... Noel and Gertie SYDNEY I'VE HEARD of out-of-town tryouts but surely Sheridan Morley has established unbeatable records with Noel and Gertie which has been seen in Hong Kong and Sydney. When it makes its West End debut in October the cast will consist only of Michael York and Patricia Hodge as the eponymous couple. Here in Sydney produced by Robert Morley's other son, Wilton we have seen the ...

... Hello and Goodbye ALMEIDA ATHOL Fugard said the two characters in this play, Hester (Estelle Kohler) and Johnnie (Antony Sher) would be an expression of moods and moments of beauty. Indeed Fugard's script is a master piece of thought, word and deed. But with such power and importance instil led into two characters living in a poor white area of South Africa in 1963, it is not only a very ...

... The Rivals HEVER JUDGING by his previous forays into Kent Rep, Ramsay Gilderdale's name signifies a joyous flamboyancy which is not as apparent in his production of Sheridan's The Rivals as it has been in his acting roles. This time, in his role of director at the Hever Castle Lakeside Theatre, he makes florid attempts at exaggeration which are neither grossly defined nor subtly gentle. This ...

... The Scatterin' DUBLIN JAMES McKENNA's rock'n'roll musical is set in the Dublin of 1958, but the dreams and frustrations of his working class Teds are curiously contemporary. Change the songs cover versions of hits by Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and Elvis Presley and the costumes, and it could just as easily be 30 years later. Frank Hallinan Flood's excellent first act set suggests a Dublin of ...

... Playing against the odds PETER HEPPLE on a charmingly youthful musical revival REGENT'S PARK Babes In Arms THE MOST interesting feature of the Rodgers and Hart musical Babes in Arms is in discovering the context of some of their best songs. For example, My Funny Valentine, usually crooned by a male singer outside its original setting, turns out to be a song sung by a girl to a boy named- ...

... The Met Season NEW YORK NUREYEV'S Paris Opera Ballet was at the Met, he was also at the State Theatre (with New York City Ballet) and on tour with his 'Friends', and the Opera's ballet students were at Juilliard. It was a three-week feast of dance. The season at the Met began dis appointingly, with Isabellc Guerin, Laurent Hiiaire and seemingly most of the company off-form in Nureyev's ...

... Barnstorming killjoys HIGHBURY FIELDS A Midsummer Night's Dream THE INTERNATIONAL Footsbarn Travelling Theatre cheerfully tramples all over Shakespeare's text in its barnstorming approach to the Bard which opens the London International Festival of Theatre. Instead the emphasis is on gaudy surface trappings, while the protracted comic sequences provide a classic case of the actors having ...

... The Garden Venture The Judgment Of Paris/Echoes/The Panic RIVERSIDE THESE three brief pieces set their composers and librettists enormous tasks: who, apart from Puccini and a handful of names, has managed to be incisive and beautiful or memorable within such a short span? It is part of the fascination of these short pieces to watch the attempt. Perhaps the most successful is Paris (composer ...

... Margot La Rouge (Delius) Les Mamelles de Tiresias (Poulenc) GUILDHALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DRAMA VISITTNG the Guildhall is always an adventure. The productions and repertoire rarely fail to interest. Their current double bill is no exception. Delius Margot La Rouge ts an oddity. Unlucky cop, Thibault, dis covers childhood sweetheart Marg uerite in a bar frequented by prosti tutes, only to be ...

... English National Ballet Triple bill COLISEUM ENGLISH National Ballet may be a company reborn under the directorship of Ivan Nagy but, to judge from the poor attendance at the Coliseum last week, it is not yet a company revitalised. New names and new works--irr a bill that included Ronald Hynd's Sanguine Fan, Vicente Nabrada's Our Waltzes and the company premiere of Anne Frank are not ...

... The Rules Of The Game Almeida Theatre PIRANDELLO'S story of an eternal triangle between a man, his spouse and her lover leads to a studied game of nonchalance by a husband reduced to the role of a gentleman caller in the life of his wife. This domestic tragedy initially disarms us with the light, iron ic touch of a drawing-room comedy of manners that masks real human anguish. Playwright David ...

... The Great Big Radio Show BUXTON QUESTFEST 92 PERFORMED in a workshop production as part of the Buxton Opera House Quest for New Musicals, The Great Big Radio Show, by Philip Glassborow provided final proof that extravagant sets and a cast of thousands are not the only makings of a musical worth applauding. Good songs and a great cast point ed to the fact that here we have a writ er/composer ...