Front Row - 26/06/2008

Presented by Kirsty Lang. Including: The latest blockbuster to hit the big screen is Hancock, starring Will Smith as an invulnerable superhero who is also a down-and-out alcoholic. Kirsty Lang and critic Nigel Floyd discuss the film. Philip Reeve's book Here Lies Arthur, based on Arthurian legend, has been awarded one of the top prizes for children's writing. Kirsty and music writer Helen Wallace review a new production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, which features actor Alex Jennings making his opera debut playing both Voltaire and Pangloss. Based on Voltaire's satirical masterpiece, it tells the story of a young man determined to maintain an optimistic outlook on life, but who finds this increasingly difficult as he leaves his sheltered home and sets out on an epic journey across 1950s America. In 2005 the Albanian author Ismail Kadare was awarded the first ever International Man Booker prize. To mark the first English publication of his novel The Siege, translator David Bellos and playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker share their passion for his writing.