Front Row

Front Row joins Radio 4's celebration of Bob Dylan, who will be 80 on Monday. John Wilson joined by Bob Geldof, to consider the art and influence of Bob, on Bob.

Ann Powers, music critic for National Public Radio joins from somewhere on the Nashville Skyline.

On Bob Dylan's first trip to Britain, in the winter of 1962, he and the great English folk singer Martin Carthy, met, became friends and performed together in small clubs such as the Troubadour (still going!). Bob Dylan acknowledges the influence of Carthy, whose versions of Scarborough Fair and Lord Franklin, for instance, inform songs of his such as Bob Dylan's Dream and Girl From the North Country. It will be Martin's 80th birthday on Friday, he's three days older than Dylan. Front Row drags him away from his celebration (and a rehearsal - Carthy, like Dylan, is still a hardworking musician) to remember those early days, and a winter so cold he and Bob chopped up an old piano for firewood.

Kerry Shale stars with Richard Curtis, Lucas Hare and Eileen Atkins in Dinner with Dylan, the afternoon drama on Radio 4 on Saturday. Shale,a famously versatile voice actor, is intrigued by Dylan's voice and how it has changed or, rather, he has changed it. Using songs recorded over decades Kerry analyses how folky young Bob becomes hip, sneery Bob, then mellow country Bob, dangerous angry Bob finally exhausted Ancient Mariner Bob. 'I Contain Multitudes', Dylan says, using the famous phrase of Walt Whitman as the title of one of his songs.

Poet Caroline Bird does some close reading of 'Visions of Johanna' and the writer Fred D'Aguiar, esonance of Dylan's early work in the wake of the murder of George Floyd

Presenter: John Wilson

Eleanor Clayton is the curator of the largest publlc exhbition of the work of the sculptor Barbara Hepworth since her death in 1975. She's also written a new biography about the sculptor called Barbara Hepworth Art and Life. She talks to Nick about Hepworth's passion for making sculpture and how her insistence on the best way her work should be presented to the public has influenced the new show at The Hepworth Wakefield.

The secretary of state for culture, The Rt Hon Oliver Dowden wants museum trustee boards to have greater regional representation, but is he taking the right approach to achieve this? Lord Smith of Finsbury who, as Chris Smith MP, was culture secretary in Tony Blair's goverment has concerns. He joins Front Row to explain why he thinks the present culture secretary needs to keep at arms length from our cultural institutions.

The National Youth Theatre is about to premiere a new production of Othello at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton. The play is set in a hedonistic 90s club, and Othello is now a black woman played by rising star Francesca Amewudah-Rivers. She reflects on the appeal of playing the tragic hero and the joy, after months of lockdown, of creating a club on stage.

Can theatre keep you healthy? As UK Theatre and the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) release new research about the financial savings that theatre brings to the NHS, Jon Gilchrist, executive director and deputy chief executive of Home in Manchester, explains how theatre can be part of a healthy way of life.

Presenter: Nick Ahad

The new album of compositions by Roxanna Panufnik performed by the Saconni Quartet features a surprising range of subject material; letters written home during the First World War, Ashkenazi Jewish cantorial chant, Aung San Suu Kyi’s musings on Burma, a celebration of Poland’s EU presidency, a 14th century love story and the heartbeat of a Bulgarian dancing bear. We talk to her about the stories behind Heartfelt.

Following their residency at Cern, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, the Brighton-based artist duo Semiconductor have created a multisensory installation Halo, showing as part of the Brighton Festival. Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt discuss their immersive artwork of sound and light, which takes the form of an intricate mechanical structure containing a 360-degree projection of scientific data and 380 resonating taut piano wires.

Eileen Agar: Angel of Anarchy is a major retrospective of the Cubist and Surrealist artist (1899-1991) at the Whitechapel Gallery in London. Louisa Buck joins us to discuss the show and gives us her own selection of exhibitions across the UK that she’s looking forward to, which can finally now open.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

Main image: Albie the bear, whose recorded heartbeat was used on one of Heartfelt's tracks.

The actress Julie Hesmondhalgh, best known for Coronation Street and Broadchurch on TV, returns to the theatre for the opening night of her new play at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough. Modestly titled The Greatest Play in the History of the World… it is not only the first night of the tour but the first night the theatre has been open since last year. Julie takes a break from rehearsals to talk to Samira about how she is looking forward to being onstage again and the importance of theatre to regional towns.

Lie Down and Listen is the idea behind a new series of classical music concerts being led by the pianist Christina McMaster. She talks to Samira about how lying down helps both the mind and body listen to music.

A new photographic exhibition opening at The Serpentine Gallery in London shows the work of 91-year-old photographer James Barnor. He’s been working for 6 decades, first in his native Ghana where he captured the country’s move to independence, before coming to the UK in the 60s where he worked for Drum magazine, taking photos of the African diaspora. In the 70s he returned to Ghana as a pioneer of colour photography.

Presenter: Samira Ahmed

Barry Jenkins, the director of the 2017 Oscar-winning film Moonlight, discusses his new ten-part TV adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Underground Railroad.

