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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

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

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Samira Ahmed

Angie Nehring

Deborah McAndrew

Briony Hanson

Clare Binns

Víkingur Ólafsson

Front Row: Cyrano, Víkingur Ólafsson plays Philip Glass, Toni Erdmann

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31/01/2017

Cyrano, Víkingur Ólafsson plays Philip Glass, Toni Erdmann

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Cyrano, Víkingur Ólafsson plays Philip Glass, Toni Erdmann

Deborah McAndrew adapts Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, and we celebrate European cinema.

Deborah McAndrew adapts Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac for Northern Broadsides, pianist VIkingur Olafsson plays Philip Glass' Etudes, Briony Hanson on film Toni Erdmann.

As an actress, Deborah McAndrew is probably best remembered as Angie in Coronation Street. As a playwright, she's written a new adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac to mark the 25th anniversary of the theatre company, Northern Broadsides. She describes how she's added a dash of 21st century reasoning to this classic 19th century play set in 17th century France.

The German comedy film Toni Erdmann won rave reviews at Cannes 2016 and is tipped to win best Foreign Film at the Oscars. Briony Hanson reviews Maren Ade's film about a father attempting to reconnect with his high powered daughter. It's the first German comedy released in the UK for over a decade.

New research from the University of York shows that audiences to European cinema almost halved between 2007 & 2013. Clare Binns, Director of Programming at Picturehouse Cinemas, and Briony Hanson discuss why audiences are declining, and recommend their best European films.

Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has won all the major prizes in his native country, and is the Artistic Director of two music festivals. He's just made a new recording of Philip Glass' Études on Deutsche Grammophon, a label that has been important to him since he was a child looking through his parents' record library.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed
Producer: Angie Nehring.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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