Arena (1975)
Season 1
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Wide-ranging arts program.
Where to Watch Season 1
300 Episodes
- Art and Design: The Illustrators: The Work of Mick Brownfield and Allan ManhaE36
Art and Design: The Illustrators: The Work of Mick Brownfield and Allan ManhaBritish illustrators Mick Brownfield and Allan Manham are documented working on their current projects; Artist Chris Orr probes the dreadful truth behind the net curtains of suburbia. - Theatre: The Cultural Common Market: Peter Stein and the SchaubuhneE51
Theatre: The Cultural Common Market: Peter Stein and the SchaubuhnePeter Stein, director of Die Schaubuhne theatre co-operative, comes to London with his Shakespeare Project. Includes extracts from 'Summerfolk' and 'Shakespeare's Memory'. - Art and Design: Family Pieces/Both Sides of the Line/The Divine and the FantasticE57
Art and Design: Family Pieces/Both Sides of the Line/The Divine and the FantasticPortrait painter Philip Sutton; Helmut Weissenborn, a German WWI soldier who illustrated with wood engravings the war diary of Edward Thomas, an English poet who died in WWI; and Gothic art in Cologne. - CinemaE64
CinemaMr Universe, the Crazy Horse Girls de Paris, Yum Yum Shaw, superstars with police escorts, topless bathing beauties-the Cannes Film Festival still sometimes seems more like a circus than a trade fair. But for all that, film people find it an indispensable fortnight in their calendar. More buying, selling and setting up of movies takes place in the jostling corridors of the Carlton Hotel in the last two weeks of May than anywhere else the rest of the year. A report on the business and the ballyhoo. - Theatre: Playwrights of the 70'sE65
Theatre: Playwrights of the 70'sIn the last ten years an astonishing number of new writers have emerged. Plays by Barrie Keeffe, John McGrath, David Hare, Howard Barker, Howard Brenton, Trevor Griffiths and Stephen Poli akoff have been performed at the Royal Court, the Aldwych, in the West End and at the National Theatre. The plays they write are about violence, sex and politics. How accurate and useful is their portrayal of society? What is the reason for their success? What are their own roots, influences and attitudes? In an extended Arena, writer and critic Albert Hunt assesses this renaissance of British playwrights, which has given the theatre of the 70s a distinctive voice. Including interviews with, and extracts of plays by: Howard Bren ton, Trevor Griffiths, David Hare, Barrie Keeffe and John McGrath. - CinemaE67
Cinemawith Gavin Millar returns for a new season after a visit to Hollywood, which despite rumours of slump and panic is still the unquestioned capital of the cinema world. We talked to one of its ruling princes, John Franken heimer, director of The Manchurian Candidate and Grand Prix, about his career in the Dream Factory, and especially his latest suspense thriller Black Sunday. - Cinema: The Force is with us?E81
Cinema: The Force is with us?Star Wars - the biggest and fastest money-maker in the history of the movies - has opened in Britain at last. What on earth - or in heaven - has caused the phenomenal success of this galactic romp-cum-morality tale? Gavin Millar talks to the producer Gary Kurtz , the designer John Barry and to Mark Hamill who plays the young hero Luke Sky-walker. - Art and Design: 'The Journey' or The Memoirs of a Self-Confessed SurrealistE82
Art and Design: 'The Journey' or The Memoirs of a Self-Confessed SurrealistGeorge Melly explores his lifelong relationship with surrealism in all its forms and prominent personalities; Henry Moore discusses Leonardo da Vinci's anatomical drawings. - Cinema: The Force is with us? - Part 2/Howard HawksE83
Cinema: The Force is with us? - Part 2/Howard HawksThe Force is with us? Star Wars - the biggest and fastest money-maker in the history of the movies - has opened in Britain at last. What on earth - or in heaven - has caused the phenomenal success of this galactic romp-cum-morality tale? Gavin Millar talks to the producer Gary Kurtz, the designer John Barry and to Mark Hamill who plays the young hero Luke. Howard Hawks died this Christmas. His career spanned the history of Hollywood. As well as designing and racing sports cars, motor-bikes and aeroplanes he wrote, directed and produced every kind of Hollywood movie. The Big Sleep, Red River, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Bringing up Baby are amongst the best examples of their genre. Gavin Millar talked to him at his home in Palm Springs just before his 80th birthday. - Theatre: ' But please, this is a farce! ' The story of The Cherry OrchardE84
Theatre: ' But please, this is a farce! ' The story of The Cherry OrchardBut please, this is a farce! ' The story of The Cherry Orchard CHEKHOV: '... It hasn't turned out a drama but as a comedy, in places even a farce.' STANISLAVSKY: ' ... I wept like a woman, I tried to control myself but I could not. I hear you say, " but please, this is a farce! " No, for the ordinary person, this is a tragedy.' With the advent of two major new productions of The Cherry Orchard, at the National Theatre and Riverside Studios, Arena: Theatre addresses itself to the recurring debate about Chekhov the ' comic' dramatist. - Cinema: Joseph ConradE85
Cinema: Joseph ConradA British film The Duellists starring Keith Carradine , Harvey Keitel and Albert Finney won the Special Jury Award at Cannes last year and it opened in London last week. It is a finely photographed period film set in the beautiful Dordogne but the most admirable thing about it may be that it is as faithful an adaptation of Conrad as any the screen has seen - and there have been many, from a 1926 silent version of Nostromo to Richard Brooks 's Lord Jim and Hitchcock's Sabotage. - Episode 99E99
Episode 99Last Saturday in the Francois Truffaut Season now running on BBC2, "L'Enfant Sauvage", one of his masterpieces, was shown. Set in 18th-century France it is about the attempts of a man of science to civilise a young boy brought up without parents in the wild. Gavin Millar talked to Francois Truffaut when the film was first released here in 1970. From his first film, "The Four Hundred Blows", which looks affectionately at the making of a young delinquent, to "Small Change", made a couple of years ago, his films have often had children at their centre. Gavin Millar also talks to Bill Douglas whose recently completed trilogy about a poor Scottish childhood, "My Childhood, My Ain Folk, My Way Home", is regarded by many as the most important contribution to the British cinema for years. - Vanessa RedgraveE100
Vanessa Redgrave'She is a creature of fire and light, her voice a golden gate opening on lapis lazuli hinges, her body a supple reed rippling in the breeze of her love. This is not acting at all but living, breathing, loving.' (Bernard Levin, Daily Express) The paragon thus described was Vanessa Redgrave. The performance, Rosalind in As You Like It The date was 1961. In recent years her skills as an actress have been somewhat overshadowed by the publicity surrounding her political activities. Now after an absence of five years Vanessa Redgrave returns to the English stage. This programme offers a rare opportunity to see her in rehearsal and performance in Ibsen's play The Lady from the Sea, and to hear her talk about her commitment to her acting career. With illustrations from her major roles including Jean Brodie, Rosalind, Isadora. Julia and her latest film Yanks. - Arena: CinemaE101
Arena: CinemaHooray for Hollywood? Gavin Millar talks to: Christopher Isherwood has been a Hollywood immigrant for 40 years and loved every minute of bis screenwriting career there. 'Thank goodness I had the sense to realise I wasn't the great genius prostituting myself.* Neil Simon (The' Goodbye Girl, The Cheap Detective) is a New York playwright who has chosen to live now in Hollywood. David Puttnam is the young English producer (Midnight Express) who has been in Hollywood only two years and is coming home. 'Leaving Los Angeles is Mke giving up heroin.' - Arena: CinemaE102
Arena: CinemaA new British film has its Royal Premiere tomorrow. It is an English period film and vividly demonstrates the high production values, quality and talent available in this country but which so rarely get the chance to reach our screens. The Thirty-nine Steps was originally a novel by John Buchan and has already been filmed twice, by HITCHCOCK in 1935, starring ROBERT DONAT , and by RALPH THOMAS in 1960, starring KENNETH MORE. Gavin Millar looks at the tradition from which it sprang. Plus a foretaste of one of the most interesting London Film Festivals ever. - Arena: CinemaE103
Arena: CinemaThis year's London Film Festival contained five entries from India. It's a reminder that we hardly see any of the output of the biggest film industry in the world. Gavin Millar reports from Bombay, including interviews with Satyajtt Ray , Shyam Benegal and two of India's heart-throbs, Shashi Kapoor and Parveen Babi. - Arena: The Museum of DrawersE104
Arena: The Museum of DrawersArena takes you on a guided tour of the smallest museum in the world - its 'curator', Swiss artist Herbert Distel, has transformed a small chest-of-drawers into a miniature museum. Originally used to store cotton reels, the Museum of Drawers now houses a collection to rival any major gallery - 500 original works contributed by many of the world's leading artists. Now and Then - Anthony Green Recently awarded the accolade of a one-man show at the Royal Academy. Anthony Green is one of the most original and approachable of all figurative painters working in Britain today. He paints his family - his wife, his two daughters, his mother, his stepfather, his French uncle and his aunts. In tonight's film Anthony Green looks back on the growth of his family and his painting since his first encounter with the BBC's cameras nearly ten years ago. - On PhotographyE105
On PhotographyFeaturing two of the greatest photographers of the 20th century Jacques Henri Lartigue began taking photographs at the age of seven in 1902. His celebrated Diary of a Century is a photographic record of his life from that time until the present day. This entrancing autobiography is a unique reflection of the passage of this century. 'Photography is a magic thing! Almost more enchanting and clear than the reality I was staring at.' Roman Vishniac a Russian Jew born in St Petersburg in 1897. His striking images of life in the Jewish ghettos-taken with a concealed camera just before the last world war-are extraordinary documents of a lost epoch, of a lost people. ' I returned again and again because I wanted to save their faces from the devastation of Hitler's Germany.' - Who is Poly Styrene?E108
Who is Poly Styrene?wo years ago Marion Elliott , a 20-year-old from Brixton, gave up working in Woolworths and became punk singer Poly Styrene. Having created her own plastic image, she formed a band, X-Ray Spex, and set about reflecting life in the synthetic 70s with songs like 1 The Day the World Turned Day-Glo' and ' Germ-Free Adolescents' 'Rock stars are disposable products, and I just wanted to send the whole thing up.' This film observes the differing worlds of MARION ELLIOTT and POLY STYRENE. - Athol Fugard: A Lesson from AloesE109
Athol Fugard: A Lesson from AloesAloe: a genus of plant indigenous to South Africa, noted for its ability to survive under the most adverse conditions. Athol Fugard is the author of such celebrated plays as The Blood Knot, The Island, and Sizwe Bansi is Dead. He is known throughout the world for his opposition to Apartheid, and, more importantly, for his determination to express these views through the theatre and within South Africa. Last month his latest play, A Lesson from Aloes, opened in Johannesburg. It was both written and directed by Fugard and Arena was there from the first day of rehearsals until the opening night. The film offers a unique insight into the evolution of a play and the remarkable tenacity of its author. - Arena: CinemaE110
Arena: CinemaAssault on Precinct 13 and Dark Star were two of the ' sleepers ' of the last two years - small-budget films from the USA that struck a chord right round the world. Their young writer/director John Car penter's third feature film Hal loween has opened in London. Gavin Millar interviews John Carpenter and star Donald Pleasence on location in Los Angeles. - Maler's Requiem - Words and ImagesE111
Maler's Requiem - Words and ImagesFibreglass carcasses, a flaming typewriter, and a troop of girl guides - each has been a -key ingredient in a work of art by Leopoldo Maler. Deliberately provocative, surprise and spectacle are key elements in Maler's work. How do the verbal images of poetry relate to the visual images of painting? Charles Tomlinson , one of England's finest poets, is also a painter. In this film he explores the landscapes, urban and natural, which have inspired his work. - Piaf AND What Did You Do in 'The Warp' Daddy?E112
Piaf AND What Did You Do in 'The Warp' Daddy?The sell-out success of this year's Royal Shakespeare season at Stratford is the musical play, Piaf. Jane Lapotaire, television's Marie Curie, has won universal critical acclaim for her performance as the great French singer. Tonight Jane Lapotaire talks about imitating the inimitable. What Did You Do in 'The Warp' Daddy? A cast of 50 actors and musicians playing over 200 parts were commandeered by Ken Campbell for his marathon production of The Warp at London's ICA. They were there to perform an epic cycle of ten plays running an uninterrupted 22 hours. Arena was there to witness the event and to film the cast prior to their collapse. - Other Writers Will Tell You Different and The Moving Picture Mime ShowE114
Other Writers Will Tell You Different and The Moving Picture Mime ShowOther Writers Will Tell You Different.... Lifers in prison cages, comedians in Hollywood, adolescents in the East End and female androids on the edge of the galaxy have all been subjects for Glasgow play-wright Tom McGrath in a career which started only in 1976. Arena profiles an original new talent. With extracts from The Hard Man and Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy. The Moving Picture Mime Show More like Tom and Jerry than Marcel Marceau , this highly unconventional group has attracted a cult following by combining traditional mime with their own fast-moving cartoon style. - Arena: CinemaE115
Arena: CinemaIsabelle Huppert is 23 - ' a stunning actress ', says Claude Chabrol ; 'Best Actress ' at Cannes in 1978 for Violette Noziere , the new Chabrol thriller. We talk to her in Paris. Alberta Hunter is 83, a classic blues singer who performs the soundtrack of Alan Rudolph 's Remember my Name. We catch her singing at The Cookery, New York. - UbuE116
UbuThe television premiere of GEOFF DUNBAR'S brilliant animation film. Based on ALFRED JARRY's notorious surrealist hero, Pere Ubu , it chronicles the rise to power of a kind of punk Macbeth, a lewd and unscrupulous despot with the mentality of a petit bourgeois and with absolutely no redeeming qualities. Ubu Roi was originally written by Jarry as a schoolboy in 1888 and eventually presented to an outraged public in 1896. For his version of the story Dunbar has invented a brutal and graphic style to recreate the explosive impact of Jarry's original production. - My WayE117
My WayQ. What do the following have in common? Frank Sinatra, Sid Vicious, Dorothy Squires, Barry John, Paul Anka, Lord George-Brown, Elvis Presley, Prof Wilfrid Mellers, Shirley Bassey, The Disapointer Sisters, The St Paul's School Choir, David Bowie, Claude Francois A. They are all doing it their way in tonight's Arena. "My Way" has become an anthem. It's been recorded over 140 times and for every artist who has put it on wax, countless others sing it in pubs, clubs and private homes. Arena investigates the appeal and staying power of a phenomenally popular song. "It was three o'clock in the morning in New York. It was pouring with rain, and it came to me: 'And now the end is near and so I face the final curtain ...'. And I said wow that's it, that's for Sinatra ... and then I cried." (Paul Anka) - Arena: CinemaE118
