Break Out Culture With Ed Vaizey by Country and Town House

We’re talking to Louise Minchin, Chair of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and one of her five co-judges, the Nigerian-born, award-winning novelist Irenosen Okojie MBE. Louise is an endurance triathlete and the well-known journalist, who presented BBC Breakfast for 20 years and was one of BBC News 24’s main anchors. 

Now in its 28th year and started by Kate Mosse OBE, the prize aims to encourage and award the finest women writers around the world. Louise and Irenosen talk us through the six finalists who stand to win the coveted prize of £30,000.   Their enthusiasm for the shortlisted books makes this a fun, lively and highly enjoyable listen.  

The shortlisted books are:

‘Fire Rush’ by Jacqueline Crooks, a state-of-the nation portrait of black womanhood

‘Trespasses’ by Louise Kennedy, set during the Belfast Troubles

‘Demond Copperhead’ by Barbara Kingsolver, David Copperfield reimagined for today 

‘Black Butterflies’ by Priscilla Morris Priscilla Morris, set against the siege of Sarajevo

‘Hamnet’ by Maggie O’Farrell, the story of Shakespeare’s son 

‘Pod’ by Laline Paull, about a dolphin saving her pod

The winner will be announced on Wednesday 14th June

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We’re talking to curator Carol Jacobi about ‘The Rossettis’, an exhibition of over 150 works at Tate Britain, celebrating the romance and radicalism of Dante Gabriel, Christina and Elizabeth née Siddall.  It’s the first ever retrospective of Dante Gabriel Rossetti at the Tate and the largest exhibition of his work in two decades, as well as being the first retrospective of Elizabeth Siddal for 30 years.

The exhibition sets out to shed light on just how ground-breaking the Rossetti family’s work was, from Christina’s poetry (first published when she was just 16) to their paintings and even their designs for clothing and interiors.  Carol convinces detractors that the Pre-Raphaelite movement marked a significant shift towards depicting more intimate and personal subject matter, and argues that a reappraisal of them as highly talented and extraordinary radicals is long overdue.

‘The Rossettis’ runs at Tate Britain until 24th September

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We’re discovering what’s on at London’s Design Biennale which opens on the 1st June at Somerset House.  Now in its fourth edition, the Biennale sets out to celebrate and showcase innovation in design that has the power to make our world a better place.  Victoria Broackes, the Director, explains that this year’s title and theme, which is ‘The Global Game: Remapping Collaborations’. 

Victoria tells us about the 40 exhibitors coming together from around the world – including from Ukraine. We discuss the global issues - migration, climate change and the impending impact of AI and technology that designers are collaborating to confront and find solutions for.  Ai-Da, the robot artist, will be at the fair and Victoria tells us what to expect from her.

The London Design Biennale is now in its fourth edition and has become a mandatory fixture in the international cultural calendar. The world needs a truly innovative and collaborative approach to addressing all the current crises we face, so this is fascinating and optimistic listening.

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We talk to Hassan Akkad, who came to the UK as an asylum seeker from Syria and who earned a BAFTA for his BBC documentary ‘Exodus: Our Journey to Europe’, which used real footage from his journey from Syria.  Hassan tells us about his short film, ‘Matar’, which tells the story of a day in the life asylum-seeker Matar as he tries to survive in London without being able to work legally or have a bank account.  

‘Matar’ stars Ahmed Malek, who recently starred in ‘The Swimmers’, the feature film about the Mardini sisters escaping war-torn Syria.  Both superb swimmers, the sisters sought asylum in Germany and Yusra Mardini went on to earn an Olympic gold medal.  Hassan also tells us about projecting his short 90 second message ‘Led by Donkeys’ onto the White Cliffs of Dover. 

We also talk to Shomit Dutta, who wrote the play ‘Stumped’ about an imaginary game of cricket between Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett, and to Andrew Lancel, who plays Pinter in the play. Who knew that Beckett, played in ‘Stumped’ by Stephen Tompkinson, is the only Nobel Prize Winner to have an entry in Wisden?  Shomit and Andrew discuss the joys of cricket and the dramatic opportunities the game offers to explore the friendship between two of the greatest dramatists of our time.

‘Matar’ can be viewed free here at Waterbear.com.

‘Stumped’ plays at Theatre Royal Bath between 23rd and 27th May, at Cambridge Arts Theatre between 5th and 10th June and finally at the Hampstead Theatre in London between 16th June and the 22nd July. 

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Dafydd Jones’s photographs of Oxford’s ‘bright young things’ catapulted him to fame and earnt him a global reputation for capturing the essence of   a riotous world of upper-class decadence during the Thatcher era. Tina Brown was quick to scoop Dafydd up when she was editor of Tatler, and on today’s podcast he talks about his new book ‘England: The Last Hurrah’ and describes what it was like to break into a world that revolved around glamorous parties in stately homes and annual events like the Oxbridge May Balls and the 4th June at Eton. 

His satirical but beautiful black and white photographs lend an elegiac nostalgic quality to what Tina Brown describes in her introduction to the book as ‘whimsey and frolicky romance’.  Dafydd captured some of the most iconic images of our age, including a lonely, hunted Diana Spencer facing a barrage of press photographers at the Sandown Park race meeting in March 1981.  

Listen in to hear what it was really like for Dafydd to be at all those uproarious parties, then go home to his family and hang his dinner jacket up in the yard to get rid of the smell of cigarette smoke.  Modest though he is, Dafydd’s photographs will endure for having perfectly captured a society on the brink of decline. Unmissable listening. 

An exhibition of Dafydd’s photographs runs at The Centre for British Photography on 49 Jermyn Street, London until the beginning of June.

