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Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy, Orson Welles play, The art of Liotard, UK song map

A review of the Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy, Austin Pendleton in Orson's Shadow, the Jean-Etienne Liotard exhibition reviewed, and Natasha Solomons and the UK song map.

With Samira Ahmed.

Love and Mercy is a biopic of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. It follows Wilson through the 60s, at the height of his fame, and the 80s, when he suffered a nervous breakdown and was in the care of controversial therapist Dr Eugene Landy. Mark Eccleston gives his verdict on the film and discusses the challenges actor's face when playing rock stars.

The play Orson's Shadow fictionalises the details of a reported clash of egos between Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier during the rehearsals of a theatrical production of Ionesco's Rhinoceros in 1960, which also starred Joan Plowright. The play was to be Orson Welles' last work as a theatre director, and coincided with the breakdown of Olivier's marriage to Vivienne Leigh. Playwright Austin Pendleton discusses how working with Orson Welles on the film Catch 22 inspired his portrayal of him.

Jean-脡tienne Liotard was an artist renowned throughout Europe in the age of Mozart and Casanova for the detail and honesty of his portraits, but he is almost unknown in Britain. The Scottish National Gallery aims to put that right with the first major exhibition of his work here. Moira Jeffrey reviews.

When Natasha Solomons was writing her novel, The Song Collector, she found out all about the art of song collecting and this duly inspired her to set up The Great British Song Map, a communal project to collect songs and pin them to an online map, accessible to the public. She tells Samira about the project and the novel

Producer: Ella-mai Robey.

Available now

30 minutes

Clip

Chapters

  • Brian Wilson biopic Love and Mercy

    Duration: 06:13

  • Orson Welles play

    Duration: 08:53

  • The art of Liotard

    Duration: 04:55

  • UK song map

    Duration: 07:48

Love & Mercy

Love & Mercy

聽is in cinemas from Friday 10 July, certificate 12A.


Orson鈥檚 Shadow

Orson鈥檚 Shadow

is at the Southwark Playhouse in London until 25 July 2015.

Image: Louise Ford (Joan Plowright) and John Hodgkinson (Orson Welles). Photo Simon Annand聽

Jean-Etienne Liotard

Jean-Etienne Liotard

is at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh until 13 September 2015.

Image: Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702-1789), Trompe l'Oeil, 1771. Oil on silk transferred to canvas ,23.8 x 32.4 cm. Collection: New York, the Frick Collection

Natasha Solomons

Natasha Solomons

The Song Collector by is available in hardback, paperback and ebook now.

You can find out more about The聽Great British Song Map .听

Image: 漏 David Solomons

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Samira Ahmed
Interviewed Guest Mark Eccleston
Interviewed Guest Austin Pendleton
Interviewed Guest Moira Jeffrey
Interviewed Guest Natasha Solomons
Producer Ella-mai Robey

Broadcast

  • Fri 3 Jul 2015 19:15

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