Lily Allen's It’s Not Me, It’s You, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Spring Awakening

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Guests: Historian Kathryn Hughes Journalist Miranda Sawyer Poet Paul Farley The Curious Case of Benjamin Button In David Fincher’s film Fight Club, the lead character’s personality is so split he’s played by two actors. One of them, Brad Pitt, now plays the lead in Fincher’s new movie – the story of Benjamin Button, a man born elderly and condemned to die a baby. But did the panel feel themselves growing old as they watched this near three hour long life story in reverse? The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is on general release now, certificate 12A. Spring Awakening This 1895 play was long banned in both Britain and its native Germany for its explicit examination of teenage sexual longing and its brutal repression. Now, that repression bursts into song in a Broadway rock musical version of the play, recast for its London premiere with British performers. But over a century on, does this cry for sexual freedom sound rather outdated? Spring Awakening is at the Lyric Hammersmith in west London until 14 March. Personal ads: a window on the world As a new book sets out to explore the history of the personal ad and what light it can shed on the past, Tom and the panel apply this principle to today, poring over the personals in papers, magazines and online to find out what they have to tell us about how we live now. And they also offer us ads for themselves… Classified: The Secret History of the Personal Column is out now, published by Random House. Lily Allen: It’s Not Me, It’s You Lily Allen’s first album caught a wave, exploring her twentysomething life in London with engaging honesty. Now that her life is a lot less everyday, is the panel still keen to hear what she has to say? Meanwhile, the panel log on and watch an even newer star, Little Boots, perform her three minute pop songs in her bedroom online. Lily Allen’s album It’s Not Me, It’s You is out on Parlophone on 9 February. Little Boots’ EP is avaiable now. Altermodern Modernism begat Postmodernism…and now Postmodernism has begotten Altermodern – at least according to the curator of Tate Britain’s fourth Triennial exhibition. But does the panel detect a new movement in the assembly of contemporary art he’s put together, or more of the same? Altermodern is at the Tate Britain in London until 26 April.