25/09/2010

Tom Sutcliffe and his guests comedian David Schneider, writer Bidisha and ICA director Ekow Eshun review the week's cultural highlights including John Simm as Hamlet in Sheffield John Simm chooses Hamlet as his first Shakespearian role in Paul Miller's production of the play at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield Jonathan Frantzen's follow up to his much acclaimed 2001 novel The Corrections is called Freedom and centres on the mid-West family of middle-class liberals Walter and Patty Berglund World's Greatest Dad - a film written and directed by stand-up comedian Bobcat Goldthwait - stars Robin Williams as a brow-beaten teacher whose literary ambitions get an unexpected boost from the death of his obnoxious teenage son Against Mussolini: Art and the Fall of the Dictator is an exhibition of work produced by artists opposed to Mussolini both before and after his death. It's at the Estorick Collection in north London Christopher Reid's poem The Song of Lunch has been adapted for television and stars Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson as a pair of erstwhile lovers meeting for the first time in 15 years in an Italian restaurant. Producer: Torquil MacLeod.