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The Radio 2 Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman

Image for Director Mike Newell on La Grande Illusion 75th anniversary

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Director Mike Newell on La Grande Illusion 75th anniversary

Duration:
1 hour, 57 minutes
First broadcast:
Friday 23 March 2012

Claudia talks to Mike Newell who directed Four Weddings and A Funeral and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire about Jean Renoir's classic anti-war masterpiece La Grande Illusion which has been restored for its 75th anniversary this year. It was the last French film with a French director to be nominated for Best Picture until The Artist - and Mike Newell is a huge fan.

Actress Gwen Taylor tells us about starring in The Butterfly Lion by Michael Morpurgo in a new stage adaption by Daniel Buckroyd, at the Curve Theatre Leicester. Gwen Taylor's extensive stage credits include as Mrs Cordon in 'Prick Up Your Ears' with Matt Lucas at the Comedy Theatre. She is currently portraying Ann Foster in ITV's Coronation Street. Michael Morpurgo's 1996 Award winning The Butterfly Lion is a tale of enduring friendship by the acclaimed author of 'War Horse'. When the orphaned white lion cub he has rescued from the African Veldt is sold to a circus owner and shipped off to Europe, young Bertie vows he will see his friend again. Little does he realise the adventurous, romantic, shocking turns his life will take before that momentous day finally comes.

Sculptor David Paynter tells us about his unique sculptures which each come with an accompanying poem.

The 'Tour Guide's Guide To Art' this week comes from our Newcastle studio as Claudia chats to Ed Carter, one of the men behind 'Flow' - a floating musical tidemill docked on the River Tyne.

Plus Jason Solomons reviews this week's films and Michael Billington critiques the latest plays.

Music Played

14 items

  • MICHAEL BILLINGTON'S THEATRE CHOICES

    Gypsy at the Curve, Leicester

    This American musical is inspired by the memoirs of the burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee, and charts the story of her mother, Momma Rose, and her determination to live out her own dreams of stardom through her two daughters. Featuring many numbers from Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim.

    The Curve - Official Website

  • Moon On A Rainbow Shawl at the National's Cottesloe

    Set in a Trinidad backyard just after the war, Moon On A Rainbow Shawl is about a trolleybus driver, Ephraim. Snatches of calypso compete with hymn tunes, drums and street cries as neighbours drink, brawl, pass judgment, and crave a better life. But Ephraim is no dreamer and nothing, not even the seductive Rosa, is going to stop him escaping his dead-end job for a fresh start in England.

    The National Theatre - Official Website

  • Abigail's Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London

    In 1970's suburbia, Beverly and her husband Laurence are hosting a drinks party for their neighbours. There is plenty of alcohol, an array of cheese & pineapple savoury bites and olives, and Demis Roussos on the record player. But as prejudices are unmasked and tempers flare, the evening seems headed for disaster.

    Menier Chocolate Factory - Official Website

  • Farewell To The Theatre at London’s Hampstead Theatre

    Harley Granville Barker, the most influential theatre maker of his time, finds himself adrift in America during the Great War. Estranged from the theatre, and with his spirit almost broken by his divorce, he seeks refuge in the relative obscurity of a quiet backwater, Williamstown, Massachusetts, where he finds comfort in the congeniality of his fellow exiles

    Hampstead Theatre - Official Website

  • JASON SOLOMONS'S FILM CHOICES

    Wild Bill - Cerftificate 15

    Out on parole after 8 years inside Bill Hayward returns home to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, an uncaring Bill is determined to move on. Although Dean the older boy has found a job and is doing his best to be a father to his younger brother Jimmy, the arrival of Bill has brought them to the attention of social services.

    IMDB - Official Website

  • The Kid With A Bike - Certificate 12A

    Abandoned by his father, a young boy is left in a state-run youth farm. In a random act of kindness, the town hairdresser agrees to foster him on weekends.

    The Kid With A Bike - Official Website

  • Act of Valor - Certificate 12A

    Act of Valor takes us deep into the secretive world of the most elite, highly trained group of warriors in the modern world. When the rescue of a kidnapped CIA operative leads to the discovery of a deadly terrorist plot against the U.S., a team of SEALs is dispatched on a worldwide manhunt.

    Act of Valor - Official Website

  • The Hunger Games - Certificate 12A

    Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister's place for the latest match.

    The Hunger Games - Official Website

  • Nile Rodgers on 6 Music

    Nile Rodgers, one half of the legendary funk-disco hit makers and producers Chic, talks to Stuart Maconie on BBC 6 Music on Tuesday March the 27th.

    Eat To The Beat

  • THE TOUR GUIDE'S GUIDE TO ART - FLOW

    THE TOUR GUIDE'S GUIDE TO ART - FLOW

    Flow is a living, breathing musical instrument moored on the River Tyne in Newcastle. It’s powered not only by the water it floats on, but by its visitors as well, and we asked lead producer Ed Carter (left, beside collaborator Simon Blackmore of Owl Project) to tell us what he likes best about it:

    "It's hard to pick a favourite part of Flow - the waterwheel itself is an absolutely beautiful object. The SSS is the first thing people see when they enter the millhouse, and it has a really graceful movement, powered by the wheel. It's a series of hand-built analogue synthesisers, which responds to the changing levels of salt in the River Tyne.

    It really represents one of the core ideas behind Flow, about representing the behaviour of the river in different ways. The SSS does that both in it's form and movement, and in how the sounds are created."

    Find out more about Flow

  • Film Director Mike Newell - 23/03/12

    Film Director Mike Newell - 23/03/12

  • Poet David Paynter - 23/03/12

    Poet David Paynter - 23/03/12

Broadcasts

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  1. Image for Radio 2 Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman

    Radio 2 Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman

    Claudia Winkleman’s weekly feast of the finest offerings from Film, Theatre, Arts, TV and Music....

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