... Romeo and Juliet Leeds This is Malachi Bogdanov's third production of this play for the English Shakespeare Company in just three years--a testament to the director's inspiration. At the start of the new millennium, the clash between the families is depicted as one of historical periods. Romeo (played by Oliver Campbell- Smith), a cuddly extra-terrestrial accompanied by his kinsmen Mercutio ...

... Hurting Richmond In his first two plays for the Orange Tree, David Lewis found inspiration in Pirandellian comedy. His latest, featuring parallel but nomntersecting conversations for two quarrelling couples, will draw comparisons with Alan AyckDoum. But he uses the device to cut deep into the psyche, revealing the deep unhappiness of four people who can neither share a common togetherness nor ...

... Manners make this a treat Barbican Theatre Hie Rivals This well-nigh perfect comedy of English manners, which opened at the Swan in Stratford-upon Avon in March, has arrived at the Barbican as a Christmas treat for the discerning, directed by Lindsay Posner. Ashley Martin- Davis' setting gives us a xure sueei or rasnionaoie cam houses, which are pushed aside for interiors with an ...

... Junior's Story Oval House Stephen Luckie's new play pulls no punches. It is an uncompromising account of how a young black male, fleeing physical and sexual abuse at home, descends into a dark world of homelessness, drugs and prostitution. wxnougn sometimes cnarac- terisation verges on stereotyping, and psychological motivation seems simplistic, overall this is a powerful, convincing expos6 of ...

... The Golden Ass Glasgow Suspect Culture speak a very different theatrical language to their peers, and for this show--in association with the Tron Theatre and the Gorbals Initiative--they even leave English far behind, galloping over geographical borders in hot pursuit of excellence. It is not a wasted journey, although a few sections of this conscience-driven adaptation of Apuleius' novel test ...

... Grimms Hampton Wick Death in the form of Dave Roberts' hooded monk stalks the traverse stage of the Rose and Crown, not to mention Little Red Riding Hood supping Grandma's blood, and a disaffected wife laying her husband low with a frozen leg of lamb, before roasting the evidence to feed the cops. Alistair Green has turned his Horia company of actors and musicians into storytellers with 20 ...

... Henry VI Part One Stratford-upon-Avon Seeing all three parts of Henry VI in sequence on a Trilogy Day at Stratford is a nine-hour marathon, but what a feat and what a production. Working wholly in the round and using every crevice of the auditorium, director Michael Boyd takes full advantage of the Swan's enormous height to turn the acting area into something that at times resembles the ...

... Balance is the key ingredient Wimborne BFP Entertainments With three comedians, a magician and a salsa big band among the 11 acts, Mike Banting's event at Cobham Sports and Social Club offered a balanced evening of variety. John Star, the man of magic, compered and kept introductions brisk, which was helpful because some participants' time slots were excessive for a trade show. The event ...

... Comic pair impresses Northampton MJR Entertainment Showcase The Roade Ex-Servicemen's Club played host to this evening, compered by Al 'Stumpy' Evans, who kicked off the proceedings with some quick-fire gags, some of which missed with the early evening audience. The first act on stage was female vocalist Odette Williams, who got her spot off to an excel lent start with a raunchy version of the ...

... The Nutcracker Salford Peter Wright's splendid produc tion may be ten years old but cer tainly is not showing its age. Although it has been delighting fans of Birmingham Royal Ballet for some time, this is its first visit to the Lyric Theatre at The Lowry. The magical combination of Wright's sweeping choreography, with acknowledgements to Ivanov and Vincent Redmon, plus John Macfarlane's ...

... The Price of Meat Riverside Studios Michele Celeste first attracted attention with his hard-hitting Hanging the President, set on Death Row in a Cape Town jail. But his new play is a soft-centred soao Dretendine to be dark farce. It is set in a Yorkshire ghost town after the coalfields have closed down, leaving whoring, pulling pints and blackmail as the only sources of income. The Jackson ...

... A Woman of No Importance Manchester An imposing country house and an assembly of aristocrats at a candlelit dinner party set the scene for one of Oscar Wilde's most glittering and yet most moral tales. The hypocritical attitudes of Victorian society are scathingly attacked in the play which the Royal Exchange has chosen to launch its new season. Lez Brotherston's sumptuous sets and ...