Saturday Review offers sharp, critical discussion of the week's cultural events.
This week
Saturday 26 April 2008
Lesley Sharpe stars in Simon Stephens' new play; fundamentalist Iran in a hand-drawn animation; deep waters, literally and psychologically, in Tim Winton's new novel; and Peter Ackroyd's new radio drama revisits Chatterton's mysterious death...
Joining presenter Tom Sutcliffe on the panel this week are:
Peter Kemp – literary critic Deborah Moggach - novelist Kerry Shale - actor
Persepolis This hand-drawn animated film is adapted from the graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi and makes dramatic use of her childhood experience to satirise the Islamic Revolution in Iran.
Persepolis is released on Friday 25 April, certificate 12A.
Breath This novel by the Australian author Tim Winton is a coming-of-age tale of a boy addicted to surfing who gets into deep waters, both literally and psychologically, with consequences that far outlast his youth.
Breath by Tim Winton is published by Hamish Hamilton.
Harper Regan Lesley Sharpe stars as a woman who walks out on her husband and daughter without telling anyone in Simon Stephens's latest play. For two lost days and nights she is missing, until everything she has ever had is in danger of unravelling.
Harper Regan by Simon Stephens is in rep in the Cottlesloe Theatre at the National Theatre in London.
St Martins-in-the-Fields This landmark church on Trafalgar Square was built by James Gibbs in 1726. St Martins has a tradition of practical Christianity, is famous for its work with the homeless, and is the place where the charity Shelter was founded.
The church has now been extended and refurbished by Eric Parry Architects at a cost of £36 million. New features include an East window designed by the Iranian artist Shirazeh Houshiary, a glass pavilion in the church yard leading to new spaces on the basement floors, and a light-well also in the church yard which brings light down into the level of the crypt.
The re-opening of St Martins-in-the-Fields is being marked with a three week festival from April 27 – May 18.
The Allington Solution Peter Ackroyd’s radio drama stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the 18th century boy-poet Thomas Chatterton, alongside Adrian Scarborough as a 20th century academic who suspects the story of Chatterton’s suicide is a romantic fallacy and who sets out to discover the true cause of his death.
The Allington Solution is on Radio 4 on Thursday May 1 at 2.15pm.
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