27/01/2010

Available for over a year

Christopher Reid, who won the Costa Book Award yesterday, speaks to Mark Lawson about his winning collection of poetry A Scattering, which deals with the death of his wife. Football-star-turned actor Eric Cantona has made his stage debut in Face au Paradis (Facing Paradise) at the Theatre Marigny in Paris. He plays one of only two survivors who have been trapped in the basement of a collapsed supermarket. John Lichfield, The Independent newspaper's Paris correspondent, reviews the play. Composer George Benjamin celebrates his 50th birthday with a special concert in association with the London Sinfonietta. The programme includes a performance at the piano by Benjamin himself. Banned and jailed under Czech communism, rock band The Plastic People of the Universe helped to bring the regime down in 1989. Mark Lawson talks to members past and present and to playwright Tom Stoppard, whose play Rock 'n' Roll helped rekindle interest in the group.