a young African man wandering the streets of New York City. His follow-up; Every Day is for the Thief, sends a young African American man back to Nigeria and explores the cultural resonances and differences he experiences.

The First Georgians exhibition at The Queen's Gallery Buckingham Palace, reflects the reigns of Kings George I and II (1714-1760) through a range of objects from The Royal Collection. Portraits, gold table settings, battle plans, furniture and a whole room full of works by Hogarth are among the items on display. Does it hold together and impress or just overwhelm with its opulence?

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