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Front Row: Frankenstein, William Boyd, Rachel Whiteread, The Sister

23/10/2020

Frankenstein, William Boyd, Rachel Whiteread, The Sister

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Frankenstein, William Boyd, Rachel Whiteread, The Sister

Frankenstein: six young artists challenge how today's society creates its own monsters.

Frankenstein reimagined: how today's society creates its own monsters; William Boyd on his latest novel, Trio; Rachel Whiteread's new Lockdown works; ITV drama The Sister reviewed.

In Frankenstein: How to Make a Monster, six performers from Battersea Arts Centre's Beatbox Academy interpret Mary Shelley’s classic novel from their own perspective; as young people growing up in 21st-century Britain. Using only their own mouths and voices to make every sound in the film, they explore how today’s society creates its own monsters. John Wilson talks to one of the creator performers, Nadine Rose Johnson.

Acclaimed author William Boyd talks about his new novel, Trio. Set in the summer of 1968, the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, there are riots in Paris and the Vietnam War is out of control. While the world is reeling, three characters - a producer, a novelist and an actress - are involved in making a Swingin' Sixties movie in sunny Brighton and each of them is harbouring a dangerous secret.

Artist Rachel Whiteread discusses her series of works she has been creating in lockdown at her home in the Welsh countryside: March-Sept Drawings, as well as a newly-revealed resin sculpture, Untitled (Pinboard), which goes on digital display today.

Author Irenosen Okojie and journalist Mik Scarlet review the new ITV drama series The Sister, written by Neil Cross (creator of Luther) and starring Russell Tovey. Mik will also be discussing the Shaw Trust Power 100, an annual publication aiming to further inclusivity by celebrating 100 most influential disabled people, and Irenosen celebrates her current cultural highlight, the Netflix American comedy film The 40-Year-Old Version.

Presenter: John Wilson
Producer: Oliver Jones

Main image: Grove in Frankenstein: How to Make a Monster
Image credit: Lukas Galantay

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