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Picasso Portraits, Phyllida Lloyd, Virtual reality in film, PUSH community opera

Phyllida Lloyd on her all-female cast of The Tempest, Mike Figgis on virtual reality, and PUSH, an opera inspired by the story of a boy pushed from a train bound for Auschwitz.

Christopher Frayling, Guest Curator of this year's Widescreen Weekend festival at the National Media Museum, and the filmmaker Mike Figgis, famed for his technologically ground-breaking films such as Timecode, discuss the possibilities of the latest cinematic evolution - Virtual Reality.

Samira hears from director Phyllida Lloyd about the final production in her trilogy of Shakespeare plays with all-female casts and set in a prison - The Tempest - with Harriet Walter playing Prospero and with Shakespeare's songs newly set by Joan Armatrading.

A new exhibition of Pablo Picasso's portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London is the first time in 20 years that so many of his representations of his family and friends have been brought together and, as the curator Prof Elizabeth Cowling explains, it reveals his wit, humour and passion as well as the extraordinary range of styles and media he employed during his life.

As a child Simon Gronowski was pushed from a moving train by his mother. Her actions saved his life as the train was bound for Auschwitz, where she died along with his sister. Now his extraordinary story has been transformed into an opera by composer and librettist Howard Moody, and is being performed as part of the ROOT 1066 festival in Hastings.

Presented by Samira Ahmed
Produced by Ella-mai Robey.

Available now

30 minutes

Chapters

  • Mike Figgis and Christopher Frayling

    Duration: 07:51

  • Phyllida Lloyd

    Duration: 07:19

  • Elizabeth Cowling

    Duration: 05:39

  • Howard Moody and Simon Gronowski

    Duration: 05:28

  • Rod Temperton

    Duration: 01:15

Widescreen Weekend Festival at the National Media Museum in Bradford from 13 – 16 October

Widescreen Weekend Festival  at the National Media Museum in Bradford from 13 – 16 October
Viewing Virtual Reality at the , Bradford 
Photo credit: National Media Museum

Phyllida Lloyd

Phyllida Lloyd

The Tempest is at the until 17 December

Harriet Walter (Brutus, King Henry IV, Prospero)

Photo credit: Helen Maybanks

PUSH/ A Community Opera, at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, 1 - 8 October

PUSH/ A Community Opera,  at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, 1 - 8 October

Photo credit: Indiana Hamilton-Brown

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Samira Ahmed
Interviewed Guest Christopher Frayling
Interviewed Guest Mike Figgis
Interviewed Guest Phyllida Lloyd
Interviewed Guest Elizabeth Cowling
Producer Ella-mai Robey

Broadcast

  • Wed 5 Oct 2016 19:15

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