Performance
on BBC FOUR
BBC
FOUR confirms its commitment to theatre with a raft of plays and
documentaries.
During
September and October, BBC FOUR will focus on the works of three
major playwrights, Tom Stoppard, Michael Frayn, and Harold Pinter,
alongside documentaries which include an examination of the current
state of play at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Making
a Crisis out of A Drama: Troubles at the Royal Shakespeare Company
BBC
FOUR, Tuesday 3 September at 8.30pm
Following
the announcement of Michael Boyd as the Royal Shakespeare Company's
new Artistic Director, Richard Brooks, The Sunday Times' Arts Editor,
goes behind the scenes to examine the legacy of the outgoing Artistic
Director, Adrian Noble, and the period of transition between the
two.
The
RSC has, in recent years, come under increasing fire from all sections
of the media.
In
1997 Noble made the decision to withdraw from its London base at
the Barbican for six months of the year.
He
commented at the time that to pull out completely would be "cultural
nihilism
we are reinventing ourselves to release new energies
and achieve new levels of quality."
A few
years later, he was to do just that.
Criticism
has also focused heavily on the plans for the demolition of the
Grade II listed Stratford Playhouse to make way for a theatre village;
the artistic failures, and the mounting debts.
However,
there are those who staunchly support Noble's stand, believing that
dramatic reforms are the only way to turn around the company fortunes
in the modern theatre world; and no one can doubt the ambition,
and success, of the recent cycle of history plays.
As
Boyd prepares to take the helm, Brooks investigates the background
to the company's current difficulties; and with contributions from
leading theatrical figures including Terry Hands, John Caird, Michael
Pennington, Jude Kelly, Christopher Foy and Harriet Walter, looks
at ways in which the RSC can reverse its fortunes under its new
director.
A BBC
production for BBC FOUR.
Tom
Stoppard: A Talk Show Special
BBC
FOUR, Wednesday 4 September at 10.20pm
In
a rare television interview exclusive to BBC FOUR, Tom Stoppard
talks to Joan Bakewell as his new trilogy of plays, The Coast of
Utopia, run at the Royal National Theatre.
Tom
Stoppard is acknowledged as one of the world's greatest living playwrights.
His
plays include Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Arcadia, The
Real Inspector Hound, Jumpers and The Real Thing.
He
has also written for radio, television and film - his recent screenplay
for Shakespeare in Love won him an Academy Award.
To
celebrate this event, BBC FOUR broadcasts the BAFTA award-winning
Professional Foul (part of the 1977 series of Play for Today).
A BBC
production for BBC FOUR.
Copenhagen
BBC
FOUR, Thursday 26 September at 9.10pm
Stephen
Rea, Francesca Annis and Daniel Craig star in Copenhagen, Michael
Frayn's award-winning drama about science, friendship and the uncertainty
of things.
It
has been specially adapted for BBC FOUR by Michael Frayn and director
Howard Davies (Armadillo, The Iceman Cometh).
Inspired
by the actual events that have intrigued and baffled historians
for more than 50 years, Copenhagen revolves around a 1941 meeting
between two brilliant physicists, Niels Bohr of Denmark (Stephen
Rea) and Germany's Werner Heisenberg (Daniel Craig); long-time friends
whose work together had opened the way to the atomic bomb, but who
were now on opposite sides of World War II.
Heisenberg
made a covert trip to see Bohr and his wife Margrethe (Francesca
Annis) in Copenhagen, but the meeting ended in disaster.
Copenhagen
explores Heisenberg's visit to Denmark and what happened during
the pivotal meeting that was to become a defining moment of the
nuclear age.
Michael
Frayn will introduce the film in a 10-minute special Copenhagen:
Prologue.
Copenhagen
is a specially commissioned BBC Fictionlab Production for BBC FOUR,
with American co-producer KCET.
Copenhagen
Fall Out
BBC
FOUR, Wednesday 25 September at 9.50pm
An
accompanying documentary, Copenhagen Fall Out, recounts the friendship
between Niels Bohr and Werner Hesienberg and their historic work
together.
What
happened at the Copenhagen meeting cast a shadow over the rest of
their lives and made their relationship one of the most controversial
in the history of science.
This
year, long after both of their deaths, the story has taken on a
new twist.
Pinter
at the BBC
BBC
FOUR, from 26 October
As
part of Pinter at the BBC, BBC FOUR broadcasts an extensive season
of Pinter's plays, films and talks - both archive, and newly filmed
works exclusive to BBC FOUR.
Update
- Pinter at the
BBC from the end of October (03.10.02)
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