... HARE AND LYNN AGAIN 'The Party Spirit' at the Piccadilly OBVIOUSLY the cynical authors regard Members of Parliament as falling into the farcical category of mothers-in-law. kippers and the Wigan Pier. Indeed anyone taking seriously for a moment the charac ters and incidents of The Party Farce by Pete Jones and John Jowctt,* presented by John Buckley and Alan Hay at the Piccadilly on ...

... SVETLANA BERIOSOVA THE Sadler's Wells Ballet season ended at Covent Garden on Saturday evening with a performancc of Coppelia which was delightful for its air of carefree joyousness and the dancing of Svetlana Beriosova as Swanilda. This production, with Osbert caster s effective scenery and cos tumes. is one of the best in the Company's repertoire, and it is danced by the entire company ...

... LIFE ON A HOUSEBOAT 'THE NAME IS 'SMITH: presented at Richmond Theatre this week, follows the tired trend of many farces. I'm not standing here to hear my wife in- Play by Patrick Cargill and Jack Bealc. presented by Alan Miles and Frederick Pilfard (for Richmond Repertory Co.) at Richmond Theatre on September 27. Decor by John Piper. Briggs Peter Hughes Arthur Eric Dodson Albert Duncan ...

... LENNOX BERKELEY'S 'NELSON' AT SADLER'S WELLS THE world premiere of a British opera is certainly an event- especially one not by Benjamin Britten. Comparison between Mr. Britten and Mr. Berkeley is to some extent inevitable. Nelson was begun five years ago, when Peter Grimes,, The Rape of Lucretia World premiere of the opera by Lennox Berkeley. Presented at Sadler's Wells on September ...

... Archie Douglass Comedy at Lancaster IT has become a habit with Archic Douglass to commandeer ageless proverbs and illustrate their significance in his own original way. His new play, Sauce for the Goose, at Lancaster Grand, is an amusing comedy of our time involving three generations of middle-class play by Archie Douglass. Pre sented by the Castle Players at the Grand. Lancaster, on ...

... New MaltbyFarce at Folkestone PRESCRIBED as a broad 1 comcdy, H. F. Mallby's Wet Week at Wcstbourne is in reality pure farce, based on a domestic problem arising in the household of Eric Newall, M.A., an ageing crammer. He possesses a very Play by H. F. Maltby, presented by Rov Limbert and J. Baxter Somerville (for Festival Plays. Ltd.) at the Pleasure Gardens Theatre. Folkestone, on ...

... 'MARCHING SONG' AT BRISTOL VIC VY/ITH John Whiting's Marching ?Song, the new Bristol Old Vic Company had again to fight an uphill battle against the choice of play, for despite the excellence of the performances, the production remained an evening of talk by Revival of play by John Whiting, presented by the Bristol Old Vic Company at the Royal. Bristol, on September 28. Setting by Patrick ...

... Peggy Wood and Maurice Evans have agreed to lend their names and time to an American Actors' Equity programme that would send out companies of performers in readings of the order of John Brown's Body and Don Juan in Hell. The venture is designed to expand interest in the professional theatre and thereby produce activity in what is regarded as a contracting field. If the response, in the ...

... 'Love in a Village' Arthur Oldham's version of Love in a Village precedes A Dinner Engagement at the Wells. This rather tedious story of men disguised as music-masters and gardeners, and girls disguised as maids, is a heavy contrast to the later opera. LOVE IN A VILLAGE Revival of the ballad opera, in the musical version by Arthur Oldham, with libretto by Isaic Bickerstaffe. Presented by ...

... IMPRESSIONS OF A PREMIERE 'The Turn of the Screw' in Venice NO English opera ever had a more picturesque launching than Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, given its world première on September 14 in Venice, at the Teatro La Fenice, where the English Opera Group's production was the most eagerly anticipated event of the XVII In- 't ternational Festival of Contempor- lt ary Music. c ...

... RAMPAGIOUS EXPLORER 'No News From Father' at the Cambridge NO News From Father is a London stage rarity--an adaptation from the Dutch. Some-how we do not often think of our good friends across the North Sea as theatre-goers or as writers for Farcical comcdy by Leonhard Huizinga, adapted from the Dutch by the author in collaboration with Donald Bull, presented by Hans Keuh (for Posseidon ...

... IT had to come, one supposes, the play on sex-change. The temptation to exploit the sensationalism of recent news stories is too great to be resisted. But sensationalism is not enough; there has to be a play Play by Rae Whistler. Presented by Bctiy Raymond at the Embassy on September 21. Settings by Vic. Jeff Johnson Michael Oxley Louis Delmar Rojina Manclark Arlie Ames Yootha Joyce Ruby ...