We’re excited to tell you that this week’s guest is Ruth Wilson, the multiple-award winning British actress who’s about to star in an extraordinary theatrical event at The Young Vic on 19th May. ‘The Second Woman’ is going to incorporate one electrifying 24-hour performance, involving one scene, one woman and 100 men.  Ruth plays Virginia and will be on stage for a full 24 hours as 100 different men star opposite her while she performs over and over again a scene between a man and woman in a failing relationship. You can buy a ticket for the full 24 hours or just stay a few minutes. 

Listen in to hear what made Ruth take on this role and how she’s preparing herself for this epic marathon performance. We also find out about her new TV series that will be out in the autumn.

We’re talking about the burgeoning opportunities for new and established collectors of beautiful rare objects, looking forward to London Craft Week, with Guy Salter, the fair’s founder.  

Now in its ninth year and dubbed ‘the most luxurious craft fair in the world’, the fair spreads right across the capital, incorporating Acton and Park Royal as Creative Enterprise Zones for the first time. There will be exciting events and exhibitions celebrating the Coronation and London Craft Week will also showcase the work of over 700 artists, designers and makers from across the world and include four international pavilions from Austria, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan.  

We also talk to Nazy Vassegh, founder of the boutique art platform Eye of the Collector.  The third edition of The Eye of the Collector fair is running between 17th and 20th May at Two Temple Place, the majestic 1892 Neo-Gothic building, commissioned by William Waldorf Astor, on London’s Strand.  Of the 120 works for sale, many will be of museum quality or by huge names including Frank Auerbach, Barbara Hepworth and Bridget Riley but will there will also be 60 new works, aiming to shine a light on emerging artists and designers and overlooked talent. 

Our third guest is celebrated couturier and interior designer Tomasz Starzewski, who’s now collaborating with the specialist ceramics and craft auctioneers Maak to curate an installation of exquisite pieces from the collection of the late Victoria Lady de Rothschild. The installation is now open in Buckinghamshire, at Ascott House, the home Lady de Rothschild shared for over a decade with her husband Sir Evelyn. 

Victoria Lady de Rothschild designed Ascott House, alongside Renzo Mongiardino and it’s now the beautiful setting for 118 carefully chosen and placed objects that she collected on her travels for over 20 years.  They will be displayed throughout the house until September when Maak will auction them.

London Craft Week:  throughout the capital from Monday 8th to Sunday 14th May

The Eye of the Collector: at 2 Temple Place from Wednesday 17th to Saturday 20th May

Highlights from Victoria Lady de Rothschild’s Collection: at Ascott House until September

We talk to Geoff Marsh, one of the curators of a new exhibition about the 1973 album Aladdin Sane and to Dave Robinson, aka ‘Robbo’, legendary co-founder of Stiff Records. 

Geoff tells us how photographer, the late Brian Duffy, created the lightning flash image of David Bowie.  That album cover has gone on to remain one of the world’s three most instantly recognisable images - the other two are John Pasche’s Hot Lips logo for the Rolling Stones and Hipgnosis’s cover for Dark Side of the Moon.  

Aladdin Sane: 50 Years, which runs at Southbank until the 28th May, celebrates the anniversary of this important cultural icon. Accompanying the exhibition are talks, live music, two nights of joyous club music and poetry.

Meanwhile, Dave Robinson, who created hits for Madness, Tracey Ullman, Elvis Costello, Ian Drury, The Pogues and many more, regales us with tales of being in America as Jimi Hendrix’s tour manager and putting together Bob Marley’s greatest hits to create Legend, the best-selling reggae album of all time. 

You can hear Dave telling his highly entertaining and improbable but true stories on his tour, We Came, We Saw, We Left – The Horse Speaks, which he’s taking around the country until 15th May.  

An extraordinary opportunity to listen to this conversation about the music that has survived half a century and continues to influence and inspire millions worldwide.

We’re talking to curator Raina Lampkins-Fielder about ‘Souls Grown Deep Like the Rivers’, the ground-breaking exhibition at the Royal Academy, showcasing the collective creativity of black artists from the American South.   Most of these powerful works, many made from reclaimed materials, have never been seen outside America’s so-called ‘Black Belt’ that encompasses Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, a region associated with slavery and racial oppression.  This is any eye-opening exhibition representing the triumph of artistic expression and hope over appalling discrimination and persecution.

On a much lighter note, we also talk to Francesca Moody, the award-winning producer of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s ‘Fleabag’, about her new venture ‘Berlusconi the Musical’, on for a short run at Southwark Playhouse. It’s guaranteed to be a highly entertaining tragi-comic rollercoaster about Silvio Berlusconi’s life as a media tycoon, politician and Italian Prime Minister, a life extraordinary enough to defy belief. 

The London Original Print Fair is London’s longest running art fair and now in its 38th year. This year it runs at Somerset House from 30th March till the 2nd April and brings together over 40 top international print dealers, publishers and studios, spanning six centuries of printmaking.

We talk to Helen Rosslyn, who’s been director of the Fair since 1987.  She explains why prints are so much more than mere copies and therefore such popular and safe investments. With knowledge and enthusiasm, she walks us through this year’s show, with all its exciting highlights, from works by David Shrigley and Tracey Emin to those by Royal Academicians and Old Masters like Dürer and Hogarth.

One of this year’s highlights is a Special Tribute Exhibition in honour of Andrew Edmunds, print dealer and famed restaurateur and a founding committee member of the fair.  Andrew sadly died last autumn but to honour him his son Milo and art historian Tom Clayton, have curated a personal collection of his 18th century prints by the artist and satirist James Gilray, including some works that have never been seen in public before as well as some impressions of his best-known prints.

Tune in to know exactly how to find your way around the fair and what to look for.