Arena: CinemaTwenty-three years ago Don Siegel made his famous horrorpic Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Now there is a new Invasion, even more chilling than the original; make-up effects by the man who dreamed up the aliens in Close Encounters, special sound effects by the man who ' voiced' R2D2 in Star Wars. Gavin Millar talks to star. - La Dame aux GladiolasE119
La Dame aux GladiolasArena presents The Agony and the Ecstasy of Edna Everage In this, the first-ever exclusive Arts Documentary about a living legend, our cameras probe and etch the enigma which is Dame Edna. Meet her in the privacy of her fabulously appointed penthouse suite atop the Dorchester Hotel, London, W1. Witness the fabled finale of her current West End hit, A Night with Dame Edna. Visit her Melbourne home suburb, Moonee Ponds, now a national monument... and suffer with her the tears, terror and triumph as she claws her way to the top. Dame Edna talks fearlessly about her fame, her wealth and her humility, whilst wearing no less than ten unique couturier-simulated gowns. And much, much more. Dame Edna Everage is a division of the Barry Humphries group. - 'Let Us Now Praise Famous Men ': Alabama 40 Years OnE120
'Let Us Now Praise Famous Men ': Alabama 40 Years OnAt the height of the American depression in the summer of 1936, t writer JAMES AGEE and photographer WALKER EVANS travelled south to Alabama. There they lived with a family of poor-white farmers recording their daily lives in intimate detail. What finally emerged was an extraordinary and personal account of deprivation and poverty. The book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men has become a classic. More than 40 years later Arena returned to Alabama, in the foot-steps of Agee and Evans, to trace the survivors of that original family. - Arena: CinemaE121
Arena: Cinemawith Gavin Millar. Everybody knows about Kung Fu, Run Run Shaw and Bruce Lee. They probably know less about the young film-makers who are trying to get a few of Hong Kong's more pressing problems on to the screen: over-crowding, poverty, refugees, and worries about China. There are, too, the glamorous invaders from Hollywood who see Hong Kong as another exotic backdrop where two hearts might beat as one. Candice Bergen has been there starring in Oliver's Story, the sequel to Love Story. Where's the real Hong Kong gone? ' she asks. - Tell Us the TruthE122
Tell Us the TruthRock band Sham 69 have a large and loyal following of working-class kids, who call themselves 'The Sham Army'. They have a reputation for causing trouble and Sham concerts have often been disrupted and brought to an end by fighting. Jimmy Pursey, the lead singer, has struggled to prevent these outbreaks but the violent and conflicting passions aroused at Sham concerts have placed him in an increasingly difficult position. sham's latest album That's Life portrays the pressures that face the kids who follow the band. Arena this week re-creates scenes from that album and follows the story of one Sham concert which threatened to explode. - The King and I AND Journey to the Surface of the EarthE123
The King and I AND Journey to the Surface of the EarthThe King and I For David Oxtoby, Elvis is king. He's been painting rock 'n' roll stars since the 50s, much to the bemusement of the art establishment. Most of the paintings in this film-of Presley, Haley, Gene Vincent etc - were stolen and subsequently burnt by Italian bandits and so Arena presents a unique chance to view the work of this entertaining but ill-starred artist. Journey to the Surface of the Earth Last year the artist Mark Boyle attained the singular distinction of occupying the entire British pavilion at the Venice Biennale astonishing visitors with a Sardinian mountainside, a ploughed field and a Liverpool pavement. Since pioneering light shows with Jimi Hendrix and the Soft Machine he has devoted his life to travelling the world, recreating with uncanny accuracy six-foot-square replicas of the Earth's surface. - Steel PulseE125
Steel PulseA film about the popular reggae band Steel Pulse, Whose highly successful debut album ' Handsworth Revolution' launched them last summer on the road to fame. Although their roots are in Jamaica STEEL PULSE is very much an indigenous British band. ' If you are a Black man born here there's no way you are going to get that Jamaican feel. We are putting over the feelings of the Black kids here about the trouble that is going to come.' - Ring Around the MoonE126
Ring Around the MoonThe Paintings of Kit Williams Inspired by the landscape, the wildlife and by his village neighbours, artist Kit Williams conjures up in his paintings a vivid folk-lore of his own. In tonight's Arena, this magical world comes alive in a Gloucestershire valley. - Pictures of the MindE127
Pictures of the MindOne in six people in Britain will spend some time in a mental hospital. For 50 years, painting or drawing have provided an important key to the problems of the mentally ill. This Arena film presents some of the extraordinary and moving pictures of the mind produced in Europe since the war. - Six Days in SeptemberE128
Six Days in SeptemberJohn Hoyland is reckoned by many both here and abroad to be this country's finest abstract painter. A key figure for younger artists and critics, he has been both loved and hated to excess. As a major retrospective of his work opens in London, here is a film that stays close to the artist during six days when he faces hostile criticism, starts a new painting and explains why, in bleaker moments, painting can seem ' like flicking away in a corner with a feather duster '. - Building for ChangeE129
Building for ChangeArena presents a profile of Richard Rogers, one of the most original and controversial talents in architecture today. It was Rogers, together with his Italian partner RENZO PIANO , who created the spectacular Beaubourg Arts Centre in Paris. Described variously as 'art hanger', oil refinery', 'cultural colossus ' - it looks like a giant meccano set, a bizarre and brightly coloured building rising out of the heart of traditional Paris streets. It caused a furore when first unveiled, but has now brought new life to the area, and attracts as many as 50,000 visitors a day, even more than Disneyland! British architect Rogers has now returned to England to embark on even more ambitious projects - startling new home for one of Britain's oldest institutions, Lloyds of London, and a huge and much-debated scheme to enliven London's South Bank, the Coin Street Project. - Athol Fugard A Lesson from AloesE130
Athol Fugard A Lesson from AloesAthol Fugard is the author of such celebrated plays as The Blood-knot, The Island and Sizwe Bansi is Dead. He is known throughout the world for his opposition to apartheid and for his determination to express these views through the theatre and within South Africa. Last year his latest play, A Lesson from Aloes, opened in Johannesburg. It was both written and directed by Fugard and Arena was there to follow its progress from the first day of rehearsal until the opening night. The film offers a unique insight into the evolution of a play and the remarkable tenacity of its author. - Lene Lovich Sleeping BeautyE131
Lene Lovich Sleeping BeautyFormerly a professional screamer in horror films, a belly-dancer in the Middle East, Lene Lovich has now emerged as one of the most original performers in rock music -aided and abetted by a bizarre appearance and an extraordinary vocal range. Arena travels with Lene and her constant companion Les on a journey to Berlin. - Mentioned in DispatchesE132
Mentioned in DispatchesArena presents the extraordinary story of Tim Page, war photographer and Vietnam legend-a tale first told in MICHAEL HERR'S celebrated book about Vietnam, Dispatches. 'People made Page sound crazy and ambitious, like the Sixties Kid, a stone-cold freak in a country where the madness raced up the hills and into the jungles ... he'd picked up a camera the way you or I would pick up a ticket, but he would go places for pictures that very few other photographers were going.' Page was wounded four times in Vietnam. The fourth and final time, he was logged ' dead on arrival'. But he survived against all the odds. Tonight he tells his story. - Isaac Singer's Nightmare and Mrs Pupko's BeardE133
Isaac Singer's Nightmare and Mrs Pupko's BeardArena presents a hilarious and touching portrait of the great Yiddish writer Isaac Bashevis Singer, filmed on location in Brooklyn, New York, and featuring friends, relatives and other ' odd-balls '. 'I wouldn't say that Yiddish is dead, neither would I say that Yiddish is blooming. I would say that Yiddish is sick. But in our history, between being sick and dying is a long, long way... - Peggy Taub, the Learned Goat and Other People ...E134
Peggy Taub, the Learned Goat and Other People ...This week Arena features two highly-individual women artists. Peggy Taub has always wanted to sculpt like the classic Greeks. But whenever she leans over the clay bin an animal head appears. An American writer and artist who now lives in London, Peggy Taub's work centres on the belief that the main difference between people and animals 'lies in the placement of the ears'. Thalma Goldman We look at the work of one of the most original artist-animators around today. Her latest film Stanley has just been nominated as Britain's entry to the Berlin Film Festival. Plus a 'commercial break' with news of current exhibitions in the arts. - Bring Me Back a SongE135
Bring Me Back a SongIrish folk music is one of the oldest unbroken cultural traditions in Europe. As the Sense of Ireland festival of arts comes to London, Arena presents some of the finest Irish musicians of today. In tonight's programme the Bothy Band and Planxty - two of the best folk groups of recent years - play and sing with their families and friends on location in Dublin and on the west coast of Ireland. - ' I talk about me - I am Africa'E136
' I talk about me - I am Africa'The growth of black consciousness through the 1970s has produced an explosion of original new theatre in black South Africa. At a secret performance in the backyard of a Soweto shop, a radical poet recites his banned work accompanied by drums and songs. In a ghetto hall, two men in chains portray their escape from prison and their dream of liberation - a dream that is shattered by the grim reality of working in Johan nesburg 's mines ' 6,000 feet underground ... in the dusty caves of gold '. And the women of Crossroads shanty town re-enact their fight with the police and the bulldozers which have harassed them for years. Tonight's film investigates the remarkable emergence of a vivid and defiant theatrical life. - Rudies Come Back or The Rise and Rise of 2-ToneE137
Rudies Come Back or The Rise and Rise of 2-ToneAdrian Thrills investigates a new and exhilarating musical blend which is taking the country by storm. 2-tone is a unique mix of music, fusing together reggae, rock, soul, ska, blue beat and punk. With its home in Coventry and its roots in reggae, it derives its name and identity from the co-existence of its black and white members. Tonight's film features The Specials and The Selecter, the founders of the 2-tone sound. - Working At ItE138
Working At ItA profile of Liverpool playwright Alan Bleasdale With two new productions packing them in, in the North of England, ALAN BLEASDALE continues to build on the popular success of his TV plays The Black Stuff and Scully's New Year's Eve. Arena looks at the people and places - the tarmac gang, the school, the hospital and the docks around which he has woven his plays. 'I didn't know what a proscenium arch was till I was into my fourth play ... I'm writing about people and emotions, people at work, people in conflict ... I suppose I'm really writing about " laughter and tears ".' - Victoria Wood and Andrea DunbarE139
Victoria Wood and Andrea DunbarAs prizewinning writer/performer Victoria Wood opens in her latest play, Good Fun, Arena looks at her talent to amuse through her witty and engaging songs. And we profile teenage playwright Andrea Dunbar, whose remarkable first play, The Arbor, is now running at the Royal Court. Written when she was only 15, it draws on her own experience as a schoolgirl mother. - Climb Every Mountain or Nothing Succeeds Like FailureE140
Climb Every Mountain or Nothing Succeeds Like Failure"Failure can be fun' is the motto of self-confessed failures David McGillivray and Stephen Pile (above-if RADIO TIMES had only been able to take a picture of him). McGillivray was commissioned to write a book about failure but failed to write it; Pile's Book of Heroic Failures has got into the best-sellers list. This unlucky break has resulted in Pile being thrown out of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain, which he founded. Among others they meet-GEOFF O'NEILL, author of 519 unpublished songs; MIRIAM HARGRAVE , veteran of 39 driving tests; LT-CDR BILL BOAKS , who has lost his deposit at 21 by-elections, and JAN TAIGEN , who scored no points whatsoever in the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest. Reginald Bosanquet will be reading from the Book of Heroic Failures. - Double VisionE141
Double VisionThe story of an unusual collaboration between rock musician Brian Eno and artist illustrator Russell Mills. The 65 works in Russell Mills' new series of paintings provide a remarkable visual counterpoint for 38 of Brian Eno's songs. It's a project they have both pursued obsessively for over seven years. 'I see myself,' says Mills, 'as a kind of explorer. Given the music and lyrics as a starting point, I set off into alien territory in search of a visual solution to the songs.' plus Rainbow Hughes Painter Patrick Hughes pursues rainbows in St Ives, in search of visual puns, paradoxes and jokes. - Dedicated Followers of FashionE142
Dedicated Followers of Fashionfeaturing "Where Did You Get That Hat?" The outrageous hats of designer David Shilling, modelled by his mother Gertrude - doyenne of Ascot Day... "One Ascot I wore a Christmas tree hat with lots of glass balls on - the same one I wore when I was elected Oddball of the Year by the Export Clothing Federation." and "Seams Like A Dream" A bizarre musical entertainment from 'Swankey Modes'. Mel, Judy, Esmé and Willie - four girls who have created a unique fashion house in a corner shop in Camden Town launch their new collection in a most unusual way... - Luck and FlawE143
Luck and FlawOne after another mighty politicians have fallen victim to the savage caricatures of Peter Fluck and Roger Law , better known as Luck and Flaw. Among their most memorable targets are Henry Kissinger as the Statue of Liberty, Jeremy Thorpe as Saint Sebastian and Keith Joseph as Dracula. Uncannily modelled in plasticine, the victims are then photographed for magazines and newspapers all over the world. The results are bizarre, witty and unapologetically extreme. - In Their Own Image AND Facing Up to MyselfE144
In Their Own Image AND Facing Up to MyselfIn Their Own Image Two women photographers turn the camera on themselves ... Time Release For over a year Linda Benedict -Jones photographed herself, by using the time release on her Pentax camera. The results-studies in and out of doors, at home, in hospital, in the bath and in the bedroom - provide a witty and sometimes poignant self-portrait of this extremely talented photographer. Facing Up to Myself At the age of 40, having spent most of her working life photographing other people for a liv ing, Jo Spence began to have serious doubts about what she was doing and why. Overnight she stopped taking photographs altogether and turned instead to an exploration of her own image as seen by others - snapshots of herself from the family album. It began as a kind of therapy and ended as an exhibition called Beyond the Family Album, which Jo Spence hopes will help others to see beyond the smiling images in their own family albums. - Making 'The Shining'E145
