Chelsea Flower Show

In this episode, I have a real literary treat for you.

Matilda Ziegler and Agni Scott are old friends, both actresses whose stage and screen work spans decades. In the late eighties Mattie was known to millions as Donna in Eastenders and more recently she played Rowan Atkinson's love interest, Mr Bean's girlfriend Pearl. Agni starred alongside Harry Connick Jr. in the Netfilx hit romantic comedy Find Me Falling, set in Cyprus where where she grew up. You may have seen her in Bridget Jones' Baby as Colin Firth's ex-wife. Now they are working together on stage in a brilliant revival of a play written in 1937- Judgement Day by Ödön von Horváth. It's somewhat of a full circle moment for Mattie who starred in Stephen Daldry's 1989 staging of the play, translated by Christopher Hampton at the same theatre -The Old Red Lion Theatre in Islington. She's directing this time, with her daughter Faye in the role she herself played thirtyseven years ago.

This is the first of two special editions of The Cultural Crunch from Edinburgh Festival. There really is no better place to be in August, when the city become a vibrant beating hub of creativity. The Fringe has more than three thousand shows across hundreds of venues, including for the first time this year - a sauna. Before the madness commenced, I caught up with six writers, directors and performers as they prepared to take their shows to Edinburgh. And what a talented bunch they are! Will Usherwood-Bliss of NewsReview, the topical sketch comedy show celebrating almost half a century at Fringe; Kitty Falcon whose moving tribute to her late father Sitting (In Silence) is set in a silent retreat; Conor Dye writer of Tap Out (or I'll hit you again), a comic play about a man who starts picking fights with strangers- just to feel something; James Watterson who plays a library inspector in The Librarians: A Very Serious Comedy!; Electra Kolb, a Fringe veteran at just eighteen, who is returning to Edinburgh with her one woman show Father, Away She Goes and finally one half circus duo Ockam's Razor Alex Harvey, who is taking to the trapeze with his wife in a new show called Collaborator.

It has undeniably been the summer of The Odyssey. Homer's epic poem is almost 3000 years old and has finally been given the big screen treatment it deserves. Christopher Nolan's blockbusting film adaptation has been well worth the wait and is without doubt the cinematic highlight of the year. You will be familiar with the plot, Greek hero Odysseus uses his wits to survive a perilous journey home from The Trojan War to reclaim his family and kingdom, despite the best efforts of sirens, sorcerers and a cyclops. Through readings and thought-provoking discussions, this bonus episode of The Cultural Crunch serves as both an excellent introduction and a scholarly appreciation of one of the greatest stories ever told.

Robin Mahoney has spent a lifetime working in film and television and has an infectious enthusiasm for his craft. We first met in the summer of 1993 when he was gathering a crew of fresh young creatives to make a film about a music festival on a farm in the Somerset village of Pilton. Glastonbury The Movie went on to become the definitive document of the festival before it became the internationally famous cultural phenomenon that it is today. It also captures British youth culture at the end of the analogue age, free from camera phones and corporate hype. It's a fallow year on the farm so while the festival is taking a break Robin decided to mark the 30th anniversary of his film with a UK- wide cinema release. We met up again to reminisce and celebrate this very special film.