Front Row Folgen

In two days' time, the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester will open its doors to an audience for the first time in over a year. And the first show to be presented will be a one-woman gig musical, a debut play from actor Lauryn Redding, she talks to Nick about penning the songs and the script and playing all the characters in Bloody Elle.Writer and director Harry MacQueen talks about his new film Supernova, starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as a couple struggling with a diagnosis of early-onset dementia who take a road trip together to reconnect with friends, family and places from their past.The Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 this summer is exploring the theme ‘How Will We Live Together?’ Architecture critic Oliver Wainwright tells us about the exhibitions on display at this year’s festival and what architecture can do to tackle big questions.And we talk to Cardiff Singer of the World Audience Prize winner Claire Barnett-Jones.Presenter: Nick Ahad Producer: Ekene AkalawuMain image: Lauryn Redding Image Credit: Pippa Rankin

50 years after last playing the Danish prince, Sir Ian McKellen is returning to the role of Hamlet, in an age, colour gender-blind production. At the age of 82, he has new insight to the character. He tells presenter John Wilson it’s clear to him Hamlet is bisexual, and how he is tackling the physical challenges of stage acting.He talks about his coming out in a BBC radio interview in 1988, how it liberated him and improved his acting. He also talks about his love of the theatre, how drama is an important aspect of British identity, and the joy of working in a company, the way his career began.Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Julian May Studio Engineer: Giles Aspen

We announce and speak to the winner of the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction. Peggy Ashcroft said that Winnie, in Happy Days by Samuel Beckett, ‘is one of those parts…that actresses will want to play in the way that actors aim at Hamlet – a ‘summit’ part’. She was right, several great actresses, Ashcroft herself, Billie Whitelaw and Maxine Peake, have – while buried above the waist, then up to the neck, in a mound - scaled that summit. In Front Row, Samira Ahmed talks to two more, Juliet Stevenson, an acclaimed Winnie in 2015 and Lisa Dwan, in the 60th anniversary production that opens tonight, about the joys and trials of playing this desperately cheerful woman. Tonight, the main stage of the Bristol Old Vic will play host to Outlier, a play about isolation, addiction and friendship in rural Devon. It is written by performance poet Malaika Kegode in her theatrical debut, and accompanied by the music of local Bristolian band Jakabol. While normally, debut playwrights may have been programmed for one of the theatre’s more intimate spaces, the pandemic has given emerging talent the opportunity to occupy the spotlight. Tom Morris, Artistic Director of the Bristol Old Vic, explains how the pandemic has actually enabled more risk-taking.Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Hilary Dunn Studio Engineer: Giles Aspen