Making 'The Shining'Stanley Kubrick's long-awaited film The Shining opens in London this week and throughout the country from tomorrow. To mark the event Arena offers a unique opportunity to eavesdrop on the set of the legendary but elusive film director. Kubrick's youngest daughter Vivian, having obtained her father's reluctant consent, was on location throughout the filming armed with an Aaton camera and a miniature tape recorder. The result is some unusually candid scenes of the director at work with his stars - Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. - Dire StraitsE146
Dire StraitsNot so long ago they were playing in London pubs. This week - 16 platinum discs, 21 gold and a triumphant world tour later, Dire Straits return to the London stage. Tonight's Arena film features the superb concert they played on their last visit to The Rainbow, and band members talk about their music and the pressures and consequences of their astonishing success. - Chelsea HotelE147
Chelsea HotelIt was in the Chelsea Hotel, New York, that Bob Dylan wrote 'Sad-eyed lady of the lowlands', Andy Warhol filmed Chelsea Girls and Dylan Thomas drank himself to death. For 100 years the Chelsea has been a legendary haven for artists and performers from Mark Twain to Sid Vicious. Tonight Arena explores the brilliant and eccentric worlds created behind the drab brown doors of the Chelsea's apartments. Andy Warhol and William Burroughs have dinner in the room where Arthur C. Clarke wrote 2001; Virgil Thomson, doyen of American composers, reveals the truth about Alice B. Toklas and those famous cookie cakes; Quentin Crisp recalls moving in to 'the place where the great stylists have lived'; Nico, star of the Velvet Underground, sings 'Chelsea girls'; George Kleinsinger, composer of Tubby the Tuba plays a waltz for his turtle... and painter Alpheus Cole reflects on being 104 years old. - Hazell Meets His MakersE148
Hazell Meets His MakersArena eavesdrops on the writing of a new adventure for James Hazell , popular cockney private eye. He is the creation of Terry Venables , manager of Queen's Park Rangers, and Gordon Wil liams, author of Straw Dogs. Now the TV series has ended, who, after NICHOLAS BALL , could Possibly take over the part? Both authors have definite ideas about how their hero should be portrayed. In tonight's film John Bindon and Michael Elphick try out the role ... and indulge in a little eavesdropping of their own. - Getting Away from SidneyE149
Getting Away from Sidney' Uncle Sidney' is the kindly old soul in charge of an institute for the disabled: he tucks them up at night and keeps them supplied with back numbers of the Reader's Digest. But, his crippled charges have had enough of him, and Side-show, the Graeae Theatre Company's highly successful play, tells the story of their escape. Arena marks the International Year of the Disabled with a profile of this extraordinary company of disabled actors. - Private WorldsE150
Private WorldsThis week two genuinely, original English artists introduce you to their work: Sam Smith , whose impeccably carved and printed wooden models evoke an Edwardian childhood - obsessed with the sea, the circus and the fairground; and Chris Orr , artist and illustrator, whose witty, crowded drawings penetrate behind the discreet net curtains of suburbia. Plus the ' commercial break ', with news of current exhibitions in the arts. - Today Carshalton Beaches ... Tomorrow CroydonE151
Today Carshalton Beaches ... Tomorrow CroydonArena investigates the grass-roots of rock today with John Peel and John Walters ' When the punk thing started, the whole process of making records, and music as well, was demystified ... Now everybody seems to have a home tape-recorder and a group. They make a tape and they send it to us.' (JOHN PEEL) John Peel's radio show provides a unique platform for the thousands of groups who have been making music entirely outside the big business of the record industry. Tonight's programme does not begin in a 36-track recording studio in Los Angeles but in a bedroom in Carshalton Beeches, a tasteful suburb just outside Croydon. featuring The Nightingales from Birmingham; The Liggers from Manchester; The Skids from Dunfermline and introducing, from Carshalton Beeches, Move to India - Edward HopperE152
Edward HopperArena marks a major retrospective exhibition at London's Hayward Gallery with a film about the great American realist painter EDWARD HOPPER. His subject is the face of America - haunting, unforgettable images of late-night bars, lonely hotel rooms, sunlit buildings and isolated figures. Through them we glimpse an aspect of America, austere and un-idealised, which we now recognise as familiar. But Hopper was not a recorder of externals. ' I believe that the great painters have attempted to force this unwilling medium of paint and canvas into a record of their emotions . - StagesE153
StagesFor the past ten years Peter Brook and his unique company of actors have travelled the world with a series of extraordinary theatrical ventures. The last stage of their journey was Australia. Here, in a disused quarry in the hills above Adelaide they perform some of their most popular plays, and a remarkable meeting takes place with tribal Aboriginal performers who have travelled 1,000 miles to see a production of The Ik. This story, of the breakdown of a traditional tribal community, provides a moving parallel to the problems faced by the Aborigines themselves. - The Smallest TheatreE154
The Smallest TheatreTonight, from a converted cowshed in the wilds of Scotland, Arena presents The Smallest Theatre in Great Britain. Immortalised in the Guinness Book of Records, Barrie and Marianne Hesketh have for the past 17 years been the sole designers, directors and cast for every production, including their famous two-man version of The Tempest. It seems nothing is impossible, ' although - Huston's HobbyE155
Huston's HobbyThere were these five guys round the table: the Lightweight Boxing Champion of California; an expert on Pre-Columbian art; an honorary lieutenant in the Mexican army; an architect admired by Frank Lloyd Wright ; and a man of whom Marilyn Monroe said, ' No woman can be around him for long without falling in love'. What had they in common? They were all JOHN HUSTON , who also happened to direct The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, The Misfits and 25 others. At the age of 74 he started work last week on the$30-million screen version of Annie. Gavin Millar visited him at his Mexican hideaway to mark the publication of his autobiography An Open Book. - A Walk with Amos OzE156
A Walk with Amos Oz' Marching the streets of Jerusalem in 67, carrying a sub-machine-gun, I was in an absurd way acting out the role reserved* for the Arabs in my childhood nightmares. For the life of me, I don't want the Palestinian Arabs to become the Jews of the Jews.' The leading writer of his generation, Amos Oz is one of the most controversial figures in Israel today. Born in the fanatical atmosphere of Jerusalem in the last years of the British Mandate, he grew up with the Israeli state through the War of Independence and Suez. Arena filmed AMOS OZ in Jerusalem; he takes a walk through 30 years of Israel's history and talks about the fears and aspirations of a new generation of Israelis. - God's Fifth ColumnistE157
God's Fifth Columnist"I don't go out much these days, and when I do I find life infinitely dreary compared to my books..." William Gerhardie, who died at the age of 82 in 1977, was a legend in the world of letters. Born of English parents in Imperial Russia, he was reluctantly 'discovered' with his hugely acclaimed first novel "Futility", written at the age of 26. He was destined, however, to remain a prodigy. Despite the great success of his next novel, "The Polyglots", he lived out the rest of his life in a small London flat and busy obscurity. The remarkable book he was working on much of this time - "God's Fifth Column" was published this month. To mark the event, Michael Holroyd discusses Gerhardie's life and work and introduces a fascinating film portrait made by the BBC ten years ago. - Did You Miss Me ...?E158
Did You Miss Me ...?' It suddenly dawned on me that I was absolutely broke, completely and utterly. I didn't have a penny in the world ... this was where fame was cruel.' (GARY GLITTER) Five years ago Gary Glitter announced his retirement - unfortunately the world took him at his word. Once he lived the life of a millionaire in a Sussex mansion, now he lives in Earls Court, hopelessly in debt. But the man who seemed to be just another in a long line of rock casualties has returned in triumph, welcomed back from the scrapheap by the punk generation for whom he's an idol and a legend. - The Return of Lupino LaneE159
The Return of Lupino LaneLupino Lane , the man who made ' The Lambeth Walk ' famous, was a comic who once rivalled Chaplin and Keaton. With the advent of the talkies, his small studio folded and all the negatives of over 40 films were destroyed. After years of painstaking research film historian Philip Jenkinson has managed to track down and restore 14 of the original films. Tonight's programme picks out some of the best moments from the lost legacy of Lupino Lane. - The Comic Strip HeroE160
The Comic Strip HeroThis week Arena patrols the skies above Metropolis in search of the legend that is SUPERMAN ... Meet Kirk Alyn , the first celluloid-Superman and Christopher Reeve the latest; Dr Fredric Wertham , Superman's greatest living adversary; Joanne, the model for Lois Lane ; Dave ' Darth Vader ' Prowse, who turned a 13-stone weakling into The Man of Steel and, for the first time on British television, Superman's creators, the legendary Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. - Arena on ClairE161
Arena on ClairClair thought of himself as a screenwriter as well as a director. He put his stamp on French screen comedy in the 20s and 30s with such classics as The Italian Straw Hat , Sous les toits de Paris, Le Million and Le quatorze juillet, all of which he wrote or adapted himself. When the war came he went to Hollywood, but, like so many other Europeans used to a personal cinema, found their methods strange. He returned to France after the war, and Le silence est d'or, Les Belles de nuit and Porte des Lilas - about his beloved Paris -showed all his old command of sentimental irony. Gavin Millar talks to colleagues and stars who worked with him: Leslie Caron , Gina Lollobrigida , Jean-Pierre Cassel , directors Claude Autant-Lara and Michel Boisrond. With extracts from 40 years of his films. - Somewhere Over the RainbowE162
Somewhere Over the RainbowAs a child, trapped in a crazy Jewish household in a poor Chicago tenement, the American artist Robert Natkin had to find a way to change his life. His imagination was engulfed by movies from Fred Astaire to The Wizard of Oz, and by the vast collection of modern European paintings at the Chicago Institute. In Life magazine he read an article on Jackson Pollock and realised ' even a schmuck like me can become an artist' This film is about some of the paradoxes of his success, about how and why he paints the way he does and why the English critic Peter Fuller , author of a recent provocative book on Art and Psychoanalysis, thinks these particular abstract paintings matter, - If the Music Had to StopE163
If the Music Had to StopBritain's musical reputation is second to none, and depends ultimately on an exceptional tradition of youth orchestras. The educational ideals which underlie this tradition are exemplified in Leicestershire. Here, for the past 30 years, music and art have been central to school curricula; consequently, children of all backgrounds have had the opportunity to pursue a musical career. The present cuts threaten this unique tradition. - Curtains? The Future of the National Youth TheatreE164
Curtains? The Future of the National Youth TheatreDerek Jacobi, Helen Mirren, Martin Jarvis, playwrights Peter Terson and Barrie Keefe - all products of the National Youth theatre, a unique organisation, which every summer brings 600 Young amateurs to London to work on new productions and present them to West End audiences. Over the years it has introduced actors like David Hemmings and Simon Ward, encouraged young playwrights and won praise around the world. In two days' time, the NYT opens its 25th anniversary season. But last December it seemed that this, the biggest season ever, might be the last - the Arts Council canceled the Youth Theatre's grant. Tonight's programme examines the issues behind the cut, charts the company's struggle to survive and outlines its history with the help of Sir Ralph Richardson, Kate Adie, Martin Jarvis, Peter Terson and Helen Mirren. - The Cinema of Andrzej WajdaE165
The Cinema of Andrzej WajdaFor 25 years the Polish film director ADRZEJ WAJDA has been making some of the most exciting and boldly critical films in Eastern Europe. He was filmed in Warsaw and Cracow shortly after he had returned from the Cannes Film Festival, where he won the Palm d'Or. How has he managed, in a long career in film and theatre, not to be silenced by censorship? How does he view his films, and his obsession with Polish history, in the urgent mood of today? From the post-war disillusion and despair of Ashes and Diamonds in 1958 to Man of Iron, which centres on the days of hope in the Cdansk shipyards last year, Wajda looks back on his career as a film-maker, and questions some of- the attitudes of his times. - 'I Thought I Was Taller' A Short History of Mel BrooksE166
'I Thought I Was Taller' A Short History of Mel BrooksFrom Brooklyn to Beverly Hills - the life and times of a great comic film director. Tonight on BBC2 Mel Brooks , creator of Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein , and The Producers, reveals practically everything. Filmed on location in Hollywood with Gene Wilder , Dom deluise , Sid Caesar and Mr Brooks 's lawyer. - Have You Seen the Mona Lisa...?E167
Have You Seen the Mona Lisa...?She is two-and-a-half feet tall and nearly 500 years old. She hangs in The Louvre behind plate-glass - an unsigned, undated portrait of a smiling woman, the most idolised and abused woman in the history of art. She can be found in The Louvre, on the pavement in Buckingham Palace Road, on Doctor Who and on biscuit tins ... There's only one Mona Lisa but she's everywhere. Tonight Arena looks behind the Gioconda smile... - Let Them Know We're HereE168
Let Them Know We're HereWhen JOINT STOCK began their latest project four months ago, they had a writer but no script, actors but no roles. Borderline, by award-winning young play-wright Hanif Kureishi, finally emerged out of the remarkable working process unique to the Joint Stock company. Kureishi wanted to write a play about the problems faced by the Asian community in Britain, and his final script was the result of research, workshops and improvisation involving the whole company-writer, director and actors. They began the project in Southall just before the riots earlier this year, meeting the local people and finding out about their lives first hand. Arena was with them throughout that period, from original idea to the first programme. - A Pretty British AffairE169
