... 'Nutcracker' lack of style FURTHER VISITS to London Festival Ballet's production of The Nutcracker at the Royal Festival Hall prompt me to ask why this commercially successful presentation should at the same time be so unsatisfactory from an artistic point. In the main the dancers are hard-working and proficient, seemingly interested in their work in spite of two- and-a-half weeks of ...

... Nureyev version THE ROYAL BALLET danced farewell to Christmas on January 21 with the last performance this season of .Nureyev's version of The Nutcracker, a particularly successful production that deserves further revival at the end of the year. Merle Park's childlike glee as Clara, her mechanical exacti tude as the puppet doll and sheer beauty of movement and grandeur as the dream ...

... 'Flamenco Puro' PACO PENA's Flamenco Puro, back at the Queen Elizabeth Hall for two weeks from December 26, is a far remove from the flashy showbiz side of Flamenco as staged for tourists on Spain's popular costas. Devoid of excess frilly glamour and exaggerated movements, Paco Pefia's show gives an impression of authen ticity in its interpretation of this unique form of music which is ...

... Scottish Theatre Ballet THE FULL-LENGTH production of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker has proved to be an admirable Christmas programme at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh. Scottish Theatre Ballet are to be commended for this glittering formance, which has all the story-book ingredients for the festive season. It begins with an elegant Christmas party in the grand manner that leads in the dreams ...

... London Festival AFTER Nureyev's version of The Nutcracker, London Festival Ballet's appears quite traditional, though it is now in need of a firm guiding hand to give the production some consistency. Even the once neatly-designed costumes for the divertissements have in some instances been changed for some tasteless creations, the worst on account of overwhelming numbers be ing the ...

... Natalia Makarova NATALIA MAKAROVA's guest appearance with the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden on December 19 included her debut here in a modern work, MacMillan's Concerto, in addition to the more familiar Don Quixote pas de deux. In this latter work she was part nered securely by a somewhat subdued David Wall, though his masculine sturdiness complemented her brasher style. She is ...

... Benefit A BENEFIT performance of The Rocky Horror Show will be given at 11.30 p.m. on January 23 at the King's Road Theatre in aid of Roy Truman. A board operator for the show, he was injured recently when a maroon blew up in his face, fusing him to lose an eye and impairing his hearing. Seats are priced from £2.50 downwards. ...

... SELDOM-SEEN OPERAS AT CAMDEN AS IN previous years, a feature of the Camden Festival 1974 will be productions of seldom- seen operas. On February 20 at the Collegiate, Opera da Camera will present the first perfor mance in this country of The Comedy of Errors by Stephen Storace, in an English transla tion by Arthur Jacobs with music edited by Richard Piatt. In the cast are Marie Hayward, ...

... Between the wars THE AMATEUR Swan Theatre Company presented the premiere of Happy Days Are Here Again, described as a look at the years between the wars, in fact and throueh the eyes of entertainment. It was devised, written and directed by Brian J. Burton, Chair man of the Company's Committee, with additional material by four others. A tremendous amount of research obviously went into the ...

... Impressive 'Time and the Conways' IN THEIR temporary theatre within Manchester Royal Exchange, the Sixty-Nine Theatre Company presented a revival of J. B. Priestley's Time and the Conways, which, though in one sense very much an actor's play, still gives pause for thought by the beholder. And as the author himself remarks in a programme note, It is indeed topical up-to- the-minute while ...

... Story of Columba COLUMBA, one of the first evangelists to set about the conversion of Scotland in the sixth century, is the subject of C. P. Taylor's new musical play presented jointly by Scottish Theatre Ballet Movable Workshop and Scottish Television at the Traverse, Edinburgh. The saint who emerges from Columba, a most imaginative production, is far removed, though not necessarily opposed ...

... 'THE PARTY', OR POLITICS IN KENSINGTON by R. B. Marriott IN TREVOR GRIFFITHS' The Party, the latest production by the National Theatre at the Old Vic, a group of people discuss politics at a gathering in the very smart Kensington home of a man who works in television. There are orations and tirades; various shades of political thought are examined. The behaviour and action of parties over ...