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Episode details

Radio 4,17 Sep 2025,41 mins

Review Show: Ian McEwan's new novel and Small Acts of Love at Glasgow's Citizens Theatre

Front Row

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In our weekly review show, Kirsty Wark is joined by writer and critic Hannah McGill and writer and journalist Alan Taylor to discuss What Can We Know, the latest novel from Booker Prize winning writer Ian McEwan, an epic story set in a largely underwater Britain a hundred years in the future which touches on themes including climate change and great poetry. They also give their verdicts on Frances Poet's Small Acts of Love, a musical theatre production inspired by relationships formed across the Atlantic between victims of the Lockerbie disaster in December 1988. The production - a collaboration between the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow and the National Theatre of Scotland, and with songs by Deacon Blue's Ricky Ross, is the opening production in the newly refurbished 'Citz', a theatre which has played an important role in the city and also in the careers of the likes of Rupert Everett, Glenda Jackson and Miriam Margolyes, and which has just reopened after a major revamp. They also review The Girlfriend, a new psychological thriller from Amazon Prime, which stars Robin Wright as a possessive mother whose life begins to unravel when her son brings home a new partner she suspects is not all she seems. We also bring you the latest in our series of interviews with authors shortlisted for this year's BBC National Short Story Award, Colwill Brown. Presenter: Kirsty Wark Producer: Mark Crossan

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