A Pretty British AffairOnly a short while ago Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were forgotten names in cinema history. Now, some of the greatest film-makers in the world are their ardent fans. Arena tells the story of two men who confronted the complacency and parochialism of the British cinema with a series of brilliant, subversive and often mystifying films. The Red Shoes, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Black Narcissus , A Matter of Life and Death-film classics which only now have gained the recognition they deserve. Twenty-five years after their last film together, Powell and Pressburger have received the accolade of the fellowship of the British film academy. They tell their story to Gavin Millar with contributions from Francis Ford Coppola in Los Angeles, and Martin Scorsese on location in New York. - The Art of Radio Times AND The Eye of the 'Eye'E170
The Art of Radio Times AND The Eye of the 'Eye'This week, a total contrast in visual style-the art of RADIO TIMES and the jaundiced eye of Private Eye. The Art of Radio Times: Since 1923, the 'official organ' of the BBC has been a leader in design and illustration. Among its contributors: Nash, Whistler and Ardizzone. Arena raids the archives and visits the legendary Eric Fraser , a regular contributor for 55 years. The Eye of the ' Eye ': Twenty years ago Lord Gnome's private organ pioneered its own maverick visual style with the help of a few unknowns: Gerald Scarfe , Ralph Steadman , Willie Rushton , Bill Tidy et al. Watch the current edition take shape! See ' Great Bores of Today '; ' The Last Chip Shop in England '; ' True Stories ' and much more. - A Tall Story: How Salman Rushdie Pickled All IndiaE171
A Tall Story: How Salman Rushdie Pickled All IndiaArena profiles one of the most dazzling literary talents of recent years - Saiman Rushdie , a storyteller extraordinary and winner of this year's Booker prize. Midnight's Children, his fantastic epic novel about life in 20th-century India, has established him as the new star of English fiction. Tonight, from the quiet of Kentish Town, Salman Rushdie looks at the turbulent history of India through the eyes of his hero, Saleem Sinai. Born in Bombay on the eve of Independence, his hero's vantage point is the corner of a pickle factory in Bombay. 'All the 600-million eggs which gave birth to the population of India could fit inside a single, standard-size pickle jar ... 600-million spermatozoa could be lifted in a single spoon.' - Brixton to BarbadosE172
Brixton to BarbadosReggae has its roots in Jamaica, and has found a home in Britain. But there are over 60 countries in the Caribbean, each with its own distinctive culture. Arena invited Linton Kwesi Johnson , Britain's foremost reggae poet, to investigate the remarkable richness and variety of Caribbean art on its home ground-the occasion was the Carifesta, a huge festival held this year in Barbados. Among the highlights were the Rene gades , one of Trinidad's most brilliant steel bands; the best of soul-calypso with The Mighty Arrow from Montserrat; ' Riddim ' poetry by young Jamaican Michael Smith; big-band Irakere with the exotic Latin jazz of Cuba and Rebirth, an extraordinary dramatic saga which symbolically unites the many different ethnic groups of Surinam through their myths and legends. - Private Life of the Ford CortinaE173
Private Life of the Ford CortinaA ski run in Italy, a supermarket manager in Luton, a sandwich bar in London EC2, Arena opens the bonnet of the Ford Cortina, Britain's most popular, most stolen, and most misunderstood car. 'Dagenham dustbin'? 'Poor man's Rolls-Royce'? In the year that may well see the end of a legend, some of the motoring public, including Sir John Betjeman, Tom Robinson, Alexei Sayle, Sir Terence Beckett and Magnus Magnusson take apart the Ford Cortina: Life and Works 1962-1982. - What Makes Rabbit Run?E174
What Makes Rabbit Run?John Updike 's new book, Rabbit is Rich, is the third in the Rabbit series from the author of Rabbit, Run, Couples and The Coup. At 50, Updike is at the height of h s powers and reputation. His novels amount to a chronicle of Middle America in the liberated and disillusioned post-Kennedy years. 'Many of my books and stories involve a bourgeois home being disrupted by sex ... Maybe 1 should pay more attention to the fact that these homes were basically established by sex as well.' Art, sex and religion; he has described these as the Three Great Secret Things, and in this film, the first full-length study of Updike, he looks at his own life and art in the light of his strictly religious Pennsylvania past, and wonders about the drives that make Rabbit run. - Here They Kill People for ItE175
Here They Kill People for ItOsip Mandelstam, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, died in a prison camp somewhere in Siberia in the 1930s: no one knows precisely how or when. He was imprisoned not for his political activity but for writing a poem. All we know of the life of this remarkable man comes from two classic books by his widow, Nadezhda Mandelstam : Hope Against Hope and Hope Abandoned. In tonight's Arena, poet and novelist D. M. Thomas , author of The White Hotel, traces the the career of this great lyric poet, with the help of Joseph Brodsky , exiled Russian poet, and Nadezhda Mandelstam. filmed secretly in her Moscow flat in 1973 and seen here for the first time on British tv. - True to Life?E176
True to Life?In a month of continuing controversy about the aims and methods of the ' documentary', Arena presents a classic film by one of the pioneers of the movement-Humphrey Jennings 's Listen to Britain. Made in 1941, it will be seen here, complete, for the first time on British television. Also Gavin Millar looks at the craft of recent documentary makers, focusing on the techniques of the BBC's current Police series. With Roger Graef , Charles Stewart and the team who made it. - Desert Island DiscsE177
Desert Island Discs' I love its homeliness. It conjures up the best in traditional British pleasure, like the great British breakfast. It's an honour to be asked ' (PAUL MCCARTNEY ) For the past 40 years everyone who is anyone has been cast adrift and washed up on a desert island. The great and the famous, from Princess Margaret to Henry Cooper , from Arthur Rubinstein to Noel Coward , have faced up to the agonising task of choosing the eight records, one book and one luxury with which to live alone. This week Arena celebrates Roy Plomley 's unique fantasy island with the help of the following castaways: Paul McCartney , Frankie Howerd Russell Harty , Trevor Brooking, The Lord Mayor of London Professor J. K. Galbraith and Arthur Askey who first appeared on the programme in 1942. - Listen to Britain AND Housing ProblemsE178
Listen to Britain AND Housing ProblemsPresents two classic films from the early days of documentary. Featured in last month's True to Life? edition, they're shown complete for the first time on British television. Listen to Britain made in 1941 by HUMPHREY JENNINGS, is a poetic evocation of the spirit with which - and for which - Britain was fighting the war. Housing Problems made in 1935 by Arthur ELTON and EDGAR ANSTEY , simply ' reported ' from the heart of London's East End slums, giving ordinary people a voice for the first time in cinema history. The 'father' of documentary, John Grierson hoped it would give people ' a living sense of what is going on'. In quite different ways, both these films did exactly that. Introduced by Gavin Millar - The Orson Welles Story: Part OneE179
The Orson Welles Story: Part OneArena presents an exclusive film profile in two parts of one of the great legends of the cinema. With unprecedented frankness and detail. Orson Welles talks about his long and turbulent career - from the heady days of the Mercury Theatre and Citizen Kane, through a spiral of unfulfilled ambitions and unfinished films. His admirers see an individual still vigorously idiosyncratic, batt-ling constantly against a movie establishment. His critics see him as a burnt-out star, never fulfilling the promise of his early career, and wasting himself on cameo roles in bad films on sherry commercials, and projects that may never see the light of day. He talked to us in Las Vegas about his early life; the making of his films; his equally brilliant career in theatre, radio and magic and his incompatibility with an industry he once took by storm. with Jeanne Moreau, Anthony Perkins , John Huston, Charlton Heston , Peter Bogdanovich, Hilton Edwards and Robert Wise. - The Orson Welles Story: Part TwoE180
The Orson Welles Story: Part Two'I should never have stayed in movies. But it's a mistake I can't regret because it's like saying I shouldn't have stayed married to that woman and I did because I loved her. I'm in love with making movies.' Part 2: in which Orson Welles leaves Hollywood for ever and begins his journey through Europe, searching for money for his movies, making The Trial, F for Fake, his master-piece Chimes at Midnight, and working on some of the most talked-about unfinished films in movie history. - Mike Leigh Making PlaysE181
Mike Leigh Making PlaysMike Leigh is a dramatist in a tradition of his own, a fiercely original talent whose work and working methods have always provoked curiosity and contention as well as praise. He is a social caricaturist in the graphic manner of Rowlandson and Gilray. the creator of a sequence of television films and stage plays which are funny and extreme, often liable to shock and offend as well as entertain. Tonight MIKE LEIGH talks about his work and demonstrates the unique processes of character-building and improvisation which have led to such successes as Abigail's Party, Grown-Ups and Nuts in May. with Sam Kelly. Alison Steadman , David Threlfall and Eric Allan , Marion Bailey Brenda Blethyn , Philip Davis Sheila Kelley and Antony Sher. - A Genius Like UsE182
A Genius Like UsIn April 1967 at the peak of his career as a dramatist, Joe Orton was murdered by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell... Arena presents a documentary portrait of the author of Loot and Entertaining Mr Sloane, whose daring and sense of style added a new word - Ortonesque - to the English critical vocabulary. Although he was widely attacked for presenting the world as a bizarre and savage place, this film presents the case that Orton's life was, on occasion, quite as curious and extravagant as his work. With contributions among others from Orton's sister Leonte; his close friend Kenneth Williams; his biographer John Lahr; and the librarian whose complaints against Orton and Halliwell finally landed them in prison. - A Play for BridportE183
A Play for BridportOne of the most spectacular and unlikely theatre events of last year took place a long way from the West End of London in the small Dorset town of Bridport. The Poor Man's Friend, written by playwright Howard Barker and performed by hundreds of towns-people, was the inspiration of Ann ellicoe, best known as the author of The Knack. During the past five years her ambition to create true community theatre has produced amazing results. HOWARD BARKER 'S play looks at the history of the town where in the 19th century the best hanging-rope was made and focuses on the dubious figure of Dr Roberts, inventor of the famous patent medicine known as ' The Poor Man's Friend'. Tonight Arena follows the making of the production, chronicling the scenes on and off the stage as the whole of Bridport becomes absorbed in telling a story from their past. - Upon Westminster BridgeE184
Upon Westminster BridgeIt is commonly thought that poets are university-trained intellectuals who occasionally produce slim volumes about their personal feelings. This is not so with Michael Smith. Smith, an electrifying performer, is an exponent of 'dub' poetry - which draws on talk culture, reggae music and the rich rhythms of Caribbean native speech. At school in Jamaica Smith was taught the standard works of English Literature but poems about 'The Daffodils' and 'Westminster Bridge' had little relevance to his upbringing in the ghettos of Kingston. Tonight's Arena follows Smith on his recent British tour and features the great Marxist historian C.L.R. James, Lynton Kwesi Johnson, the pioneer of dub poetry, and film of the late Bob Marley. - Three Steps to HeavenE185
Three Steps to HeavenClassics like ' Summertime blues , 'C'mon everybody' and Three steps to heaven' made Eddie Cochran one of the all-time greats of rock 'n' roll. But for his tragic death, many think he could have become as successful as Elvis. In 1960, in the middle of a triumphant tour of Britain, the car carrying Cochran, his fiancee and Gene Vincent crashed on the A4. He died hours later in a hospital in Bath - he was 22. Tonight Arena examines the legend of Cochran and the enduring appeal of his music. Larry Parnes , the most successful promoter and manager of his time, describes the heady days of the 1960 tour. Adam Faith , Marty Wilde and Joe Brown recall the nursery slopes of rock 'n' roll and the enormous impact of Cochran on the British rock scene. Cochran's mother and his fiancee Sharon Sheeley talk publicly for the first time. - Angus McBeanE186
Angus McBeanFor nearly 50 years everybody who was anybody in the British theatre passed before the lens of Angus McBean - Gielgud, Olivier, Thorndike, Coward ... He was known as the photographer who resolutely flattered his sitters. Tonight, after a ten-year absence. McBean demonstrates his skill with his old friend Sir Ralph Richardson. He discusses for the first time his astonishing surreal pictures of the 30s and 40s. - Happy Days (Samuel Beckett Season)E187
Happy Days (Samuel Beckett Season)by Samuel Beckett Starring Billie Whitelaw With Leonard Fenton Arena presents the first programme in a Samuel Beckett Season providing a unique opportunity to see famous interpretations of his work. The playwright himself directed this production of his classic play Happy Days, and Billie Whitelaw, Beckett's favourite actress, plays Winnie - one of the strangest parts in modern theatre. Winnie, buried to her waist in a sandy mound, struggles to get through her day, searching for distractions that will stave off the panic of having nothing to say, nothing to do, no reason to continue living. Willie, her husband, offers little help. Out of this bizarre and improbable setting Beckett makes a play with many comic and touching moments. Introduced by Martin Esslin. - Eh Joe (Samuel Beckett Season)E188
Eh Joe (Samuel Beckett Season)Continues the Samuel Beckett season. Starring Jack MacGowran A rare opportunity to see an early television premiere. Recorded in 1966, tonight's presentation has only one visible actor, the late Jack MacGowran who, with Patrick Magee, was one of the principal interpreters of Samuel Beckett's work. Unseen is an actress, Sian Phillips. She is the voice of a woman whom Joe once loved. He sits remembering, and his memories recall a life whose hypocrisy and faithlessness have brought tragedy - as much for Joe as for the woman. Introduced by Martin Esslin. An Arena Presentation. - Rockaby (Samuel Beckett Season)E189
Rockaby (Samuel Beckett Season)Arena continues the Samuel Beckett Season with a unique record of his new play Rockaby which has just opened at the National Theatre. Premiered in America, it was filmed in rehearsal and performance by the celebrated film maker D.A. Pennebaker. The programme follows Billie Whitelaw's preparations for her latest Beckett role: 'People think because I do this I'm well read and knowledgeable and know what it means. In fact, I have no education at all. Beckett blows the notes... they just come out of me....' Attend the opening night in Buffalo; New York, and see the strange and haunting play, and the old woman rocking herself into death... - Not I (Samuel Beckett Season)E190
Not I (Samuel Beckett Season)Continues the Samuel Beckett Season. In one of the most extraordinary pieces of modern drama Billie Whitelaw, Beckett's foremost interpreter, performs this astonishing tour de force. Not I - the mouth suspended in space, caused a sensation when it was first performed at the Royal Court in 1973. Beckett himself is a great admirer of this television version. Introduced by Martin Esslin. An Arena presentation. - Quad (Samuel Beckett Season)E191
