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Summer Season of Guest Editors with Arabella Weir

Best-selling crime writer Val McDermid gives the Arts Show exclusive access to her study and writing process. Richard Wilson drops in ahead of new play, A Little Hotel on the Side.

Arabella Weir kicks off the Radio 2 Arts Show Summer Season of Guest Editors with special guests from the world of the arts including best selling crime writer Val McDermid who gives the Arts Show exclusive access to her study and her writing process

Actor and national treasure Richard Wilson takes time out from rehearsing his new play A Little Hotel On The Side in Bath

Award winning actress Hattie Morahan drops by ahead of the West End transfer of A Doll's House

Plus Peter Bradshaw has the latest film reviews; Emily Rhodes looks at the best summer reads; and Andy West rounds up the next seven days of arts news from around the country

The Radio 2 Arts Show Summer Season of Guest Editors continues next week with Stephen K Amos.

1 hour, 57 minutes

Music Played

  • Elton John & Kiki Dee

    Don't Go Breaking My Heart

    • Top Hits 1976.
    • Ö÷²¥´óÐã RECORDS.
    • RHINO R2-70671.
  • Eurythmics

    Love Is A Stranger

    • Electric Dreams.
    • POLYGRAM TV.
    • 525-436-2.
  • Eliza Doolittle

    Big When I Was Little

    • Big When I Was Little.
    • Parlophone.
    • 1.
  • Al Green

    How Can You Mend A Broken Heart

    • Platinum Soul Legends 1960 1975.
    • WARNER BROS.
    • WSMCD-100.
  • Josh Groban

    False Alarms

    • All That Echoes.
    • reprise records.
    • USRE11200628.
  • Fred Buscaglione And His Band

    Che Bambola

    • Danceables ot the Sixties.
    • Discomagic Drive.
    • 1994.
  • Bob Dylan

    I Want You

    • The Essential Bob Dylan.
    • COLUMBIA.
    • na-na.
  • The Coral

    In The Morning

    • In the Morning - CD Single.
    • Deltasonic Records.
    • DLTCDP-033.
  • Rod Stewart

    she makes me happy

    • Time.
    • Decca.
    • B00CK22L4O.
  • Marvin Gaye

    How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)

    • The Very Best Of Marvin Gaye.
    • UTV RECORDS.
    • 014 367-2.
  • Robin Thicke/T.I./Pharrell Williams

    Blurred Lines

    • CD Single.
    • Polydor.
    • US-UM7-13-02150.
  • Aretha Franklin

    Respect

    • Atlantic Gold.
    • WSM.
    • CD-191.

Richard Wilson talks about A Little Hotel on the Side,his new play

Richard Wilson talks about A Little Hotel  on the Side,his new play

Richard Wilson stars in the final production of the : A Little Hotel On The Side directed by Lindsay Posner and Cal McCrystal., adapted by John Mortimer.Ìý Set in 19th century Paris, Monsieur Pinglet and his neighbour’s wife, Marcelle, attempt to get their affair underway by discreetly taking a room at an obscure hotel. But far from the quiet evening of amour they had anticipated, they encounter half of Paris here, including most of their relatives and the Inspector of Public Morality

The comedy by Georges Feydeau and Maurice Désvallières will appear at Theatre Royal Bath from Thursday 15th August – Saturday 31st August.

Peter Bradshaw reviews latest films

Peter Bradshaw reviews latest films

1. The World's End

Director: Edgar Wright
Cast: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Rosamund Pike, Martin Freeman

In The World's End, 20 years after attempting an epic pub crawl, five childhood friends reunite when one of them becomes hellbent on trying the drinking marathon again. They are convinced to stage an encore by mate Gary King (Simon Pegg), a 40-year-old man trapped at the cigarette end of his teens, who drags his reluctant pals to their hometown and once again attempts to reach the fabled pub - The World's End. As they attempt to reconcile the past and present, they realise the real struggle is for the future, not just theirs but humankind's. Reaching The World's End is the least of their worries.

The World’s End is in cinemas now.

Ìý

2. Breathe In

Director: Drake Doremus
Cast: Guy Pearce, Felicity Jones, Amy Ryan, Kyle McLachlan

Music teacher, Keith, privately reminisces about his younger days as a starving artist while his wife, Megan, and daughter, Lauren, look forward to Lauren's final year of high school, by preparing for a coming British exchange student. The exchange stude, Sophie, settles in comfortably, but soon challenges the family dynamics. She encourages the impulsiveness of Keith's personality which ultimately pushes the seemingly perfect family into unfamiliar territory, altering their lives forever.

Breathe In is in cinemas now.Ìý

Ìý

3. Wadjda

Director: Haifaa Al-Mansour
Cast: Abdullrahman Algohani, Reem Abdullah, Waad Mohammed

Haifaa Al-Mansour’s debut film, Wadjda, about a 10-year-old girl living in Riyadh, who dreams of owning a green bicycle, is the first full-length feature shot entirely inside Saudi Arabia.
Although Wadjda lives in a conservative society, she’s a fun loving, free spirit. One day Wadjda sees a beautiful green bicycle for sale. But Wadjda's mother won't allow it, fearing the repercussions within their community. As a result Wadjda tries to raise the money herself. At first, Wadjda's mother is too preoccupied with convincing her husband not to take a second wife to realise what's going on. Just as she is losing hope of raising enough money, she hears of a cash prize for a Koran recitation competition at her school.

