Uzo Aduba, Anohni, Javier Marias

A trio of acting stars including Sienna Miller on her new film High-Rise, which is based on J.G. Ballard’s 1975 dystopian novel of the same name. Uzo Aduba on getting her role in Orange Is The New Black on the same day she decided to give up acting, and taking to the stage in a new production of The Maids, Jean Genet’s play inspired by the true story of two maids who were sisters and murdered their employer; and Glenn Close on returning to the role of Norma Desmond in the musical Sunset Boulevard, 21 years after she last played the aging silent film star who refuses to accept her stardom has ended.

Also we hear two cultural stories from Malawi – a project called Loud Ink which addresses social issues through creative writing; and from the author, producer, and Grammy-Award winner Ian Brennan on travelling the world recording singers and musicians, and an album of music composed and performed by prisoners at the maximum-security Zomba Central Prison.

Plus, the award-winning Spanish novelist Javier Marias on his latest novel Thus Bad Begins which explores secrets, betrayal, and the nature of truth; pop music that pushes the boundaries from the singer-songwriter Anohni as she discusses her dance track Drone Bomb Me; comedian Susan Calman faces her fear of art galleries; and we consider the theory that the world is better in 3 second chunks.

(Photo: Left to right, Uzo Aduba (c) Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images, Anohni (c) Jo Hale/Getty Images, Javier Marias (c) Martin Schalk/Getty Images)