Quad (Samuel Beckett Season)Continues the Samuel Beckett Season with a premiere. A play without words. Quad has a musical structure. It is a kind of canon or catch-a mysterious square-dance. Four hooded figures move along the sides of the square. Each has his own particular itinerary. A pattern emerges and collisions are just avoided. From these permutations, Beckett, as writer and director creates an image of life that is both highly charged and strangely funny. Introduced by Martin Esslin. - Krapp's Last Tape (Samuel Beckett Season)E192
Krapp's Last Tape (Samuel Beckett Season)Concludes the Samuel Beckett Season. One of the best-known Beckett monologues starring its creator, the late Patrick Magee. Krapp, an old man, is alone with his memories and the reels of tape he has recorded during his life. As he reviews the years listening to his diary, he finally makes a conclusion about the most important thing that ever happened to him. Introduced by MARTIN ESSLIN. - Guernica: The Long ExileE193
Guernica: The Long ExileLast year a £13-million painting travelled in top secret from America to Spain. Next day it was headline news that Picasso's masterpiece ' Guernica ' had come home at last, after 40 years in exile. This Arena special tells the story of an extraordinary work of art, and talks to survivors of the terrible event that inspired it. - Classically Cuban: Alicia Alonso and the Cuban National BalletE194
Classically Cuban: Alicia Alonso and the Cuban National BalletToday, in post-revolutionary Cuba, under the benign patronage of Fidel Castro, classical ballet thrives. This unlikely success story is mainly due to the legendary figure of Alicia Alonso. After almost 20 years as an internationally acclaimed star of the American ballet, she returned to support the Revolution in 1959, determined to create from scratch a national ballet company. Now aged over 60, her long career frequently threatened by failing eyesight, Alicia Alonso is still Cuba's prima ballerina, still performing Giselle and still the formidable leader of a huge company of dancers, all of them now trained and recruited within Cuba. - HairE195
HairTonight Arena takes you on a tour of contemporary British heads, from the exotic to the mundane, from hot wax to Brylcreem. Blue rinse, quiff, mohican, short back and sides, dreadlocks or just shaved off altogether. By your choice of hairstyle you tell the world about yourself. You can blend in with the crowd or stand out from it. For some it is a fundamental part of their religious beliefs, for others pure indulgence. What are the prospects for a bank clerk with a hennaed 'trojan '? How does a white man become a Rasta? Does the back of your neck still prickle at the thought of the barber's clippers? This Arena investigation will make your hair stand on end. - Boulez NowE196
Boulez NowPierre Boulez, leading composer of the post-war generation, later a powerful and innovative conductor, is now the head of an extraordinary experimental studio in Paris. This huge underground music laboratory was built especially for Boulez beneath the Pompidou Centre. Here for the past-seven years, accompanied by computers and music assistants, he has been developing his.most ambitious work to date - "Répons". It had a huge success at last year's Proms. In tonight's film he shares his ideas and methods of working, introducing. extracts from "Répons" and describes his enthusiasm for opening a window on a new world of sound. With the Ensemble Intercontemporain conducted by Pierre Boulez. - Jazz Juke BoxE197
Jazz Juke BoxGeorge Melly presents films of the greatest names of swing jazz - but with a difference. Some were made for visual juke boxes which flourished in the early 40s, others are promotional shorts from the major Hollywood companies. The forerunners of today's rock promos, these gems are by turns witty, moving, surreal and always irresistibly entertaining. The line-up includes Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong Billy Holliday , Fats Waller Bessie Smith and the three kings of boogie-woogie, Meade Lux Lewis , Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson. - BurroughsE198
BurroughsWidely regarded as one of the greatest literary figures of the century, William Burroughs has perfected a unique and terrifying vision of the world. He is, most notably, a savage satirist and a revolutionary stylist and his ideas and experiments with language have had effects far beyond the world of literature. Born into a wealthy family in St Louis, Missouri, he abandoned his background for another kind of life - the central theme of his work comes from his experiences as a heroin addict and a homosexual outlaw. Filmed over five years, tonight's programme is an intimate portrait of this elegant, witty and often shocking man. The film features him reading from his own work, unique footage of his family and his son, William Burroughs Jr , his Beat Generation collaborators Allen Ginsberg and Brion Gysin , younger admirers Terry Southern, Frank Zappa , Laurie Anderson and the great painter Francis Bacon. - The Catherine WheelE199
The Catherine WheelTonight Arena presents one of the most ambitious dance projects ever seen on television. The Catherine Wheel combines the talents of Twyla Tharp , one of America's most imaginative choreographers, and David Byrne , leader of the rock band TALKING HEADS, who composed and performed this original music score. The starting point of the dance is the image of a Catherine wheel and the unattainable ideal of physical and moral perfection which St Catherine herself aspired to. Energy, benign and malevolent, is the central theme of the work, which builds to a spectacular climax of virtuoso dancing in the final Golden Section. When premiered on Broadway the New Yorker referred to The Catherine Wheel as a 'major event in our theatre' with dancing of ' astonishing beauty and power'. - Kurt VonnegutE200
Kurt VonnegutWriting about his experiences as a war prisoner in Dresden in the novel Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut achieved a unique blend of dead-pan humour and shrewd observation of human folly. For Vonnegut, disaster is an everyday experience. Today the world freezes over, tomorrow a visitor from outer space is brained to death with a golf club... Tonight Arena looks at Vonnegut's career with the help of his most famous creation, his alter ego - the SF writer Kilgore Trout. - It's All TrueE201
It's All TrueTonight Arena takes an extraordinary journey through the video age. Video pirates, video trials, video weddings, video graves.... Fifty years ago it was just the dream of a science fiction future - now It's All True. With Sir Michael Hordern, Dandy Nichols, Stephen Berkoff, Mel Brooks, Koo Stark, Ray Davies, Mari Wilson, Grace Jones and Orson Welles - Luis BunuelE202
Luis BunuelThe great Luis Bunuel died last month. Born in 1900, he was undisputably one of the outstanding creative figures of the 20th century. Tonight Gavin Millar introduces a ten-week season of his films, beginning tonight at 9.25, which will culminate in the autumn with an exclusive Arena profile about his life. - Bette Davis - The Benevolent VolcanoE203
Bette Davis - The Benevolent VolcanoDear boy, you are out of your mind, this woman will annihilate you, she will grind you to a fine powder and blow you away ... Director Joseph Mankiewicz recalls the warning he was given by a colleague when he offered Bette Davis the lead role in "All About Eve". Bette Davis is undoubtedly one of the most original stars Hollywood has ever produced, and in this exclusive interview, filmed on her 70th birthday, she is as formidable as ever. - Anthony Powell - An Invitation to the DanceE204
Anthony Powell - An Invitation to the DanceAnthony Powell's 12-volume epic, A Dance to the Music of Time, is widely regarded as the most formidable single work of British fiction since the war. It is also largely entertaining: its cast of 400 characters ranges from upper-class drawing-rooms to Bohemian London, and a violent death in a hippie commune. They have, in their turn, gathered a devoted set of fans among English-speaking readers. Tonight's portrait of Powell includes tributes from such admirers as Clive James, Kingsley Amis, Alison Lurie, Robert Conquest and Hilary Spurling. Most of all, Powell himself talks about his work, which is illustrated by James Fox, as the narrator, and with drawings by Marc. - The Ghost WriterE205
The Ghost WriterStarring Claire Bloom, Sam Wanamaker from the novel by Philip Roth with Mark Linn Baker, Paulette Smit 'You're not so nice and polite in your fiction. You're a different person.' Philip Roth's masterly novel about writers and writing, conflicts of family, race and art, has been specially dramatised for Arena. Nathan Zuckerman learns some unexpected lessons about himself and his aspirations to become a great writer, when he spends a night in the troubled household of his hero, the distinguished E.I. Lonoff. And who is the young woman with the shadowed eyes - and the mysterious past? - Jazz Juke-Box IIE206
Jazz Juke-Box IIFollowing the success of Jazz Juke-Box I, George Melly presents another selection of jazz shorts and ' soundies ' - the delightful films made for visual juke-boxes in the early 40s. He is joined by great jazzman Slim Gaillard, famous for such hits as ' Flat foot floogie ' and ' Dunkin' bagel'. Gaillard recalls swing's heyday and its legends -Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole. - Roman VishniacE207
Roman VishniacRoman Vishniac is a Russian Jew born in St Petersburg in 1897. His striking images of life in the Jewish ghettos - taken with a concealed camera just before the last war - are extraordinary documents of a lost epoch and a lost people. ' I returned again and again because I wanted to save their faces from the devastation of Hitler's Germany.' and Arena examines contemporary coverage of the destruction of Lebanon from two points of view: the photo journalist who arrives on assignment for an international agency; and the Lebanese citizen who finds himself compelled to document what is happening to his country. - The GPO StoryE209
The GPO StoryThe GPO Film Unit-50 years old this year-went where no Hollywood film studio would dare to go in 1933. Down the mines, across the Alps, through the storms of the North Sea ... they really were a dedicated and intrepid group ot film makers. Held together by a dour and dynamic Scot, John Gnerson— the man who first coined the word documentary-they made some of the greatest factual films of the 1930s which still provide a fascinating insight into the everyday life of the time. Tonight Arena tells the story of this remarkable period of British cinema. - The Everly Brothers Reunion ConcertE210
The Everly Brothers Reunion ConcertAn Arena special Last September at the Royal Albert Hall Don and Phil Everly performed together for the first time in ten years. The concert was the popular music event of the year. With a fine band, including lead guitarist Albert Lee and Pete Wingfield on keyboards, the Everlys faithfully re-created the sound of their huge repertoire of hits. 'Cathy's clown', All I have to do is dream', 'When will I be loved', 'Wake up, little Susie' and the rest stirred the memories and emotions of a rapturous audience. The Everlys' harmonies are among the most special sounds in rock 'n' roll-and they sound as good as ever. - George Orwell 1: Such Such Were the JoysE211
George Orwell 1: Such Such Were the JoysGeorge Orwell is one of the greatest writers England has produced. Tonight and for the next four nights Arena presents a unique full-scale portrait of this remarkable man, filmed in the places where he lived and worked and told in his own words and the words of those who knew him. The first programme traces Orwell upbringing in a sedate middle-class home near Henley, his horrific experiences at preparatory school, his years at Eton and as a military policeman in Burma - and closes with his sudden and dramatic emergence as a writer with Down and Out in London and Paris, a book drawn from his experiences among vagrants, tramps and outcasts. Among those appearing are Jacintha Buddicon, Sir John Grotrion, Malcolm Muggeridge, Cyril Connolly and Professor Bernard Crick. - George Orwell 2: The Road to Wigan PierE212
George Orwell 2: The Road to Wigan PierTonight's episode of the five-part Arena biography tells the story of Orwell's marriage to Eileen O'Shaughnessy , his growing political awareness and retraces what was to be the most important journey of his life-the trip he made to Wigan and the industrial north in 1936, in an attempt to understand the embittered and divided working class of the 30s. Among those appearing are Sir Richard Rees , Kay Ekkeval, Geoffrey Gorer and the people of Wigan and Barnsley. - George Orwell 3: Homage to CataloniaE213
George Orwell 3: Homage to CataloniaOrwell, like many of his generation, enlisted to fight on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. Filmed in Barcelona and on the Huesca front, where he fought, tonight's film tells the story of Orwell's war. It begins as a heroic crusade for a beleaguered socialist state, and ends with disillusion and betrayal, with Orwell fleeing across the Spanish frontier, a wounded and wanted man. Among those appearing are Stafford Cottman, Victor Alba, Enrique Ardroer, Ramon Jurado and Professor Bernard Crick. - George Orwell 4: The Lion and the UnicornE214
George Orwell 4: The Lion and the UnicornFor a brief period after the Spanish Civil War, Orwell was a revolutionary socialist, violently opposed to the coming war with Germany. Tonight's film shows his sudden emergence as a patriot in 1940, his ill-starred career as a producer at the BBC, and later as a columnist on Tribune. The film closes with the end of the war and the writing of Orwell's masterpiece Animal Farm. with Douglas Cleverdon, Lettice Cooper, Tosco Fyvel, Anthony Powell and Malcolm Muggeridge. - George Orwell 4: Nineteen Eighty-fourE215
George Orwell 4: Nineteen Eighty-fourThe last in this series of Arena films about the life and work of George Orwell begins with the tragic death of his wife Eileen in March 1945. Overcome with grief at his bereavement and despair at the future of Britain under the post-war Labour government, Orwell retreated to the remote Hebridean island of Jura. It was here, crippled with tuberculosis and isolated from the rest of the world, that Orwell cared for his adopted infant son, Richard, and wrote his last novel Nineteen Eighty-four-a nightmare vision of a totalitarian future in which Big Brother controls not only the lives but also the thoughts of his citizens, and love and individual freedom is no more than a distant memory. Among those appearing are Avril Dunn, Bill Dunn, Susan Watson, Sonia Orwell and Richard Blair. - Four RoomsE217
Four RoomsANTHONY CARO: 'I wanted to play games with our sense of space ... you experience this room with the eyes and the body too.' HOWARD HODGKIN: 'I tried to evoke a sense of romantic luxury. Sadly in a public place nothing very exciting is meant to go on.' RICHARD HAMILTON : 'I took the idea of a room in an institution as a way of looking at the times we live in.' MARC CHAIMOWICZ: 'There are hints of a liaison between two people, like a frozen frame from a film.' Four leading contemporary artists take on an unusual and imaginative commission, to design and build a room of their own. - The Theatre of Dario FoE218
The Theatre of Dario FoDario Fo is unique in world theatre. Playwright, actor, clown, teacher and philosopher, he is an international celebrity with two West-End smash hits to his credit - Can Pay? Won't Pay! and Accidental Death of an Anarchist. He is also a passionate collector of theatre history and a great hero of the Italian Left. Arena filmed Dario Fo against the background of medieval Italy, working with students in Umbria, at home in Milan and against the colourful backdrop of the Venice Carnival, where he performed his triumphant one-man comic show, Mistero Buffo. - Sunset PeopleE219
