This week Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Duncan Wu, Rupert Goold, Jackie Wullschlager and Jane Holland.
Presenter: TOM SUTCLIFFE
Journalist and essayist William Hazlitt was at the centre of Romanticism, knowing every major writer, politician and artist of his time. Moreover, in revolutionising every genre in which he worked, he interpreted the times for his contemporaries and for us. In a new biography, DUNCAN WU argues that to fully understand Hazlitt and the Romantics is to fully understand ourselves and where we have come from. William Hazlitt: The First Modern Man is published by Oxford University Press.
The award-winning theatre director RUPERT GOOLD talks about his productions and his approaches to adapting works. His diverse portfolio currently includes directing plays by Pinter and Pirandello in the West End, Pete Postlethwaite as King Lear and at Christmas a production of Oliver! in which the part of Nancy was cast through the BBC’s talent contest I’d Do Anything. Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author is on at the Gielgud Theatre until 8 November, Pinter’s No Man’s Land is at the Duke of York’s Theatre until 3 January, Pete Postlethwaite as King Lear runs from 30 October-29 November at Liverpool Everyman and 29 January-28 March at The Young Vic and Oliver! runs from 12 December-14 January at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
JACKIE WULLSCHLAGER is chief arts editor of the Financial Times. She explores the life of the painter Chagall, arguing that his role in the Modernist movement has long been underestimated. She describes how his life in exile from his native Russia affected his painting. Her biography Chagall: Love and Exile is published by Allen Lane and it is Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4 from Monday 27 October.
The poet JANE HOLLAND is editor of the recently launched online arts magazine Horizon Review. She argues that there’s a need for arts criticism that goes beyond the star ratings style of some newspapers but is more accessible than print journals with their more academic approach. She also suggests that the internet is transforming the nature of criticism itself.
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