Saturday Review - 12/12/2009

John Wilson is joined by novelists Louise Doughty and Michael Arditti, and writer James Runcie to discuss the cultural highlights of the week - featuring a tortured artist, wild things and the re-emergence of silent films. The play Red by John Logan, directed by Michael Grandage, features the contemporary artist Mark Rothko. Set in his New York studio in 1958, under the watchful gaze of his young assistant and the threatening presence of a new generation of artists, Rothko takes on his greatest challenge yet: to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting. Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak's classic children's story, has been made into a film with a screenplay by Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers. It tells the story of Max, a disobedient little boy sent to bed without his supper, who creates his own world - a forest inhabited by ferocious wild creatures that crown Max as their ruler. Has the story made a successful transition from page to screen? The pantomime season is upon us and our reviewers have been to see some of the latest productions including Aladdin and Jack and the Beanstalk. Are they still popular among children and adults? With reviews of some of the best of the winter's young teenage fiction, including The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Guantanamo Boy by Anna Perera, and The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness. All are novels with dark stories; is this a trend? Sky 1 television is sending filmmakers back to basics. They have brought together established writers, actors and directors in a series of silent short films to be broadcast this festive season on consecutive nights as Ten Minutes Tales.