Arena (1975)
Season 1980
Wide-ranging arts program.
Where to Watch Season 1980
21 Episodes
- Lene Lovich: Sleeping BeautyE2
Lene Lovich: Sleeping BeautyFormerly a professional screamer in horror films, and 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. - Mentioned in DispatchesE3
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'. 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. - The Learned Goat and Other PeopleE5
The Learned Goat and Other PeopleFirst of two films about 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, Taub's work centres on the belief that the main difference between people and animals 'lies in the placement of the ears'. - Bring Me Back a SongE7
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"E8
"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 Johannesburg'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-Tone)E9
Rudies Come Back (or the Rise and Rise of 2-Tone)Adrian 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. - Working At ItE10
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. - Victoria Wood & Andrea DunbarE11
Victoria Wood & Andrea DunbarA double profile: as 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 teenage playwright Andrea Dunbar's remarkable first play, 'The Arbor', is now running at the Royal Court—it was written when she was only 15, it draws on her own experience as a schoolgirl mother. - Climb Every Mountain (or Nothing Succeeds Like Failure)E12
Climb Every Mountain (or Nothing Succeeds Like Failure)"Failure can be fun" is the motto of self-confessed failures David McGillivray and Stephen Pile. 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, which meant he was thrown out of the Not Terribly Good Club of Great Britain (which he founded). - Double VisionE13
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. - Fringe BenefitsE14
Fringe BenefitsAn anthology of songs that never made the charts. Yet they are some of the most provocative and entertaining songs of the 70s. Satirical, polemical, rousing, sad, originally written for the theatre and probing different aspects of the welfare state we're in, from love and marriage to law and order. These songs are the fringe benefits of that thriving development, outside traditional theatre, of small community theatres and travelling companies, taking plays and music to often non-theatre-going audiences in venues ranging- from factories to social clubs. - Dedicated Followers of Fashion (2): Seams Like A DreamE16
Dedicated Followers of Fashion (2): Seams Like A DreamA 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 FlawE17
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 (1): Time ReleaseE18
In Their Own Image (1): Time ReleaseFirst of two films where women photographers turn the camera on themselves. 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. - In Their Own Image (2): Facing Up to MyselfE19
In Their Own Image (2): Facing Up to MyselfSecond of two films where women photographers turn the camera on themselves. At the age of 40, having spent most of her working life photographing other people for a living, 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. - Making 'The Shining'E20
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 Straits
E21Dire 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.