The Duchess of Malfi, Went the Day Well?, Henry IV, Burma
Presented by Matthew Sweet. With a review of a new version of The Duchess of Malfi, the 1942 war film Went the Day Well?, Henry IV at the Globe, and government and society in Burma.
On Night Waves a review of the premiere of a new collaboration between the ENO and Punchdrunk theatre company, an operatic version of John Webster's bloody and violent play The Duchess of Malfi. Composed by Torsten Rasch and conducted by Stephen Higgins, this is Punchdrunk Artistic Director Felix Barrat's ENO debut. Described as "immersive opera", the show, commissioned by English National Opera, features the ENO orchestra and a cast of 17 performers and takes place in a vacant lot in London's Docklands. Susan Hitch reviews.
Matthew Sweet has been in Oxfordshire to look back at the British World War II film "Went the Day Well?" which is being re-released in cinemas. Frequently cited as one of the best war films ever made, and based on a short story by Graham Greene, "Went the Day Well?" tells the story of an English village which is invaded and occupied by German paratroopers. Created by Ealing Studios in 1942 it has come to be seen as one of the most interesting and effective pieces of unofficial wartime propaganda created in Britain.
As a new production of Henry IV Parts One and Two opens at The Globe theatre, writer and broadcaster Paul Allen joins Matthew Sweet to discuss the incarnations and enduring appeal of the character of Falstaff.
And the journalist Emma Larkin will be talking about government and society in Burma - ruled by what she describes as the world's most brutal dictatorship.