08/06/2011

This week Libby Purves is joined by Meeta Raval, Kate Allatt, Gene David Kirk and Nell Gifford. Meeta Raval is recognised as a rising star of the new generation of opera singers and is one of the contestants in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition. She attended Wells Cathedral School and was the first Head Girl Chorister in the country. The competition will be broadcast on BBC Two, BBC Four, BBC Two Wales, Radio 3, Radio Wales and Radio Cymru. Fell-runner and mother of three, Kate Allatt's life was torn apart when she suffered a massive stroke leading to locked-in syndrome. Totally paralysed, she became a prisoner inside her own body and her family were warned that she may never walk, talk or lead a normal life again. However, through her own determination she made a remarkable recovery and did run again. Her book 'Running Free: Breaking out from locked-in syndrome' is published by Accent Press. Gene David Kirk is Artistic Director of London's Jermyn Street Theatre, who served in the Royal Air Force before embarking on a career in theatre. To mark the 100th birthday of one of the greatest playwrights in history, he directs Tennessee Williams 'A Cavalier for Milady' at the Jermyn Street Theatre, the only published work of his that has never been produced. Nell Gifford is the founder of Gifford's Circus which she set up eleven years ago. An Oxford graduate, she spent her gap year working in a circus, and never looked back, setting up her own circus eleven years ago, with the aim of recreating the magic of the traditional English travelling show. Their latest production is Tolstoy's 'War and Peace' which they are performing around the West of England this summer.