... King Lear Young Vic Initially, it is hard to forget that the small, shuffling and balding figure of the elderly king is in fact being played by a woman. But the novelty wears off, and Kathryn Hunter's performance in the title role is startlingty effective, perhaps in part because her tation emphasises Lear's age rather than his masculinity. Director Helena Kaut- Howson's production is every ...

... Ramzy Abul Majd Royal Court Upstairs The background to this production by the Al-Kasaba company of Palestine will stir the compassion of all theatre workers. According to its artistic director George Ibrahim, Jerusalem is dying as a cultural centre because Arab audiences are without permits to cross the Israeli cordon. He gives the dilemma a dra matic focus with an adaptation of Athol ...

... Inherit the Wind BAC A sarcastic barrister, a pompous evangelist and a nervous judge give the latest production from The Steam Industry its power. The staging helps to draw the audience in, but in the end it is the acting which does the trick. Henry Drummond (Dominic Gray), the dry and wily lawyer, is defending a teacher's right to tell his pupils about Darwin nothing too controversial there, ...

... She's Electric Coventry Chris O'Connell's new play for Theatre Absolute, premiered at the Belgrade Studio, is a somewhat uneasy mix of styles, attempting to fuse the paranormal with a naturalistic drama about the kidnapping of a child. Rob and Patsy Hewitt are not terrible parents, but they are young, a bit unstable and not really ready for the weighty responsibility of caring for a small ...

... The Visit Belfast David Grant's imaginative, pictorial production of Friedrich Durrenmatt's The Visit marks the resurrection of the Lyric Theatre's drama studio, after almost 20 years in the twilight. The group compnses an eclectic assortment of 'aspiring' local actors, some semi- professional, some highly experienced amateurs, with others making the transition from youth theatre and college ...

... The Pirates of Penzance Newcastle-under-Lyme For long the home of community- based documentary theatre, the New Victoria in North Staffordshire, has found a successful new formula and is clearly determined to cash in on it. Last year, I described its per formance of The Mikado as the funniest production of a Gilbert and Sullivan production that I had ever seen. Now that has been superseded by ...

... The Illusion Manchester Tony Kushner, the brilliant young American creator of Angels in America, agreed to adapt Comeille's classic comedy The Illusion to pay his rent. And the result, which, he claims, has very little to do with the original, is a splendid piece of theatre which explores the difference between reality and illusion, revealing theories on love and the magic of theatre along ...

... Last Nocturne The Link George Sand and Chopin bicker and finally part in writer/director Chris McCullough's family saga of bohemian folk, which is all the. better for concentrating on its characters' personal foibles and leaving their grand ideas in the background. George (Alison Hopwood) runs a highly-strung and sexually complicated household. Her catty daughter Solange (Pandora Clifford) ...

... Spinning Oval House Telling of a gay love affair between a cultured, sarcastic older man and a young, preposterously emotional schoolteacher, Tenebris Light's play wins sympathy for the non-committal sophisticate rather than the young underdog. Most of the laughs are at the underdog's expense, and when he finally comes into his own it is almost impossible to root for him. The downtrodden ...

... The Merchant of Venice Hull When it comes to value for money, theatregoers at Hull Truck were given more than their pound of flesh when the small but undeniably talented Compass Theatre Company presented Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Hardly traditional bhake- speare as I, and doubtless many others, were taught, but nonetheless an interesting pro duction performed against the starkest ...

... The Evangelist Belfast Sam Thompson started his working life as a painter in the Belfast shipyard of Hariand and Wolff during the thirties. A passionate, outspoken socialist of the old order, he had a wide number of pet hates-one was sectarianism, another was gious hypocrisy. The first of those he dealt with, to devastating effect, in his once-banned play Over the Bridge. The other is the ...

... As You Like It Nottingham Nearly all the characters are volatile in their sexual orientation. Oriando is as keen on Rosalind as Ganymede as in her proper person. For her part, Rosalind is unashamedly amorous of Celia and that pert, little miss is equally responsive until she falls for Oliver's physical attraction. This playing with affection has its problems at the Playhouse. On a cool, ...