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Front Row: Gregory Doran and the RSC, WASWASA – Whispers in Prayer performance, Taiwan's new cultural landmark

Gregory Doran and the RSC; WASWASA – Whispers in Prayer performance; Taiwan's new cultural landmark

Gregory Doran and the RSC, WASWASA – Whispers in Prayer performance, Taiwan's new cultural landmark

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Gregory Doran and the RSC, WASWASA – Whispers in Prayer performance, Taiwan's new cultural landmark

Gregory Doran reflects on ten years as artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Gregory Doran on stepping down as RSC artistic director, WASWASA – Whispers in Prayer performance in Birmingham, Taiwan's new cultural landmark, the Taipei Performing Arts Centre.

When Gregory Doran was appointed Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2012,  his stated ambition was for the company to stage the entire canon of plays in the First Folio, the first printed collection of  Shakespeare’s plays.  Ten years on and having just completed his plan, with the premiere of a new production of All's Well That Ends Well, he joins Nick Ahad to reflect on the changing nature of his relationship with the Bard.  

Nick visits Birmingham to see the rehearsals for WASWASA – Whispers in Prayer, an art installation and performance by artist Mohammed Ali which explores the act of Islamic prayer in a secular society.

Taiwan has a new cultural landmark, the Taipei Performing Arts Centre. Arts critic Debra Craine was in the Taiwanese capital for the opening of the state of the art building, designed by Dutch architects Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten. Debra joins Nick Ahad to discuss why the Taipei city government commissioned the £185 million complex for theatre, dance and opera.

Presenter Nick Ahad
Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Image: Gregory Doran in rehearsals, 2021 Photographer credit: Ellie Kurttz/ RSC

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