Saturday Review - 27/11/2010

Tom Sutcliffe and his guests the critics John Mullan and Bill Feaver and comedian Natalie Haynes review the week's cultural highlights including The American. The American is Anton Corbijn's second film and stars George Clooney as a hitman holed up in a picturesque Italian hill town, considering his future. I, Claudius - adapted from the books of Robert Graves by Robin Brooks - is a six-part drama on BBC Radio 4 set in ancient Rome. The 1976 television adaptation won Derek Jacobi a BAFTA for his performance as Claudius and he's back again, but this time he's Augustus. To The Manor Born stars Penelope Keith and Peter Bowles are reunited in Sir Peter Hall's production of The Rivals. It's the first time they have appeared onstage together and they play Mrs Malaprop and Anthony Absolute respectively in Sheridan's romantic comedy set in Bath. Leila Abdoulela won the Caine Prize for African Writing in 2000. Her third novel - Lyrics Alley - is a family saga set in 1950s Sudan in which the strains between tradition and modernisation are played out in a wealthy merchant's household. Bridget Riley: Paintings and Related Work is an exhibition at the National Gallery in which the veteran British abstract artist has chosen to juxtapose her own work with pieces by Mantegna, Raphael and Seurat which have influenced her. Producer: Torquil MacLeod.