9 December 2005
Friday 9 December 2005 21:30-22:15 (Radio 3)
A review of the new RSC production of The Canterbury Tales - does it achieve the right balance of politics, pathos and pun?
Programme details
Tonight, Night Waves reviews a new production of The Canterbury Tales, which over the next year, will travel the country...including, of course, Canterbury itself. Matthew Sweet discovers whether this RSC production achieves the right balance of politics, pathos and pun.
Matthew also examines the explosion of cultural prize-giving and the impact it has on both the making and consumption of visual art, books and films. Are awards useful in helping us to pick out books and films we might like from the huge amount on offer or do they lead to an innate cultural conservatism? Matthew talks to the author of a new book exploring all this and more.
And if you thought that animal films were nothing other than conservative and cringeworthily cute, then think again. Film historian Mark Cousins argues that in radical ways they have changed the medium of film itself.
Further details:
1) Click here to view The Museum With No Frontiers' new 'Discover Islamic Art' Virtual Museum. The permanent collection is now open and there will be other themed exhibitions beginning next year.
2) Follow this link for further details on the RSC's Canterbury Tales production and information on the regional tour.
3) The Economy of Prestige by James English is published by Harvard University Press.
4) March of the Penguins is showing at cinemas now, Certificate U.
