Yasmina Reza
Monday 17 March 2008 21:45-22:30 (Radio 3)
Matthew Sweet considers the work and influence of French playwright Yasmina Reza, the writer of Art, one of the biggest theatrical hits of the 1990s. Reza is in the public eye again with her new play The God of Carnage, about to open in London, as well as a recent controversial book about French president Nicholas Sarkozy, for which she was given intimate access.
Angela Ryan
Angela Ryan 
Courtesy of Chaz Royal for the London Burlesque Festival 2008.
Playlist
Under the Bombs
Matthew Sweet talks to Philippe Aracingi, who was in the Lebanon when the bombs started falling in 2006. Instead of running for cover, he ran for his camera and without script, producers or preparation he made the award winning new film Under the Bombs. It's a mixture of documentary and fiction, and tells in blistering detail the everyday hope and horror of the Middle East crisis.
Under the Bombs, certificate 15 opens on Friday 21 March
The God of Carnage
We hear a report from Susannah Clapp on the opening in Paris of The God of Carnage, a new play by one of the most important figures of European drama, Yazmina Reza, and starring one of the biggest names of European theatre, Isabelle Huppert.
The God of Carnage is playing at the Gielgud Theatre, London
Peter and the Wolf
As a new production of Peter and the Wolf opens in London we'll be looking at the cultural history of the Soviet Pioneers with experts Ian Christie and Catriona Kelly. Peter is perhaps the most famous, but the movement was championed by Lenin's wife, is being revived by Vladimir Putin and has been at the heart of Russian culture for over a century.
Burlesque
Matthew will be stepping into a tight basque and getting his tassels ready as we take a look ahead to the London Festival of Burlesque and talks to Susan Hitch and Catherine Hood about whether less sex is in fact more sex as we bump and grind into the 21st century.
The London Burlesque Festival 2008 runs from Wednesday 2 to Tuesday 6 April.