Sunset PeopleTonight Arena takes a journey down one of the best known streets in the world. Sunset Boulevard stretches 27 miles from Los Angeles' Chinatown all the way to the ocean, a ride made famous by Philip Marlowe in the Chandler books. Film star mansions give way to tatty motels; exclusive offices stand alongside nightclubs with aspiring comics and amateur nude contests. Then the famous 'strip' and Hollywood's legendary coffee shop, Schwabs, where, they say, a girl in a tight sweater turned into Lana Turner. - The Caravaggio ConspiracyE220
The Caravaggio ConspiracyOn 29 June 1982 a man called John Blake appeared mysteriously bidding in the major auction houses of London and New York. He was in reality the Sunday Times journalist, Peter Watson. The Caravaggio Conspiracy is a true story of a remarkable collaboration between dealers, auction houses and the law to transform Peter Watson , an ignorant outsider, into an international art dealer. Tonight Arena, with the help of the participants, traces the story of how Watson, with a fake limp straight from the pages of a thriller, and a potted knowledge from books of art history, conned his way into a world of mafiosi and art dealers and recovered two masterpieces of stolen Renaissance art. - Between Dreaming and WakingE221
Between Dreaming and WakingDavid Inshaw belongs to a great tradition of English Romantic Painting - the tradition of Stanley Spencer, Samuel Palmer and the Pre-Raphelites. His most famous painting 'The Badminton Game' now hangs in the Tate Gallery. For years he was a member of the Brotherhood of Ruralists, a group of painters, among them Peter Blake, preoccupied with English pastoral themes. But Inshaw's pictures tell their own story - of people, places and objects meticulously and magically recalled. Abandoning conventional interviews and commentary, tonight's film offers a journey into David Inshaw's haunting, imaginative world. - Ken Russell 's ElgarE222
Ken Russell 's ElgarTonight, in the anniversary year of Edward Elgar 's death, Arena plays host to KEN RUSSELL 'S classic music documentary. Made in 1962 for the 100th edition of the arts magazine Monitor, it marked the arrival of the dramatised arts documentary and proved to be one of the most popular television films ever made. An unashamedly romantic evocation of the composer's life and inspiration in the Malvern Hills, the film nevertheless foreshadowed Russell's later, more contentious, work with his darkly ironic counterpoint of 'Land of hope and glory' with the battle scenes and graveyards of the First World War. Narrated by Huw Wheldon. - Jerry Lee LewisE223
Jerry Lee LewisFor the first time on British television, Arena presents a concert by this great legend of rock n roll. Jerry Lee Lewis doesn't sound like anybody else - the voice, the piano and the on-stage antics make an unforgettable combination. He plays and sings today exactly as he did when he made his first records, and as a special bonus the concert is preceded by rare footage of him performing 'Whole lotta shakin" in 1957. Since then he has kept his reputation for wildness, eccentricity and the ability to hold an audience spellbound. Last May Arena's cameras captured him in top form. - True Confessions of an Albino TerroristE224
True Confessions of an Albino TerroristBreyten Breytenbach writes about being an Afrikaner. His poetry was taught in schools and his paintings greatly admired. But in 1975 Breytenbach, living in self-imposed exile in Paris with his Vietnamese wife Yolande - their marriage was regarded as 'fornication' under South African law - decided to return to his native country under a false passport, with the intention of recruiting workers against the Government and its policy of apartheid. Breytenbach was betrayed, arrested and sentenced to nine years. This year, two versions of his horrific experience of South African jails are to be published - Mouroir, a surreal account of his life in prison and True Confessions of an Albino Terrorist. Tonight Arena presents the story of this extraordinary man including some of the poetry and paintings completed in prison and smuggled out of South Africa. - My Dinner with LouisE225
My Dinner with LouisTonight Arena profiles the French film director Louis Malle. Malle is a director who has never let himself be tied down to one style of film making. The Lovers, with Jeanne Moreau , shocked the conservative public in 1958 and his Indian documentaries were candid enough to concern the Indian government. Even in the permissive 70s, Malle found ways to provoke, depicting child prostitution in Pretty Baby with Brooke Shields , and corruption in Lacombe Lucien , about a collaborator in wartime France. - Milan Kundera- Laughter and ForgettingE226
Milan Kundera- Laughter and ForgettingFrom the vantage point of his Paris flat, the Czech writer Milan Kundera still obsessively contemplates Prague, the city he was forced to leave nine years ago when, silenced by the pro-Soviet government, his continued life there finally became impossible. Prague has continued to be the setting for all of Kundera's writing. The Book of Laughter and Forgetting brought him to a wide international readership and was compared favourably with Gogol and Kafka. The New York Times wrote: 'It is impossible in this space to do justice to a masterwork. Kundera makes music out of history.' His new book The Unbearable Lightness of Being has been eagerly awaited and on the occasion of its publication Arena talks to Kundera in Paris and seeks reactions to his work from George Theiner , Karol Kyncl , Ian McEwan and Edward Goldstucker. - A Tribute to Joseph LoseyE227
A Tribute to Joseph LoseyAmerican-born writer and director Joseph Losey died last month in London. He made his home in England in 1952 when he was hounded out of America after the Communist witch-hunt. Tonight Dirk Bogarde, star of The Servant, who first worked with him 30 years ago, remembers Losey and his distinguished career (this is followed by a broadcast of The Servant). - Beat This! A Hip Hop HistoryE228
Beat This! A Hip Hop HistoryTonight Arena presents a musical entertainment set in the streets of New York City, an epic rap which will tap the roots of Hip Hop.... the true story of the most influential popular music culture since punk. Gary 'The Crown' Byrd raps us through the elements of Hip Hop - breakdancing, body-popping, graffiti art, rapping and scratching-and introduces us to its heroes. We meet Cool Hero, its legendary first DJ; the head-spinning breakdancing Dynamic Rockers; romeo rappers the Cold Crush Brothers and white funksters Malcolm McLaren and Mel Brooks. And we take the 'A' Train to Planet Rock-the devastated homeland of Hip Hop , better known as New York's South Bronx-to meet the 'Godfather' himself, Afrika Bambaataa whose wild youth as a member of the notorious Black Spades gang, led him to forsake violence for music and dance and found a new and powerful New York tribe called the Zulu Nation. - The Everly Brothers: Songs of Innocence and ExperienceE229
The Everly Brothers: Songs of Innocence and ExperienceTaught to sing from their earliest years, the brothers were raised in a unique cross-current of musical influences, from Appalachian harmony duos to black country blues singers. Their father Ike was an influential guitar picker and hosted the Everly Family Radio Show in the Mid West in the 40s and 50s. It was here that Don and Phil made their public debut. Arena retraces the Everlys' journey, from guitar picking in Kentucky with Ike's friend Mose Regur to Tennessee where their early hits were penned by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant. Meet their legendary producer Chet Atkins, architect of the 'Nashville Sound', and follow their career from their heyday in the 50s to the present day. - Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady DayE230
Billie Holiday: The Long Night of Lady DayTonight Arena presents the first film portrait of the greatest of all the jazz singers. Billie Holiday's tragic story, from her traumatic childhood in Baltimore to her premature death in a New York hospital at the age of 44, is told in the words of her closest friends and colleagues - but mostly through the songs themselves. Arena has assembled an unprecedented number of her filmed performances. - Eubie BlakeE231
Eubie BlakeThe legendary Eubie Blake 's career as a ragtime pianist and composer began in 1883. Sadly last year, five days after his 100th birthday he died. This short tribute includes one of the earliest talkies, Eubie's classic 'I'm just wild about Harry' and a visit to singer Alberta Hunter. - Francis BaconE232
Francis BaconTo mark his 75th birthday, Arena presents this exclusive film portrait of the great British painter, Francis Bacon. Despite his world-wide fame, Bacon remains one of the most contentious painters working today, and he still paints the human figure with the same conviction and intensity that startled the art world at his first exhibition nearly 40 years ago. Tonight, amid the spectacular disorder of his Chelsea studio, Bacon talks on film with great candour, to his friend of many years, the distinguished writer and critic David Sylvester. - We Don't Like Your House Either!E233
We Don't Like Your House Either!This week: a portrait of one of the most individual architectural talents America has produced. Bruce Goff discovered his vocation as a child in Tulsa, Oklahoma, drawing cathedrals and palaces on scraps of paper, and the innocence of those early visionary sketches is evident in all his later work-from the cathedral in Tulsa he designed at the age of 22 to his extraordinary domestic monuments built for the American householder. A friend and disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright, Goff continued to pioneer well into his 70s. Arena went with him to his native midwest to see some of his astonishingly varied and inventive commissions. - Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense: The Music of Fela KutiE234
Teacher Don't Teach Me Nonsense: The Music of Fela KutiFela Anikulapo-Kuti is the most popular and controversial musician ever to come out of Africa. Born in Nigeria 47 years ago, he has dominated the African musical scene since the early 70s with his unique fusion of traditional rhythm and jazz melodies known as Afro-Beat. Fela's music speaks of the conflict between the European colonial heritage and the traditional African past and cries out forcefully against corruption, exploitation and cultural betrayal. This programme interweaves Fela's music with the story of his struggle against the Nigerian authorities to retain his position as the musical conscience of independent Africa. - After the RehearsalE235
After the RehearsalArena presents the British premiere of Ingmar Bergman 's new film After the Rehearsal. Written and directed by Bergman last year soon after completing Fanny and Alexander, it continues the autobiographical theme. As theatre director Henrik Vogler sits alone on an empty stage after rehearsal Anna, a young actress, suddenly returns to the theatre to talk about her part.... The director is both cynical and affectionate; he is sick and tired of the theatre but still in love with, and fascinated by, his actors. Bergman refers to it as a chamber-work for television, a meditation on life in the theatre and, even more, on what it's like to be old. Earlier this year After the Rehearsal was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was greeted with great acclaim. - What's Cuba Playing At?E236
What's Cuba Playing At?In the 25th anniversary year of the Revolution, Arena traces the Afro-Spanish roots of Cuba's rich musical history. If, for you, the rumba still means Come Dancing, then it's time you saw the real thing. Meet Enrique Jorrin , creator of the cha-cha-cha; listen to the septet at the Casa de la Trova, Santiago; the jazz of Irakere; the passionate songs of Pablo Milanes , and the evocative music of family groups still carrying on traditions from 100 years ago. Watch exuberant dancing to the music of popular Los Van Van and, in the courtyard of the Folkloric Company, the rumbas -often remarkably similar to breakdancing - whose forms grew out of the sacred rituals and dances of Cuba's unique Afro-Catholic religions. - Music of the other AmericasE237
Music of the other AmericasEvery November musicians from all over Latin America come to take part in the international music festival at Varadero in Cuba. For five days bands from all the 'other' Americas vie with each other in a virtuoso display of music - music which is, astonishingly, almost unknown in Britain. Last month Arena went to Varadero to capture the event and tonight presents the finest in contemporary Cuban and Latin American music. With Irakere and Arturo Sandoval ; Los Van Van, Cuba's most popular dance band; soul calypso by Dimension Costena from Nicaragua; and bands from Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Uruguay. - Pavarotti at Madison Square GardenE238
Pavarotti at Madison Square GardenFor many Luciano Pavarotti is the world's greatest tenor - certainly his place is assured among the legends of Grand Opera. In New York on 16 August, he Performed before 20,000 People at Madison Square Garden; it was an unprecedented step for an opera singer, a spectacular succcess. Along with his favourite arias from grand opera, Pavarotti delighted his audience with popular songs from his native Italy. An Arena Special. - My Son the NovelistE239
My Son the NovelistHoward Jacobson the eldest son of MAX JACOBSON the Manchester conjuror, made a late but successful start in the world of fiction. At the age of 41 he published Coming from Behind a scabrous satire of polytechnic life; and now, with his sexual comedy Peeping Tom he has established himself as an important new voice in English fiction. Tonight Arena looks at this Leavisite polytechnic lecturer, shopkeeper and original Jewish humorist on the move from Manchester, Wolverhampton, Cornwall and Australia. - Painting for Pleasure ... and Profit: Five Artists of the 80sE240
Painting for Pleasure ... and Profit: Five Artists of the 80sThe artists Julian Schnabel , Markus Lupertz , Sandro Chia , Francesco Clemente and Georg Baselitz command some of the highest prices on today's booming art market. Their paintings, monumental in scale and mainly figurative in style, have begun to fill the walls of private collections world-wide. They have been hailed as the 'New Expressionists' - though some cynical observers accuse them of turning out their pictures to order. As they establish themselves in spacious New York premises, castles in Germany and even retreats in India, Arena examines the real driving force behind today's art world successes. - Marcel CarneE241
Marcel CarneArena this week presents a profile of the man many would consider the greatest living French film director. It introduces a BBC2 season of five of the masterpieces he made with the poet and scriptwriter Jacques Prevert during a decade of collaboration, running from 1936. They gave us such films as Quai des brumes, Le jour se lève, and - best loved of all -Les enfants du paradis. Voted the best French film of all time in 1979, this remarkable film still plays to packed houses. In this first interview on British television, Carne gives a vivid account of his memorable career With additional contributions from Michele Morgan, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Georges Franju and Jean-Louis Barrault. - From an Immigrant's Notebook: Karen Blixen in AfricaE242
