Front Row

Poetry and performance from Hull's Contains Strong Language festival


Listen Later

Stig Abell talks to John Godber, one of the most-performed playwrights in the English language and somebody who has been interpreting the city of Hull in his plays for over thirty years, from Bouncers to Up and Under. His latest work This Isn’t Right tells the story of Holly Parker who is rediscovering Hull after three years at University in London. When a young woman disappears her already over-protective Dad goes into over-drive.

Earlier this year the poet and performer Zena Edwards wore a grass coat to Tate Modern to mark the launch of a movement drawing attention to climate change - Culture Declares An Emergency. For Contains Strong Language she’s performing a newly commissioned piece called Rallying Cry. She'll perform and talk to Stig Abell about putting the joy into the poetry of protest.

We'll hear a world premiere performance of a Jodie Langford poem specially commissioned by BBC Humberside. She's a rising star of the spoken word scene and one of 12 poets chosen by BBC local radio stations to “challenge the outdated clichés and celebrate all that is regionally distinctive about the North”.

And playwright Mark Ravenhill on translating Bertholt Brecht's The Mother with original score by Hanns Eisler which will be recorded at the festival for broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Maxine Peake plays Pelagea Vlassova, the woman who acts to protect her son from prison and becomes an accidental revolutionary.

Presenter Stig Abell

Producer Olive Clancy

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Front RowBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4
  • 4.4

4.4

118 ratings


More shows like Front Row

View all
Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,586 Listeners

Ask Penguin by Penguin Books UK

Ask Penguin

157 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,057 Listeners

In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,457 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,876 Listeners

In Our Time: Philosophy by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Philosophy

865 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

607 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

731 Listeners

Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

Arts & Ideas

304 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,749 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,041 Listeners

World Book Club by BBC World Service

World Book Club

366 Listeners

Desert Island Discs by BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs

1,977 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

477 Listeners

Last Word by BBC Radio 4

Last Word

45 Listeners

Backlisted by Backlisted

Backlisted

585 Listeners

Start the Week by BBC Radio 4

Start the Week

161 Listeners

Bookclub by BBC Radio 4

Bookclub

243 Listeners

Private Passions by BBC Radio 3

Private Passions

45 Listeners

The TLS Podcast by The TLS

The TLS Podcast

183 Listeners

The Waterstones Podcast by Waterstones

The Waterstones Podcast

36 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

3,187 Listeners

This Cultural Life by BBC Radio 4

This Cultural Life

84 Listeners

Take Four Books by BBC Radio 4

Take Four Books

5 Listeners

A Good Read by BBC Radio 4

A Good Read

42 Listeners