大象传媒

Charles Byrne was an 18th-century 鈥淚rish giant鈥� whose skeleton was stolen and put on display against his wishes. 240 years after his death, he is being remembered in a new electro acoustic opera rather than as a museum-piece curiosity. Dawn Kemp of the Hunterian Museum discusses removing the famous skeleton from their collection, and composer, musician, and robotic artist Sarah Angliss tells us about her new opera, Giant, which celebrates Byrne on stage, and is opening the Aldeburgh Festival.

The Irish writer Maggie O鈥橣arrell鈥檚 last novel 鈥淗amnet鈥� is now playing on stage at the Globe Theatre and won the 2020 Women鈥檚 Prize for Fiction. Her latest 鈥淭he Marriage Portrait鈥� has made it onto the 2023 shortlist, and was an instant Sunday Times Bestseller. Both focus on the lives of women hidden in history behind men of influence. In the next of our series meeting the Women鈥檚 Prize finalists, we鈥檒l be finding out what it is about these stories that inspire her, and how it feels to make the shortlist for a second time.

It is commonly accepted, including here at Front Row, that creativity is a good thing. But two new books: Samuel. W. Franklin鈥檚 The Cult of Creativity and Against Creativity by Oli Mould, challenge that view, arguing that creativity is a recent invention and that the artistic impulse has been co-opted by the capitalist military industrial complex. Both authors discuss their ideas with Tom Sutcliffe.

Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe
Producer: Julian May