Programme Details

One of the biggest challenges for any theatre director is Shakespeare's Othello. How can the majesty of the main character be reconciled with his gullibility? How can Lago's scheming and cruelty be given a convincing human face? Declan Donnellan talks to Mary Allen about his new production of the play opening at the Riverside Studios in London.

On the other side of the Atlantic the re-designed Museum of Modern Art in New York is preparing to open its doors to the public. The art critic, Tim Marlow, reports from New York on the changes introduced by the Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi.

We have an exploration of how contemporary artists grapple with notions of divinity, as a new exhibition 100 Artists See God opens this week.

And we talk to the authors of Smoke: A Global History Of Smoking - Sander Gilman and Xun Zhou - on the power the practice has exerted not just on our bodies but also on our imaginations...

Night Waves, live at 9.30pm on BBC Radio 3.


Presenter:MaryAllen
Producer:ZahidWarley


Additional information:
1) Othello by Cheek by Jowl is at the Riverside Studios in London until December 4th
2) Smoke - A Global History of Smoking is published by Reaktion Books.
3) 100 Artists See God opens on Friday at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London and runs until January 5th 2005