From an Immigrant's Notebook: Karen Blixen in AfricaKaren Blixen's voyage to Africa in 1913 was a journey away from the 20th century. Kenya was then a semi-feudal society, a land of Masai and Kikuyu, teeming with game. In 1931 she returned to Denmark having lost her farm, her health and her closest friends. Within a decade she had produced her three greatest books Seven Gothic Tales, Out of Africa and Last Tales. Karen Blixen had become Isak Dinesen, the writer. Taking part in tonight's portrait are her former servant Kamante, biographer Judith Thurman, Errol Trzebinski, Sir Laurens van der Post and Elspeth Huxley. - How Glorious is the Garden?E243
How Glorious is the Garden?Tonight Arena and Newsnight join forces to mount a major studio debate between the embattled factions of the arts world. 'The Glory of the Garden' was the Arts Council's blueprint for a redistribution of its grants favouring regional centres over London. Now a head-long battle has developed between those administering funds and those who are the beneficiaries.... or the losers. The National Theatre has threatened 100 redundancies, and the Cottesloe could go dark in April. The English National Opera sees its programme in jeopardy. The Council's Literature Department narrowly escaped the axe, and half of the drama panel have resigned. In this atmosphere of open warfare, how can the garden grow? Has the Arts Council, in the words of its critics, 'betrayed the arts and lent itself to party politics' or have just and sensible policies become the target for partisan hysteria? Tonight the council confronts its critics. Introduced by John Tusa and Joan Bakewell. - Old Kent RoadE244
Old Kent RoadFrom Chaucer's pilgrims to inter-continental juggernauts, generations of travellers have taken this historical route from Dover to the old City of London. It has become part of London's folklore, living up to its reputation as a place for a good night out; there are still 14 pubs along its two-mile stretch. You can also get a quick suntan or wallow in a Jacuzzi at Sundance City, buy the latest casual wear at Le Pel men's boutique, or sip a "slow comfortable screw up against the wall' in the Dun Cow Champagne Bar. These establishments live happily side by side with Bert's Eel and Pie Shop, the Fishing Tackle Specialists, and the world-famous Thomas a Beckett gym. This film looks beyond some of the shopfronts you'd normally pass down the A2 and reveals a host of unexpected personalities, mostly two-legged but above all Bermondsey born and bred. - LigmalionE245
LigmalionA Musical for the 80s starring Tim Curry, Sting, Alexei Sayle, Gary Glitter and introducing Jason Carter To lig. verb. To gain something for nothing by wit and ingenuity. Young Gordon Shilling arrives in London in search of fame and fortune, only to find himself alone, penniless and hungry. Plucked off the streets by the mysterious Eden Rothwell and initiated in the art of ligging, he begins a picaresque journey through the highlife and lowlife of the nation. Along the way such experts as the Lig of Gentlemen, Peter York, April Ashley, John Bull, Samuel Smiles and Machiavelli show the hero how to help himself in self-help Britain. - Them and Uz: A film about Tony HarrisonE246
Them and Uz: A film about Tony HarrisonTony Harrison is the son of a baker, and his poetry relishes, and mourns for the class he comes from. His subjects are sex, love, politics, class warfare, death, all the rituals and performances of our lives. His work is direct, witty, often angry, expressed in the language and idioms of his northern roots. His recent adaptation of the English Mystery plays with the National Theatre Company has been hailed as 'the most moving, solemn and joyful theatrical event in London'. His latest cycle of poems is on an intensely private theme, meditations on his own family life and relationships. Tonight, Arena investigates a unique voice in contemporary literature. - Marc ChagallE247
Marc ChagallOne of the greatest masters of 20th-century painting died last month at the age of 97. This filmed tribute contains the last interview given by Chagall and charts his life and work from the earliest years in Vitebsk, Russia, through two world wars, and a revolution in his homeland, his time in Paris, and la Ruche, to his last home in the south of France. The programme shows Chagall at work in his studio and painting his monumental windows for Reims Cathedral and follows his account of his life, in his own words and in readings from his autobiography. An Arena presentation. - Watch Me Move...E248
Watch Me Move...'America gave to the world two original art forms: one was jazz, the other was full character animation' (Chuck Jones) In 1908, the comic strip artist Winsor McCay brought to life, on film, his celebrated 'little Nemo' characters. The first words that appeared on the screen were 'Watch me move!' Tonight Arena salutes the pioneers of animation, in a festival of early cinema cartoons: funny, inventive and often astonishingly beautiful. Including unique footage of Gertie the Dinosaur acting with her creator, McCay; the rise and fall of the first cartoon superstar, Felix the cat; the sexy antics of Betty Boob - later toned down by the censor; the earliest Silly Symphonies, Loonie Tunes and Merrie Melodies; and an exploration of the surreal and violent world of the brilliant Tex Avery. Contributing their memories, the creators and animators who gave us these still compelling images, including John Fitzsimmons, Otto Mesmer, Grim Natwick, Friz Freleng, Walter Lantz and Chuck Jones. - Hugh Masekela: The African AmbassadorE249
Hugh Masekela: The African AmbassadorHugh Masekela 's career as a musician has been dominated by his determination to take the music of black South Africans to the rest of the world. His music is a fusion of sophisticated jazz and the raw but melodic Mbkanga which is to the townships of South Africa, what reggae is to Jamaica. As he became more successful Masekela left South Africa and spent the next 25 years in self-imposed exile in America, vowing never to return until the apartheid regime had ceased. In fact last year he did return - not to South Africa, but to Gaberone, Botswana, just a few miles from the border. Here he has set up a mobile recording studio which has become a magnet for the explosive music of his homeland. - The Theatre of Robert WilsonE250
The Theatre of Robert WilsonRobert Wilson is one of the most revered and controversial talents in contemporary theatre. He first came to prominence in the New York avant garde of the 60s and 70s with a series of huge stage works which astonished and often infuriated audiences, but never failed to impress with their invention and sheer visual power. After seeing Wilson's first major work, Deafman Glance, the leading New York drama critic Clive Barnes declared that he had created 'a new non-verbal, post Wagnerian epic theatre.' Tonight, in the first of two Arena programmes, Wilson talks candidly about his formal upbringing in the American mid-west; his job as a teacher of brain-damaged children in Brooklyn - an experience that changed his life - and about the inspiration behind his extraordinary theatre pieces. Including rare footage from Robert Wilson 's personal archive and contributions from collaborators Philip Glass. - Blues Night: IntroductionE251
Blues Night: IntroductionTonight Arena presents a cornucopia of the blues from the raw sounds of the Mississippi Delta to the jazz and rock 'n' roll that blues gave birth to. As a crowning delight, the evening is presented from the studio by the most famous exponent of the blues guitar, the acknowledged 'King of the Blues', B. B. King. In conversation with John Walters , he explains the blues, its history and the profound emotions and experiences that created it. - Blues Night: Sonny Boy Williamson SingsE252
Blues Night: Sonny Boy Williamson SingsBlues Night presents rare footage of the harmonica blues player Sonny Boy Williamson, who gave B.B. King his big break in 1948. ‘He was on the radio doing live performances when I first came to Memphis. He put me on his show to do this one song – a lady saloon-keeper hired me that day and I’ve worked ever since,’ King explained to the Radio Times. - Blues Night: Blind John DavisE255
Blues Night: Blind John DavisThe great Chicago broadcaster and journalist Studs Terkel and pianist Blind John Davis meet in a downtown bar to discuss and play the blues. This interview was shot for "Omnibus: Studs Terkel's Chicago" but not shown in the final programme. - Blues Night: Blues MedleyE256
Blues Night: Blues MedleyThis medley of the blues features Fred McDowell, Thomas 'Georgia Tom' Dorsey, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Huddie Ledbetter - better known as 'Lead Belly' - performs 'Pick a Bale of Cotton', and Billie Holiday accompanied by Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster and Roy Eldridge, performs her own composition 'Fine and Mellow'. - Buddy HollyE258
Buddy HollyAn Arena Special. Lubbock is a small town lost in the great plains of west Texas. Her most famous son, Buddy Holly , changed the face of popular music. Tonight Holly is remembered by the Crickets, The Everly Brothers, Keith Richards , and Paul McCartney. The programme features unique amateur film of Holly on tour with the other rock 'n' roll greats and at home with the Crickets in Texas. Arena also premieres the earliest film of ELVIS PRESLEY and the very first record made by THE BEATLES. - Saint GenetE259
Saint GenetTonight Arena presents a unique interview with one of the great figures of 20th-century literature, Jean Genet. His first novel, Our Lady of the Flowers, written in prison, moved Jean-Paul Sartre to declare him a saint and martyr. Genet's plays, including The Maids and The Balcony, revolutionised post-war theatre, and his novels, explicit and passionate celebrations of homosexual love, were widely banned. Now 75, Genet remains a self-declared outcast, unrepentant about his past as a thief and prostitute, still questioning society's expectations. In an impassioned outburst, he denounces even the interview itself as 'a piece of bad theatre' and turns the tables on his interrogators, asking them some uncomfortable Questions of his own. - The Accordion Strikes BackE260
The Accordion Strikes BackWhat do Charles Dickens , Count Leo Tolstoy , Barry Manilow and James Anderton , Chief Constable of Manchester, have in common? A love of the accordion. Tonight Arena investigates the appeal of a much-maligned instrument from its roots in Imperial China, and appraises its bellowings from Cajun to the classics, from Stockhausen to Jimmy Shand. Other sounds from around the world include the heart-throbs of the Indian cinema, Tex-Mex superstar Flaco Jiminez , Soweto's Mahotella Queens, and the Accordion World Cup in Folkestone. - The Cinema of Francesco RosiE261
The Cinema of Francesco RosiFrancesco Rosi is one of the foremost figures in post-war Italian cinema. His films have an epic sweep covering Mafia crime, political corruption and economic mismanagement in Italy since the liberation of the country from Fascism by the Americans in 1944. Filmed in Naples and his home in Rome, Rosi talks about his development as a film-maker with illustrations from Salvatore Giuliano, Lucky Luciano , Hands Over the City, Illustrious Corpses and Three Brothers. - The Strange Case of Yukio MishimaE262
The Strange Case of Yukio MishimaYukio Mishima was one of the outstanding writers of his generation. Nominated three times for the Nobel Prize, he was the author of 40 novels and 18 plays. But his legend rests less on his literary output than on his bizarre suicide 15 years ago by ritual hara-kiri. Mishima's life was filled with contradictions. An intellectual, he was also a right-wing militarist who maintained his own private army. A nationalist who wished to restore the Emperor to power, he was obsessed with Western culture and offended his own people by adopting the image of a Western-style celebrity. In Tokyo, Arena reconstructs the story of this complex and contradictory figure against the background of Japan's wartime humiliation and astonishing post-war recovery. - The Apollo Story: part 1E263
The Apollo Story: part 1The list of artists who have performed at Harlem's Apollo Theater reads like a Who's Who of black American entertainment. No black performer, from Sammy Davis Jr to Charlie Parker, could be considered a star without conquering the Apollo's tough, sophisticated audience. Tonight and next week Arena celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Apollo. But it is more than the story of a single venue. It is the story of Harlem itself and the struggles and triumphs of black America. Tonight's programme begins with the Apollo's infancy, when Bill (Bojangles) Robinson tapped effortlessly to the music of Fats Waller, and royalty like Count Basie and Duke Ellington held court. Honi Coles and the Copasetics, and former chorus girls the Swinging Seniors, re-create the famous dance routines, and Lionel Hampton recalls when the audience went so wild, the upper balcony cracked. - The Apollo Story: part 2E264
The Apollo Story: part 2Harlem's Apollo Theater has been the ultimate testing ground for every black American performer from Duke Ellington to Michael Jackson. Tonight Arena continues its celebration of the Apollo's 50th anniversary. With uncharacteristic modesty, Little Richard describes his fear of the notoriously tough Apollo audience, while Mary Wilson of the Supremes and Gladys Knight recall life backstage. Amid the upheavals of Harlem in the 60s, Solomon Burke and 'Mr Apollo ' himself, James Brown , explain how they took themselves out of the church and on to the stage and renamed it soul. And finally Nile Rodgers. producer of David Bowie and Madonna, and veteran of the Apollo house band, presents the aspirations of the Apollo today. - Tosca's KissE265
Tosca's KissCasa Verdi is a rambling mansion in the city of Milan, inhabited by an extraordinary and captivating group of people. Once it belonged to the composer Giuseppe Verdi : now it has become a home tor retired musicians. Once famous divas, composers, and singers from the opera chorus are bonded together by old memories and rivalries, their spirit and joy in their music quite undiminished by age. This film by Swiss director, Daniel Schmid , shared last year's documentary Grand Prix at Florence with Arena's s Sunset People. - The New BabylonE266
The New BabylonArena presents the first television showing of a rare and extraordinary classic of the silent cinema, with an original music score by Dimitri Shostakovich. Directors GRIGORI KOZINTSEV and LEONID TRAUBERG. Introduced by Lindsay Anderson. The New Babylon tells the dramatic story of the revolutionary tragedy of the Paris Commune. Like many masterpieces, its first public showing, in 1929, provoked outrage and derision. Shostakovich's brilliant and innovative score baffled the audience, and the conductor was accused of being drunk. The film and its music were banned immediately, and the score itself disappeared for decades until it was rediscovered after the composer's death. For this showing, the score has been reconstructed from Shostakovich's original handwritten copy by Omri Hadari , who conducts the London Lyric Orchestra - Tango MioE267
Tango MioThat most erotic and mysterious of dances, the tango, came to life in the suburbs and backstreets of Buenos Aires. This Arena Special traces its colourful and bizarre life story, through the work of its greatest poets, dancers and musicians. At the beginning of the century the tango was danced only in the harbour brothels, then, sophisticated in fashionable nightclubs and adopted by major poets and writers, it entered its golden age in the 30s and 40s. For the Argentines it's more than just a dance - the poet Discepolo calls it 'a feeling of sadness which can even be danced to'. Away from tourists' eyes, in their own cafes and dance halls, today's unknown 'stars' of tango tell their stories, among them the charismatic Juanita 'La Negra'. The strange and magical history of tango is told through the words of poets, rare archive film of its greatest stars of the past, and specially choreographed scenes by a modern master, Juan Carlos Copes. - CinderellaE268
