Main content

Fun Home, Portrayal of lesbians in drama, Caryl Phillips, Tate St Ives

News, reviews and interviews from the worlds of art, literature, film and music. A stage musical adaption of Alison Bechdel's autobiographical graphic novel, and Fun Home reviewed.

Winner of five Tony Awards, Fun Home is a ground-breaking new musical about a lesbian girl coming out, based on Alison Bechdel's autobiographical graphic novel. Briony Hanson reviews the UK premiere at London's Young Vic theatre.

Remarkably, Fun Home is the first Broadway musical with a lesbian protagonist. But are queer women underrepresented in drama in general? Briony is joined by theatre director Hannah Hauer-King to discuss the visibility and portrayal of lesbian characters in theatre, film and TV.

The latest novel by the prolific Caryl Phillips, A View of the Empire at Sunset, is a fictional account of the life of Jean Rhys, author of The Wide Sargasso Sea, who came from the West Indies to London in 1906 at the age of sixteen. Caryl Phillips discusses his fascination with Rhys, and how writing her life in this way allows him to observe the decline of the Empire.

Ahead of the announcement next week of the winner of the 拢100,000 Art Fund Museum of the Year 2018, we'll be reporting from each of the five shortlisted museums. Today we hear from Tate St Ives, which originally opened in 1993, but which re-opened to the public last year after two-year architectural extension.

Presenter: Kirsty Lang
Producer: Kate Bullivant.

Available now

30 minutes

Last on

Fri 29 Jun 2018 19:15
麻豆社 Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Japan Special: Ryuichi Sakomoto, Japanese Short Stories, Sou Fujimoto

Next

Maxine Peake, Gillian Lynne remembered, Whitney documentaries

See all episodes from Front Row

Chapters

  • Fun Home

    Duration: 06:44

  • Gay Women in Drama

    Duration: 07:13

  • Caryl Phillips

    Duration: 08:11

  • Tate St Ives

    Duration: 07:33

Fun Home

Fun Home

Zubin Varla, Brooke Haynes, Kaisa Hammarlund
Photo credit:聽 Marc Brenner

Fun Home is on at the
until 1 Sept

Main image:聽Kaisa Hammarlund and Brooke Haynes
Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Museum of the Year shortlist - Tate, St Ives

Museum of the Year shortlist - Tate, St Ives

Photo credit: Hufton and Crow

Caryl Phillips

Caryl Phillips
Caryl Phillips
Photo credit: Laurent Denimal

Caryl Phillips' book,聽A聽View of the Empire at聽Sunset, is available

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Lang
Interviewed Guest Briony Hanson
Interviewed Guest Hannah Hauer-King
Interviewed Guest Caryl Phillips
Interviewed Guest Jean Rhys
Producer Kate Bullivant

Broadcast

  • Fri 29 Jun 2018 19:15
    麻豆社 Radio 4

麻豆社 Arts Digital

The best of British culture live and on demand.

Inspire

Inspire

A season discovering where artists find inspiration and helping listeners get creative.

Podcast

  • Front Row

    Live magazine programme on the worlds of arts, literature, film, media and music