... 'KING LEAR' AT STRATFORD R. B. Marriott reviews THE THING itself: the forked animal. The poor human being lying there, on the bleak heath, forlorn, stricken; as Lear and the Fool look on. speaking in awe and wonder. Before that, Lear starting out on his new phase of life, believing he has olanned for the best: and the appalling outcome of that plan. Then, afterwards, Lear made greatly human ...

... THE HUMAN VOICE' WHAT A TRAP for an unsuspecting actress is Jean Cocteau's The Human Voice, and how easily Jennifer Lipman fell into it at the Little. It is an extremely difficult ROGER SLOMAN is climaxing a year in which he has done excellent work on stage and TV with an outstanding performance in the highly amusing Fosdyke Saga' at the Bush piece to perform on stage, requiring the actress ...

... Oklahoma at Leicester DENIS DOWNES REVIEWS A SPARKLING musical from the team that set My Fair Lady on the road to the West End. has opened at Leicester's Haymarket Theatre to general acclamation. it s not exactly new. Oklahoma has been on the rounds since 1943, and is kept alive by the frequent productions by amateurs. The freshness of this Oklahoma is largely due to James Hammer- stein, ...

... The Ancient Mariner YOUNG VIC LATEST IN Michael Bogdanov's sequence of romantic sagas fpr young audiences is one derived from Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Far more of a mood piece than, for example, Sir Gawain or Hiawatha, its effect builds slowly with much use of silence, dance, Japanese theatre techniques and lighting: one feels that the sort of pause more usually ...

... Terraces CARDIFF UNDOUBTEDLY the most ambitious project staged by Chapter Arts Centre in its eight-year history, Terraces, by Alan Osborne, is a remarkable and memorable theatrical event for several reasons. The staff built a special stage, a bandstand, a bar, a gallery for the audience, and created the environ ment of a turn-of-the-century pub. Osborne created 1 1 huge paintings to ...

... Flaming Bodies ICA HOW INTERESTING are other people's dreams? If they hang together as poorly as mine--or as Miss Mordecai's in Snoo Wilson's new play, Flaming Bodies--the answer is that they are less than engrossing. Bearable to sleep thrnueh mavbe. but not the subjects of which plays are made. Mercedes Mordecai is a lonely soul, a former script editor, con tinuing, for some unexplained ...

... Same Time, Next Year GUILDFORD WITH Same Time, Next Year. Bernard Slade has written a real guilt-edged comedy, the ultimate extra-marital trip. The play has just opened its tour at the Yvonne Arnaud and deals with the affair between a man and a woman both happily married. The action is spread over a quarter of a century, during which time they meet for 25 weekends and make love 113 times! ...

... Limited, without originality by Ann Purser Crimes of Passion, ATV, March 15. THE first of a new series of Monday night plays went out last week under the title Crimes of Passion. It was another based on fact drama about a murder committed in France, where crimes of passion exist as a separate classification. It is difficult not to compare this limited, old-fashioned pro duction with the ...

... None of main characters make enough impact by John Lawrence Manhunt, London Weekend, March 20. THERE is no doubt that over the weeks Manhunt has created a certain hypnotic appeal, which increases as one gets to know the characters well, and as they get to know each other better. Even so, it is unsatisfactory, chiefly because it so often fails i.\j nvc u y w iia UWII jjisienuai. To start ...

... Inventive and exciting by John Lawrence Wicked Women, Madeleine July. London Weekend. March 21. THIS, the last of London Weekend's series about wicked Victorian women was about a French actress who, for financial reasons, marries an innocent and virgin butcher, and finds she quite likes him. Her life is ruined when her former lover returns and seduces her. Subsequently as she resists her ...

... Is there truly an audience for such plays? by Patrick Campbell Tales of Piccadilly, A Special Occasion, London Weekend, January 24. ONE more producer, this time Jack Williams, has fallen headlong into the anthology trap. Tales of Piccadilly, now in its third week, is no more than an irrelevant audience-catching title. Its writers will either ignore it or find themselves stricted by it. Last ...

... Strength lay in descriptive power by Ann Purser The Wednesday Play, Sovereign's Company, BBC-1, April 22. DON SHAW, the author of last week's Wednesday Play, Sovereign's Company wrote from experience, and an unpleasant experience it must have been. Judging by his play, he found Sandhurst a class-conscious, tradition bound boarding school for young adults. Instead of creating an ...