Saturday Review - 10/04/2010

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by novelists Catherine O'Flynn and Dreda Say Mitchell and literary critic John Carey to review the cultural highlights of the week including The Infidel and Mark Haddon's play Polar Bears Written by David Baddiel and directed by Josh Appignanesi, The Infidel stars Omid Djalili as a not particularly observant Muslim whose world is turned upside down when he discovers that not only is he adopted but he's also Jewish. The narrator of Damon Galgut's novel In A Strange Room embarks on three different journeys during the course of the book - in his native Southern Africa, in East Africa and in India. His role on each journey is different - The Follower, The Lover and The Guardian - yet despite his best intentions each journey ends in failure. Polar Bears is the first stage play by Mark Haddon, best known as the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It concerns Kay (Jodhi May), a would-be children's writer who is bipolar, and the effect that her mental illness has on those closest to her, including her philosopher husband (Richard Coyle) and her mother (Celia Imrie). In an occasional series in which we invite one of reviewers to select a cultural sacred cow for ritual slaughter, Catherine O'Flynn argues the case against Orson Welles's supposed masterpiece Citizen Kane. Lagos is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and already has a population of 16 million, three quarters of whom live in slums. BBC2's three part documentary series Welcome To Lagos provides a snapshot of life on the margins of a 21st century 'megacity'.