Front Row

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Front Row: Es Devlin, Drama by postcard, Ali Smith's Summer, photographer Alys Tomlinson

Es Devlin, Postcard Theatre, Ali Smith's Summer, photographer Alys Tomlinson

Es Devlin, Drama by postcard, Ali Smith's Summer, photographer Alys Tomlinson

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Es Devlin, Drama by postcard, Ali Smith's Summer, photographer Alys Tomlinson

Es Devlin on her artwork marking the 75th anniversary of Nagasaki and Hiroshima

Stage designer Es Devlin on her new artwork marking the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Plus the new theatrical drama acted out on postcards.

To mark the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki this week, the Imperial War Museum commissioned artist and stage designer Es Devlin and her Japanese collaborator Machiko Weston to make a short film in memory of those who died. They discuss their resulting artwork, I Saw the World End.

New Perspectives, the Midlands company that takes theatre to rural areas and usually performs in village halls, has come up with a novel idea. For its latest production created during lockdown it has embraced old technology: 'Love from Cleethorpes' is a drama told on postcards. Every few days a new postcard arrives at the homes of the audience and, over a couple of weeks, the story unfolds. Tom Sutcliffe is joined by New Perspectives artistic director Jack McNamara. 

Literary critic Suzi Feay and arts journalist Kohinoor Sahota review Ali Smith's new novel Summer, the final instalment in her seasonal quartet of books, and discuss arts stories from the week including I'm a Celebrity moving from the Australian jungle to a British castle and Vogue theming their September issue on activism.

The final guest for the Front Row Lockdown Discoveries, where artists and creators select something cultural that has given them pleasure or inspiration in the dark months of isolation, is Alys Tomlinson, Photographer of the Year at the 2018 Sony World Photography Awards. She describes her discovery – zoom portraiture. 

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Timothy Prosser

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Es Devlin, Drama by postcard, Ali Smith's Summer, photographer Alys Tomlinson

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