CinderellaFrom its origins in ninth-century China to its modern incarnation as a Christmas pantomime, Cinderella has endured as one of the best-loved fairytales. But what has made this fable of domestic abuse so popular for so long? Marina Warner, author of several studies on legendary heroines, reinterprets the myth through some of its forgotten versions, and shows how today's simpering weakling has at other times been seen as an innocent victim of incestuous longings, or even as a gutsy fighter who breaks her evil stepmother's neck. Writer Angela Carter , psychologist Bruno Bettelheim and photographer Jo Spence offer their views; and Cinderella appears in the current stage production, in TV ads for soapflakes, tampons and table wines, and in a host of classic screen performances. Tonight Arena looks beyond Cinderella the feminine archetype to discover what really happened after the ball. - The Journey ManE269
The Journey ManBehind the quiet, gentlemanly exterior of Norman Lewis lies the acute Perception of one of Britain's foremost travel writers and investigative journalists. His fascinating accounts of the cultures of the world cover the Brazilian jungle, the tribes of Indo-China, the villages of Spain and his own eccentric upbringing in Enfield, where his parents ran a Spiritualist church. One of his finest books is Naples '44, describing his experiences as an intelligence officer with the forces that liberated Southern Italy. In tonight's film Lewis returns to this extraordinary region where the ancient Sibyl foretold the fates of emperors and kings, whose local saint can quell the lavas of Vesuvius and where today 600 Mafiosi are on trial. Through Lewis's own idiosyncratic observations, Arena explores the life and work of a very dead-pan Englishman abroad. - Go-Go in Washington DCE270
Go-Go in Washington DCThe home of the White House, the Pentagon and the President is also the home of the most exciting soul scene of the 1980s. The raw power of the go-go beat has emerged within a stones-throw of America's palaces of power. Washington DC is 70 per cent black and go-go is more than just a musical trend - it is the lifestyle of Washington's black youth. In tonight's Arena, eminent go-go saxophonist Carl 'Low Budget' Jones, of the band Redds and the Boys, takes a journey around Washington city introducing its musicians and their place within the history of American soul music. - Marguerite YourcenarE271
Marguerite YourcenarNovelist, poet, essayist and the first woman to be elected to the Academie Francaise, Marguerite Youreenar lives and writes on her island refuge off the coast of Maine. Her work ranges from a series of celebrated historical novels, including a classic study of the Emperor Hadrian, to translations of blues and gospel songs. Characteristically, Yourcenar is indifferent to public honour. The intellectual elite of the Academy, she says, 'decided to take a woman. It happened that woman was me.' In Arena this week, she talks about her life and work to writer and critic Peter Conrad. - Louise BrooksE272
Louise BrooksThe American film actress Louise Brooks, who died last summer, was one of the most celebrated beauties in the history of the cinema. Her performance as unrepentant pleasure-seeker Lulu in G.W. Pabst's Pandora's Box made her a legend. KENNETH TYNAN wrote: 'She has run through my life like a magnetic thread, this shameless urchin tomboy ... a temptress with no pretentions, amoral but totally selfless.' Louise Brooks's own life had more than a touch of Lulu's reckless abandon about it. In tonight's Arena, she talks candidly about her greatest days in Paris and Berlin and of the harsh retribution that was exacted by Hollywood. With rare clips from her varied screen performances. - KurosawaE273
KurosawaIn 1950 the Grand Prix of the prestigious Venice Film Festival went quite unexpectedly to a Japanese film. It was called Rashomon and the director was Akira Kurosawa. In the years since then he has become celebrated as a unique stylist and storyteller of humanity and compassion, producing a series of film classics like Seven Samurai, Living, Kagemuaha and his latest, Ran. In a rare interview Kurosawa, a reclusive and controversial figure, talks about his early films, about the masterpieces of the 50s and 60s, and about the struggles of his later years to continue his work in the face of mounting indifference and hostility within Japan. - Two Painters AmazedE274
Two Painters AmazedCritical acclaim for a group of recent art school graduates has put Scottish art, and Glasgow in particular, firmly on the international map. Two people at the forefront of this unexpected renaissance are Stephen Campbell and Adrian Wiszniewski. Within three years of leaving college, their pictures already hang in the Tate Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and are sought after by museums and collectors in Europe and North America. In this week's Arena, the former classmates meet again to take stock of their meteoric rise and to compare notes on the art scene in Britain and New York. - Home FrontE275
Home FrontDon McCullin 's powerful pictures of the horrors of war and deprivation have made him one of the world's most celebrated photographers. Now, after more than 20 years working exclusively with the stills camera, he has been commissioned by Arena to make his first film. In tonight's programme he turns his eye on life in Britain today, with portraits of Bradford, Harlow and East London. Through the industrial city, the dream of the new town and the capital past and present, McCullin reveals a Britain which is exotic, diverse and often disturbing. - Caribbean Nights: PoetryE278
Caribbean Nights: PoetryThe celebrated West Indian poet Derek Walcott joins Linton Kwesi Johnson and Guyanese prodigy Fred D'Aguiar to debate the range and impact of Caribbean poetry. With filmed readings from C.L.R. James, Edward Braithwaite, Michael Smith and Mervyn Morris. - Caribbean Nights: Maytime on the Mosquito CoastE281
Caribbean Nights: Maytime on the Mosquito CoastDespite the dangers and deprivations of war, the people of Bluefields, Nicaragua, still find time to do the Lambeth Walk and dance Maypole. Bluefields, on Nicaragua's east coast, is named after a notorious 17th-century pirate and its stormy past has provided it with a culture which is an anomalous amalgam of Spanish, British, American, Amerindian and African. Arena takes you down 'The Secret River' to this curious corner of the Caribbean. - Caribbean Nights: Calypso and CarnivalE282
Caribbean Nights: Calypso and CarnivalFuentes, La Rose and Howe are joined in the studio by this year's Calypso King David Rudder who tells the true story of the 'Trinidad Trinity' - calypso, steel pan music and carnival. With performances from The Mighty Bomber, Arrow The Renegades and David Rudder himself. - Caribbean Nights: Latin SoundE284
Caribbean Nights: Latin SoundFilmed on his recent visit to London, Panamanian salsa star and politician Ruben Blades talks to Linton Kwesi Johnson about Latin music today, ranging from established stars like Cuba's Celia Cruz to the latest contender Wilfredo Vargas, currently taking New York by storm. - Caribbean Nights Bob MarleyE286
Caribbean Nights Bob MarleyA portrait of the man who made reggae known and appreciated all over the western world and who refused to abandon a message of personal and political liberation. Tonight's programme includes a wealth of his finest performances, from early sessions by the original Wailers to his last rehearsals in Kingston. Interviews with Marley himself and with those who knew him best, including his mother Cedella Booker , his wife Rita Marley , his original partners Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer , Judy Mowat and Marcia Griffiths from his backing group the 1 Threes, his art director Neville Garrick and Chris Blackwell , founder of Island Records. - Caribbean Nights: C.L.R. James's First Cricket XIE287
Caribbean Nights: C.L.R. James's First Cricket XIBorn in Trinidad in 1901, C.L.R. James came to England in the 1930s and was cricket correspondent for the Manchester Guardian. In this programme the author of the now classic book Beyond the Boundary selects his definitive cricket team. From W.G. Grace to Gary Sobers , C.L.R.'s choice spans seven decades and, using rare archive film, reveals some of the greatest moments in cricketing history. - Caribbean Nights: DanzonE288
Caribbean Nights: DanzonIn an old church in Havana, the Urfe brothers play Danzones, the first popular Cuban music to emerge from the blend of African and European traditions at the turn of the century. The dance it inspired was considered shocking by colonial Cuban society. - Caribbean Nights: Rasta and the BallE289
Caribbean Nights: Rasta and the BallAccording to reggae greats Bob Marley and Burning Spear, football and Rastafari are one and the same thing. In the last week of the World Cup Rasta and the Ball takes you to the Marcus Garvey Youth Club, the beaches and Kingston's back-street pitches where reggae music and football are played with equal dedication and enthusiasm in the same spirit of Rastafari. Bob Marley demonstrates his skills on the field and in the recording studio. - Caribbean Nights: Arturo SandovalE290
Caribbean Nights: Arturo SandovalCuban jazz is rarely heard over here. Tonight Arena redresses the balance with a performance by virtuoso trumpeter, Arturo Sandoval. Much admired by Dizzy Gillespie , he returns the compliment with 'Blues homage'; he then takes to the piano for a dynamic duet with bass player, Jorge Reyes , and finally is joined by brilliant new-wave singer, Donato Poveda. - Caribbean Nights: KapoE291
Caribbean Nights: Kapo'I dreamt there were 72 angels, 72 trumpets, 72 vases of flowers - all things were 72. And then I saw directly the face of God himself. I was summoned to be an artist.' Bishop of his own church, Kapo is also Jamaica's most famous artist. His paintings and sculpture explore the mysterious world of dreams, possession and healing in a rich cultural mix drawing equally upon the spirit world of Africa and the Christianity of Europe. - Salvador DaliE293
Salvador Dali'The only difference between me and a madman is that I am not mad.' So says Salvador Dali one of the most famous painters in the world. Dali now lives as a recluse and has been virtually unseen since his near death in a suspicious fire two years ago. Having courted publicity all his life he is now shrouded in secrecy. Dali is the great showman of Surrealism. As a painter his style is unique, yet perhaps his greatest achievement is his own personality. Dali is a self-pronounced genius. Today Dali lives in the palace museum which he has built as a monument to Ms life, and holds court in the room which he never leaves. .4reKa traces his career through film, much of it from Dali's own private archive, and combines the testimony of his closest associates, including Captain Peter Moore and Amanda Lear, and his Surrealist contemporaries Max Ernst, Luis Bunuel and Man Ray, with Dali's own extravagant account of his life and adventures. - The Life and Times of Don Luis BunuelE294
The Life and Times of Don Luis BunuelFollowing last night's story of Salvador Dali, Arena continues it's Spanish trilogy with this highly-acclaimed profile of the great film-maker Luis Bufiuel. From his collaboration with Dali on Un Chien Andalou in 1928 to his last film That Obscure Object of Desire in 1977, Bunuel's work was always passionate, subversive and entertaining. Arena goes in search of the spirit of this elusive and original man. The film traces his life through Spain, Paris, New York and Mexico and visits his closest friends, his collaborators, his favourite monastery and his favourite bars. With Fernando Ray Catherine Deneuve Jeanne Moreau Carlos Fuentes Jean-Claude Carriere Fr Julian Pablo and unique footage of Bunuel himself. - The Spirit of LorcaE295
The Spirit of LorcaFederico Garcia Lorca, perhaps the best-known and loved Spanish poet and dramatist of this century, was brutally executed at the age of 38 during the early days of the Spanish Civil War. Tonight's Arena, in collaboration with the acclaimed Irish writer and Lorca biographer Ian Gibson , evokes his life and unravels the exact circumstances of his death. Close friend of Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel , Lorca was a charismatic figure - musician, painter, actor, as well as a writer. The roots of his work lie deep in the rich culture, music and landscape of southern Spain. Through the recollections of friends and fellow poets, with singers and theatrical performances, in Spain, Cuba and the United States, this film evokes the passionate and potent spirit of Lorca's work and tragically short life. - Cambodian WitnessE296
Cambodian WitnessWhen the Khmer Rouge invaded Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, they forced the entire population into the countryside where they were starved, beaten and worked to death on grandiose, impractical 'revolutionary' schemes. Among them was a young man called Someth May, a doctor's son. Ten members of his family died before he managed to escape to Thailand. There he contacted the distinguished journalist and poet, James Fenton , who arranged his release from a refugee camp and brought him to England. For two years, May struggled to write his story with Fenton's help, and over the last 18 months Arena filmed the two writers as they overcame the barriers of language, memory and intense emotion to create a shocking and vivid memoir of his horrific experiences. - Scarfe on ScarfeE297
Scarfe on ScarfeIn this week's Arena Gerald Scarfe takes a long, hard look at himself. In his paintings and drawings he mercilessly pillories the powerful and the famous and yet in public he presents an image of docile sociability. In this irreverent investigation of his own personality Scarfe attempts to reconcile his two sides. He traces his progress from an asthmatic childhood through his early days in Punch and Private Eye to the Sunday Times - his days of reportage in Vietnam, electioneering travels with American presidents; he talks to Richard Ingrams Peter Cook , Harold Evans and Roger Waters and explores how his work has developed through sculpture, animation, films such as The Wall, rock and roll with PINK FLOYD to theatre and opera work. - Night MovesE298
Night MovesFifty years ago Basil Wright and Harry Watts' classic documentary "Night Mail" celebrated the role of the railways as the nation's distributor of goods, mail, food, and other essentials. In 1986 Arena's 'Night Moves' celebrates the role of the trucking industry - the age of steam has become the day of the articulated lorry. Count every commodity on a supermarket shelf, virtually every object you can buy - a lorry put it there. With Timothy Spall as The Fool on the Road and specially written music by Ian Dury, Arena goes trucking. 'Night Moves' creates a kaleidoscope of travel, incident, action and celebrities that will astonish everyone who thinks lorries just block the road. - Stand by Your Dream: Tammy WynetteE300
Stand by Your Dream: Tammy WynetteTonight Arena presents the moving story of the first lady of country music. At the age of 44 she's had 35 number one records, three Grammy awards, 50 albums, five husbands, four children, two grandchildren, continuing health problems and 15 operations. Yet she continues her punishing schedule driven by the dream that took her from the Alabama cotton fields to Nashville and now to Hollywood. Filmed in Los Angeles, Nashville and her childhood home in the deep South, she talks with openness about her career and her marriages, especially to country superstar George Jones. She also tells her story in her songs: 'Stand by your man', 'The bottle', 'D.I.V.O.R.C.E.' and "Til I can make it on my own'.