Wadjda is in cinemas now.

Ìý

4. Reality


Director: Matteo Garrone
Cast: Aniello Arena, Loredana Simioli, Nando Paone


Luciano is a charming fishmonger whose unexpected and sudden obsession with being a contestant on a reality show leads him down a rabbit hole of skewed perceptions and paranoia.

Reality is out on DVD and Blu ray now.

Ìý

Ìý

Hattie Morahan talks about reprising her role in A Doll's House

Hattie Morahan talks about reprising her role in A Doll's House

Henrick Ibsen’s A Doll’s House caused controversy when it premiered in 1879 for its take on women and marriage, and continues to cause heated debate. Carrie Cracknell’s critically acclaimed Young Vic production of A Doll’s House is about to transfer to the West End for a strictly limited 12 week run, andÌýHattie Morahan will reprise her award-winning role of Nora Helmer.Ìý TheÌýYoung Vic production of A Doll’s HouseÌýsoon to beÌýat the in London.

Val McDermid talks to Andy West about the Writer's Process

Val McDermid talks to Andy West about the Writer's Process

Val McDermid is one of the world’s best-selling authors, known for her chilling murder mysteries. She’s appearing at The Harrogate Crime Writing Festival this weekend alongside Mark Billingham, Brenda Blethyn, Lee Child and Radio 4’s Mark Lawson.

Val kindly agreed to allow arts show reporter Andy West behindÌýthe scenesÌýto record her daily writing routine. He went to Northumbria to meet the so-called ‘Queen of Crime’. whoÌýstartsÌýher working dayÌý…with a hot drink…


runs until Sunday evening.

Emily Rhodes reviews latest books

Emily Rhodes reviews latest books

1.ÌýBeware of Pity by Stefan Zweig

Hofmiller, an Austro-Hungarian cavalry officer stationed at the edge of the empire, is invited to a party at the home of a rich local landowner, a world away from the dreary routine of the barracks. The surroundings are glamorous, wine flows freely, and the exhilarated young Hofmiller asks his host’s lovely daughter for a dance, only to discover that sickness has left her painfully crippled. It is a minor blunder that will destroy his life, as pity and guilt gradually implicate him in a well-meaning but tragically wrongheaded plot to restore the unhappy invalid to health.

Beware of Pity by Stefan Zweig is published by Pushkin Press, available now

Ìý

2.ÌýIsland Summers: Memories of a Norwegian Childhood by Tilly Culme-Seymour.

The true story of three generations of women, and the tiny Norwegian island that became part of their lives. From the moment that Tilly’s grandmother, Mor-mor, set eyes on the rocky outline of Småhølmene, it captured her imagination. Legend has it that she bought the island in exchange for a mink coat. Her children spent their days running wild, thieving for gull eggs, rowing on the lagoon, and foraging for island raspberries, which Mor-mor would sandwich together with whipped cream to make into a sukkerkake. Thirty-five years later, Tilly spent her first summer on Småhølmene. Her Mamma kept up the rituals that she herself had learnt from Mor-mor, and Tilly discovered in the island a living link between her family’s past and its present.

Island Summers, Memories of a Norwegian Childhood by Tilly Culme-Seymour is out now, published by Bloomsbury, available now.

Ìý

3.ÌýRebecca by Daphne de Maurier

Working as a lady's companion, the heroine of Rebecca learns her place. Life begins to look very bleak until, on a trip to the South of France, she meets Maxim de Winter, a handsome widower whose sudden proposal of marriage takes her by surprise. She accepts, but whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to the ominous and brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory of his dead wife Rebecca is forever kept alive by the forbidding Mrs Danvers . . .


Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier is published by Virago, available everywhere

Andy West brings latest news from the Arts desk

Andy West brings latest news from the Arts desk

Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre in Chester.ÌýisÌýputting on three different plays at the same venue: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Othello and Cyrano de Bergerac.with the same cast performing all three plays. ÌýTomorrow afternoon it’s A Midsummer Night’s DreamÌýand Cyrano de Bergerac in the evening.

Ìý

International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, opening at the on the 27th July with the Pirates of Penzance and running until August 17th.

Ìý

°Â´Ç°ù³¦±ð²õ³Ù±ð°ù’s hosting the this weekend. The UK's first-ever non-competitive international youth singing festival will include 11 choirs from 10 different countries - Belgium, Poland, Spain, the Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, Hong Kong, Germany, Lithuania - and the UK. It runs until next Saturday.Ìý


The Junction in Hull is hosting an intriguing event called the many coloured days from tomorrow until Monday.ÌýÌýOpen the box, look inside and discover what's yours and mine. A fantastical realm will unfold around you: we'll dip into memories, delight the senses and shift back and forth in time.Music will be composed live during the performance.

Ìý

Blackpool.Ìý Aping the Beast, London-based British artist Serena Korda uses the staging of animal symbolism and folklore to explore questions of mimicry, spectacle, ritual and humour. The central work in the exhibition is a giant 15ft tall latex puppet dinosaur. It runs at the Blackpool Tower until the 3rd August.

Broadcast

  • Fri 19 Jul 2013 22:00