Leading German composer Hans Werner Henze’s early experiences of Nazism and wartime conscription left him with a passionate belief in music as a means of political resistance and as a healing force. Filmed while on a rare visit to his home town in Westphalia, Henze talks candidly about his youth, the development of his revolutionary aesthetic and his nomadic musical life. He is seen at work on the score for his opera, The Treacherous Sea.
Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries’ creations, Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, remain two of comedy’s most popular figures. In this programme, the elusive comedian talks at length about the early influences that led him into his extraordinary career. There is library film of Mrs. Everage’s early television performances in Australia, as well as footage of Dame Edna on stage and, naturally, the antipodean superstar appears in person to comment on her alter ego.
Mark Morris
Morris is a brilliantly creative choreographer whose musicality and almost classical regard for form have led him to be hailed as the successor to the late George Balanchine, the doyen of twentieth-century dance. This programme was made when he was the resident choreographer at La Monnaie in Brussels. It focuses on his highly-acclaimed ballet L’allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato. He is also seen creating a new work in rehearsal, with dancers including Mikhail Baryshnikov.
African Literature as Celebration
This lecture by Chinua Achebe, Africa’s foremost contemporary novelist, provides an eloquent introduction to the new and genuinely great world literature which has emerged from Africa in the past fifty years.
Robert Altman
This programme looks at the work of one of American cinema’s most individual and innovative film-makers. Altman is seen on location in Holland working on his film, Vincent and Theo, and talking about his distinctive style and working methods as well as his often difficult relationship with the American film industry. The programme also includes extracts from M.A.S.H., McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Secret Honour and Tanner ’88.
Martin Amis
Noted for his provocative, dark comedies, satirising the more grotesque aspects of modern urban life, Martin Amis is the leading British novelist of his generation. In this profile, he reads from his book, London Fields, and explains how the onset of what he describes as “early middle age” changed his outlook on tife and death.
Yuri Bashmet
The internationally-acclaimed Ukrainian viola virtuoso, whose dark good looks have earned him the nickname of ‘the Paganini of our age’, is seen giving the Russian premiere of Schnittke’s Monologue and performing with the legendary pianist Sviatoslav Richter in the Pushkin Museum. In his Moscow flat, he discusses social and musical issues with other Russian artists and improvises on the viola. It transpires that The Beatles were the catalyst to his musical success!
Robert Lowell
Lowell is regarded as America’s greatest poet of the post-war period. Literary critic lan Hamilton wrote the first biography to appear after his death in 1977 and this film looks at Lowell’s life and work through the process of his research. There are readings of his poems, together with contributions from intimate friends.
Peter Brook
Brook has won international acclaim as the outstanding director of post-war theatre. This film covers the complete spectrum of his career, focusing on seminal productions, including King Lear with Paul Scofield (1962), the controversial Marat-Sade (1964), his magical Midsummer Night’s Dream (1970), Orghast (1971), and The Mahabharata (1985/9). Contributors include leading theatre directors Peter Hall, Jonathan Miller and John Barton, actress Glenda Jackson, writer Jean-Claude Carriere and actors from The Mahabharata, with whom Brook is seen at work.
The History of Hamlet
Hamlet is among Shakespeare’s most perennially popular plays and the complex title role is regarded by actors as one of the supreme challenges of their profession. Talking to leading stage directors and actors, this programme looks at the particular appeal of Hamlet. Archive footage shows some of the great Hamlets in action – Richard Burton, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, even Sarah Bernhardt in 1899.