15/02/2012

Synopsis

Libby Purves is joined by actor Sir Antony Sher and jazz saxophonist Barbara Thompson.

She also meets Professor Sean Street an historian, writer, presenter and poet. His new book 'The Poetry of Radio - The Colour of Sound' explores the relationship between poetry and radio, and examines the concept of 'poetic making' in sound.

Jazz saxophonist and composer Barbara Thompson and her husband the drummer Jon Hiseman feature in a BBC Four documentary 'Playing Against Time', part of BBC Four's Jazz weekend, in which Barbara uses music and creativity to help her cope with Parkinson's disease.

Sir Antony Sher stars in Nicholas Wright's new play 'Travelling Light' at the National Theatre. The play recounts the story of a Hollywood director in his sixties looking back on how his career began in a small village in Eastern Europe in the early years of the 20th century. The story pays tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became major players in Hollywood's golden age of cinema.

Libby also talks to biographer Jonathan Croall whose father was John Stuart a star of the silent screen who, unlike many, successfully survived into the 'talkies' era. Always a rather distant figure, it wasn't until after his death that Jonathan learnt more about him from the scrapbooks he had left behind, revealing his experiences on the Western Front during the First World War.

Producer: Paula McGinley.