... BOTH as choreographer and dancer, Christopher Bruce is one of Ballet Rambert's greatest assets. Last week he was seen in both aspects of his talent, firstly as choieographer of Duets and later as dancer par excellence in Glen Tetley's Pierrot Lunaire. Duets. which opened on Sep tember 21, is an extraordinarily peaceful work, something along the lines of a latter-day Lilac Garden with ...

... 'Las Hermanas' PATRICIA RUANNE is a dancer with a quality of intensity that illumines all her work with the Royal Ballet New Group, and her performance as the eldest sister in Las Hermanas at Sadler's Wells Theatre on October 19 burned with suppressed passion. This MacMillan version of Lorca's House of Bernarda Alba is a mixture of stylised movement and melodramatic acting, and does not ...

... 'Hansel and Gretel' IN HANSEL AND Gretel, staged by the Harlow Ballet Club at The Playhouse, Harlow, on October 29. Janet and Leo Kersley provided an ideal leading role for their guest artist, Wayne Sleep. Admirable as he was, however, offering all the virtuoso brilliance one expects from mm plus a convincing characterisation, there were other points of interest about the production. The ...

... Stunning 'Stages' THE AUDIENCE on October 31 for the London Contemporary Dance Theatre production at Sadler's Wells Theatre of Robert Cohan's Stages seemed to be mainly teenage school kids, but, after about the first 90 seconds, the only sounas tney uttered were reac tions of laughter when warranted, horror during the interrogation sequence and a cacophony of applause and cheers at the ...

... Annie Ross ANNIE ROSS' was much improved as the singing Anna in The Seven Deadly Sins at Covent Garden on October 27, more at ease with Weill's music, moving as smoothly as a dancer and working in close rapport with her dancing alter ego Lesley Collier, who is new to the role. Miss Collier's Anna enjoys each sin with relish, and she achieves projection of character almost entirely through ...

... Nureyev's Faun A SPICK AND SPAN revival of Kenneth MacMillan's Concerto was the main item in the Royal Ballet's programme at Covent Garden on October 30, though Nureyev stole most of the attention with his dancing in two other works. He was seen first in Robbins' After noon of a Faun, in which his indolent style, with its strong echoes of Nijinsky's faun, created an illusion of ...

... Bronte ballet A BALLET by Ronald Hynd based on the life of the Brontes will be premiered by the Royal Ballet New Group in March next year at the Bradford Alhambra. Lynn Seymour will dance the role of Charlotte Bronte. The music has been specially commissioned from Douglas Young. Fellow in the Creative Arts at Trinity College, Cambridge, and the designer will be Peter Docherty. ...

... 'Molloy' a JOHN MOLLOY'S one-man show, Molloy, at Dublin Eblana, is a compendium of events in his life, both personal and theatrical. The personal includes a stint in the Navy, invalided back to Dublin, periods in tubercular hospitals. The theatrical takes in touring with the fit-ups, Shakespeare and films. Mr Molloy's artistry is in mellowing the sacred and profane of each, in articulating ...

... On the rocks IT'S A BIT of under the greenwood tree, who loves to lie with me at the Bush, where the double-bill from November 5 to 17 began with Christina Brown's Under the Bamboo Tree. This is a half-hour three-hander about a marriage which may, or may not. be on the rocks. The incumbent wife has invited the incipient one to dinner they take their roles very seriously, but all the man ...

... Mysterious play and fine acting at Hampstead by R.B. Marriott IT IS HAPPENING here and now; the players are playing themselves; illusion has been stripped away; the audience is not watching the play, it belongs to it. So it is with Peter Handke's The Ride Across Lake Constance, translated by Michael Roloft, at Hampstead Theatre Club. Or, rather, this is how it seems, because, of course, ...

... Many qualities but no heart CALM SEAS and a prosperous voyage it may have been above decks, but below on a convict ship bound for Australia in the year 1807, if we are to believe Steve Gooch's Female Transport. calmness appeared solely in the guise of satiated slppn or f self-inflicted death, and prosperity was never even a dream. The play, directed very well by Ron Daniels, opened at the ...

... Sunshine matinee STARS mingled with prodigies at Drury Lane on Sunday, November 18 for the annual Sunshine Gala Matinee in the presence of Princess Margaret. Major talents of today, who. had all given their services free, shared the bill with top competitors from the All England Sunshine Dancing Competition, from various schools throughout the country. Each half of the show began with a ...