Front Row

Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro has turned his attention to the incredible story behind the Federal Theatre in 1930s America in his new study “The Playbook: A Story of Theatre, Democracy and the Making of A Culture War”. He discusses the groundbreaking performances staged by its 12,000 employees, including Orson Welles’ all-Black production of Macbeth, and the extraordinary woman who ran it, Hallie Flanagan.BEKA is a singer-songwriter who’s gone from singing backing vocals with Honne to featuring with them as a performer, and supporting Laura Mvula and Griff. She has cowritten a soundtrack album for the Apple TV series Trying and joins us to play a track and talk about writing for herself and for TV.The YES Festival which runs from 13th to 16th June in Derry/Londonderry and Donegal focuses on Molly Bloom, the fictional character who appears in James Joyce's novel Ulysses. This culmination of the two-year-long Ulysses European Odyssey uses Molly as a springboard for a celebration of female power and creati