Front Row

Laurie Sansom, the new Artistic Director of Northern Broadsides on his vision for the theatre company and what British theatre can learn from a small drama company operating across the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. Yesterday in Colorado, President Trump expressed his dismay at the success of the film Parasite at this year's Oscars. Instead he would have preferred the revival of films such Gone With The Wind and Sunset Boulevard. Professor Diane Roberts, a specialist in Southern culture, and the presenter of a Radio 4 Archive on 4 edition on Gone With The Wind, analyses the President's choices. In 1970, acclaimed composer and sitar player Ravi Shankar was commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra to write what would be his first concerto for sitar and orchestra. Fifty years on, as Jasdeep Singh Degun prepares for the premiere of his first concerto for sitar and orchestra, he discusses the appeal of bringing together different musical traditions. Living from the proceeds of one’s art is the dream of many artists but there’s a rising number of artists looking to create new business models for sustaining their careers. Jon Wakeman, Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of East Street Arts discusses why artists are getting into the hotel business. Presenter: Katie Popperwell Producer: Ekene Akalawu

Stephen Schwartz, composer and lyricist of Wicked and Godspell, on his spectacular new stage musical about Moses, The Prince of Egypt, based on the 1998 DreamWorks animation and featuring his hit song When You Believe. Leading costume designer and three-time Oscar winner Sandy Powell joins us in the studio. Not content with merely garnering BAFTA and Oscar nominations for her work this year on Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, Powell spent both ceremonies asking fellow nominees to sign her outfit, part of a fundraising campaign to help preserve Derek Jarman’s cottage in Dungeness. Powell worked with the director, writer and artist on several films and the suit she wore to the ceremonies will be auctioned as part of the appeal. Acclaimed Irish folk singer song writer Lisa O’Neill talks to John Wilson about the importance of traditional songs, storytelling and politics to her music, as she performs this week at “Imagining Ireland” at the Barbican in London, an event celebrating the groundswell of women’s voices in Irish literature, music and poetry. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Simon Richardson

George Mackay, star of BAFTA winning film 1917, talks about his latest, The True History of the Kelly Gang, inspired by Peter Carey's novel about Australia's most infamous outlaw, Ned Kelly. Iranian artist Shirin Neshat discusses her new exhibition Land of Dreams, which explores the experience of minorities in Trump’s America, and the fractious relationship between Iran and the US through photography and film. Earlier this month, Front Row announced our Risk List – the top ten riskiest artworks of the 21st Century. Jerry Springer - The Opera ranked 5th for its outrageous combination of trash TV with opera that garnered over 55,000 complaints when it was broadcast. Creator Richard Thomas talks about how attitudes to offence have changed since 2000, when the opera was first staged. Presenter: Samira Ahmed Producer: Timothy Prosser

Al Pacino and Logan Lerman discuss their roles in the new TV drama series Hunters. 'Inspired by true events' it's about a group of individuals in New York in the 1970s who tracked down a number of high-ranking former Nazi officials to bring them to justice. Pass Over is a new play which concentrates on the lives of two African-American men who live in constant fear of violence, not least at the hands of white police officers. New York-based playwright Antoinette Nwandu discusses the influence Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot had on her and the research into slavery which informed her play. End of the Century is an Argentinian film about two men who hook up with each other in Barcelona and then realise they have already met twenty years previously. The debut feature from Argentinian director Lucio Castro, it’s already been hailed by some as the best gay film of the year. Tim Robey reviews. Coronavirus has affected many individuals around the world. And the arts world is also subject to its consequences. Major arts events and vast international tours are being cancelled, postponed or rerouted to avoid the Far East. We explore the issues. Presenter: John Wilson Producer: Oliver Jones

This week the Sistine Chapel is unveiling ten tapestries by Raphael, to mark the 500th anniversary of artist’s death and now, for the first time since the 16th century, visitors can see them as they were intended to be displayed. Anna Somers Cocks, founding editor of The Art Newspaper, reports on their significance. In light of controversial decisions by the Turner and Booker Prize judges to split their awards among multiple entrants, alongside recent protests around representation at the Baftas and Oscars, the resignation of the French Cesar Academy board and the #MeToo scandal that forced the cancellation of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Literature, we ask what’s going wrong with modern arts prizes? Is there a crisis of authority in who is allowed to say what’s good or bad? Have we lost the ability to unite around a shared idea of excellence? To consider the issues Stig is joined by book critic Alex Clark and Karen Simecek, Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Warwick University. 24 Hour Party People director Michael Winterbottom discusses his new film Greed, starring Steve Coogan as a narcissistic British billionaire and fashion tycoon Sir Richard ‘Greedy’ McCreadie, whose star and power is fading. And, after Radio 4's A History of the World in 100 Objects Front Row presents The History of Art in 100 Limericks. Angus Reid, who wrote them, performs some. Presenter: Stig Abell Producer: Julian May