... Bluebeard's Castle/Erwartung EDINBURGH MAIN FESTIVAL THE CHANGE of mood from ennui to angst, from depression to despair, which pervaded the sensibility of the early years of this century, is nowhere better expressed than in Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung the two operas presented by the Canadian Opera Company for its European debut at the Edinburgh Festival. The ...

... Brighton blasts O'Neil By BRIAN ATTWOOD AMERICAN soul giant Alexander O'Neil has been warned by the manager of the 5,000 capacity Brighton Centre don't come back again after pulling out of a major concert date at the venue. Furious centre boss Derrick Francis was forced to brave an angry crowd which had waited nearly an hour for the singer to appear and tell them the performance was off. In ...

... Osman retires By JOHN HANNAM SOUTHAMPTON-based agent Les Osman has just retired from the business he first set up in 1962, with his wife Myrtle. He began in Eastleigh in 1951, but gave up for a few years when the emergence of television affected live entertainment. His South Coast agen cy has been sold to Tony and Ann Campbell. Osman first entered the business in 1947 when he managed the now ...

... Taboo plays to the front of the house By HELEN GOULD EDINBURGH Festival Fringe theatre promoters have skirted round licencing laws by staging their wacky show in someone's front room. The venue, known simply as Mrs Cooper's House, has been rented for a three week run of Taboo, star ring nutty double act Charlie Pink and Sidney Squeezy. An audience of just eight will be carefully selected by ...

... Scottish Ballet 2 HARLOW A BREEZE through Prokovsky's Scarlatti and Friends-a slight ballet, danced in practice clothes, to introduce six of Scottish Ballet 2's dancers-was followed by two contrasting pas de deux. The first, from the 19th century romantic ballet. La Sylphide tured Victoria Willard as the elu sive sylph, and Robin Bernadet as the Scottish lad, James, coping well with the ...

... Hiawatha BlLLINGHAM THIS IS pure joy, colourful, exciting for all ages and a fitting (and overdue) stage tribute to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Actor-writer Kate Dove has captured the mood and feeling of a poem too often murdered, literally, in classroom readings. It s tair to say, and a great pity, tnat children, certainly our generations, think of it as a brain-numbing chant and chore. Kate ...

... The Old Curiosity Shop FOREST FORGE WATCHING performance of the opening song, A Very Singular Gentleman, Swanage Mowlem's audience doubtless pondered on the kind of fist to be made by five players portraying 17 interwoven characters in Dickens' 'magic reel' of encounters on the road. dui wnen action starts sucn is me ingenuity of Stewart Howson's adap tation and Karl Hibbert's directing that ...

... Organ tour YOUNG ENGLISH organist Mark Shakespeare, who is now based in Germany with the Dr Bonn Organ Company, starts a concert tour tonight (March 24) at the Southport Theatre, continuing until April 28 at Halifax, Croydon, Eastbourne, Yeovil, Leamington Spa, Hanley, Peterborough, Romford (Dolphin), Halstead (Empire), Aylesbury, Fol kestone and Worthing. ...

... Complex action for Winter Gardens LANCASTER councillors have been considering whether to orga nise a conference on the possibil ity of re-opening Morecambe's Winter Gardens. The move follows a report by London consultants A. Y. Grant Ltd which concluded that restoration of the historic theatre would not be a financial success. But the theatre's Action Group wants to turn the venue, which ...

... New night club jumps the gun A NEW Midlands nightspot has been criticised for advertising star names before having a definite date for their appearance. The Top Dollar in Tipton advertised over 40 acts, including, Jim Davidson, Jasper Carrort, David Essex, The Sha dows and Alvin Stardust. But their managments were not aware that their artists had been booked to appear. Alvin Stardust's manager ...

... CENTRAL SCHOOL IMPROVISATION is a recognised form of artistic discipline in the curricula of most drama schools nowadays, but it is rare for the end product thus evolved to be put on display to the public at large. Yet that is just what happened with Something Rich and Strange. juiiiv. vi where third-year students of the Central School of Speech and Drama collaborated with the theatre design ...

... PENTAMETERS MOST of expatriate Robert Calvert's stage work so far has been with a high musical content, so it is not perhaps surprising that his short play The Stars That Play With Laughing Sam's Dice has a musical background. The rock star Jimi Hendrix, who burned himself out in the tragic pattern set by so many artists on the trapeze of success, was for a short time a paratrooper and ...