The drama series follows two young slaves as they escape their cotton plantation in Georgia and go in search of the fabled railway which they hope will transport them north in their quest for freedom.

The director discusses shooting the drama - which contains harrowing scenes of violence - on the site of former plantations in Georgia where slaves worked and died, and how the experience affected him as an African-American.

Presenter Kirsty Lang

Main image: Showrunner, writer and Director Barry Jenkins on The Underground Railroad shoot in Georgia, USA.

Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland, which recently won best film at both the Oscars and Baftas, is leading the pack as cinemas reopen next week. Film critic Tim Robey and Chinese arts journalist Yuan Ren discuss Nomadland and what else we have to look forward to.

St Vincent’s latest album Daddy’s Home is inspired in part by her father’s release from 10 years in prison. The artist discusses getting personal for her sixth record, returning to the sound of the '70s and the female artists that paved the way for her.

A lack of commercial and government-backed insurance has led to the cancellation of many festivals this year with more cancellations expected if things don’t change. Marina Blake, co-founder and creative director of Brainchild Festival, has a plan to ensure her festival goes ahead. She talks to John about asking ticketholders to share the costs of the risk.

Author Maylis de Kerangal discusses Painting Time, her coming-of-age novel set in the world of decorative painting, following a young woman who finds herself discovering the world and herself through the art of trompe l’oeuil.

Presenter: John Wilson

Author of the Year was announced today at the British Books Awards. Tom speaks to the winner, Richard Osman, game show host and author of the hugely successful crime novel The Thursday Murder Club.

In the middle of the forest sits an abandoned toy shop. It appears to be a fairy tale house, but as you inch closer you see that it is defaced and decaying. Inside there are rows of upside down dolls. Upside Down Mimi is artist Rachel Maclean’s first permanent outdoor commission, an installation combining both architecture and animation and a replica will be touring Scottish city centres. She joins us to explain this artistic commentary on consumer culture and the decline of the high street.

As the news of a possible 50% cuts to Higher Education Arts funding is met by a robust response from musicians, artists and actors as well as higher education organisations and bodies, BBC Education Editor Branwen Jeffreys joins Front Row to explain what these proposed cuts really mean.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe

From next Monday theatres in England will legally be allowed to reopen with social distancing and strict capacity restrictions. We find out what it will be like for audiences and staff as they return to venues. We also hear from one theatre director in Scotland who's not reopening and ask why.

Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap will be the first play to reopen in the London's West End, with its first performance on Monday night. What else can we look forward to in the coming months, and how will the theatrical experience change? Theatre critic Sarah Crompton tells us what to expect.

A brothel in Pompeii is at the centre of Elodie Harper’s new novel, The Wolf Den. She talks to Kirsty about telling a story of women’s lives in the Roman Empire, and how she wanted to show that there was more to everyday life for ancient people than togas and baths.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang

It was after the death of George Floyd that television writer and producer Travon Free, and filmmaker Martin Desmond Roe came together to create a response to this traumatic event. The result was Two Distant Strangers which won Best Live Action Short Film at this year’s Oscars. Travon and Martin join Elle to talk about making art out of tragedy.

NBC has dropped the 2022 Golden Globes Award ceremony and Tom Cruise has returned his three Golden Globes in protest at the lack of diversity at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The Oscars were more diverse this year, but the televised award ceremony had its lowest ever audience. Rhianna Dhillon talks about what is happening with awards.

Resident Evil Village is the eighth instalment from the hugely popular horror game franchise. Games journalist Louise Blain reviews and discusses the appeal of the genre as a whole.

Are you missing the joy of musicals? The BBC World Service has create a brand new one, U.Me: The Musical, entirely under lockdown, lavishly arranged for a 40-piece orchestra. In 53 minutes it tells the story of two people falling in love over the internet during lockdown. Professor Millie Taylor reviews.

Producer: Timothy Prosser

David Hockney has captured the unfolding of Spring during the pandemic, creating 116 new works on his ipad which have been blown up for a new exhibition at London’s Royal Academy. Art critic Ben Luke reviews the prolific 83 year old’s new work. He also discusses the shortlist for this year’s Turner Prize; for the first time, no one on the list is an individual artist: they are all artist collectives.

A new BBC TV drama, Three Families, is set in Northern Ireland looks at the controversial and divisive subject of abortion. Northern Ireland was exempted from the UK’s 1967 Abortion Act and had some of the most restrictive policies in Europe. 2 years ago when the Stormont Assembly was dissolved and decision-making powers transferred to Westminster, MPs in London voted overwhelmingly to change the law and ease access to abortion. This series fictionalises the stories of three women and their personal involvement in the campaign to liberalise the law.

Irish writer Rónán Hession, author of Leonard and Hungry Paul, discusses his second novel, Panenka, about 50-year-old former footballer who has spent 25 years unable to escape from one critical and very public error which made him an exile in his home town.

Main image: David Hockney

Presenter: Samira Ahmed