Monday 12 November 2007

RTE Arts Show


Since the demise of the rather good Rattlebag on RTE Radio 1, and the failure of the last night 11th Hour radio show, put down to lousy scheduling, we now have a new one.

RTÉ Radio 1's new dedicated arts' programme, The Arts Show, will be broadcast for the first time on Monday, 5th November. The broadaster is playwright Vincent Woods and it's on for an hour each weekday evening from 8pm.

In the first few weeks, The Arts Show will be looking at the writings of Kate O'Brien and Philip Roth, the life of the ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and the poetry of Seán Ó Ríordáin. Author Robert Harris will be discussing his favourite book and Vincent will be talking to writer Ken Follet and to Sandra Smith, translator of the novels of Irene Nemirovsky.

So quite a lot of literary stuff, worth tuning in. They have it available online too.

The reviews have been pretty dreary. Apparently the programme is not allowed the scope of, say, Front Row on BBC Radio 4, which can cover both serious bleeding edge art installations and the latest, shot 'em up blockbuster film. The slots are too long and too turgid. Give them a while to find their feet. Last week had two slots I was very interested in. Eilis Ni Dhuibhne's new novel, 'Fox, Swallow, Scarecrow' and Red Kettle's new play based on the book 'Riddley Walker' by Russell Hoban' in Waterford. Let's hope it tours.

The production team is:

Sian O'Gorman - sian.ogorman@rte.ie - 01 208 2412
Aoife Nic Cormaic - aoife.niccormaic@rte.ie - 01 208 3265
Kevin Brew - kevino.brew@rte.ie - 01 208 2445

To contact the programme email: theartsshow@rte.ie

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