... Personality of the week THE TRANSITION from light entertainment to the straight theatre, and particularly Shake speare. is never easy, but it has been accomplished with distinc tion by HELEN COTTERILL, who is playing Doll Tearsheet in Henry IV for Prospect Theatre Company at the Round House, followed by an extensive tour and a return to the Round House at the end of the 'year. Born in ...

... 'THE TWO PIGEONS' WITH LESLEY COLLIER dancing the girl in The Two Pigeons at the Covent Garden on July 8 and Ann Jenner the gypsy, the two boys dancing the corresponding male leads for the first time received the best of help. David Ashmole's study of the boy tended towards bad temper in his reactions to the girl's teasing, almost as if he resented her loving him. But in the gypsy camp scene ...

... BOLSHOI, 'NUTCRACKER' A RETURN VISIT to the Bol-shoi's Nutcracker at the Coliseum on July 15 produced not the expected EkaterLna Maxi- mova and Vladimir Vasiliev, but a change of cast with Nina Sorokina as Masha and Mikhail Lavrovsky as the Nutcracker ri ini.tr. Sorokina is, as might be ex pected, a technically proficient dancer, but her very strength does not make for credibility in this ...

... ROYAL BALLET SCHOOL THE WEEK of performances by the Royal Ballet School at Wimbledon (from July 8) was a test of their ability to recreate the same works night after night, and it was rewarding to see how some of this year's more promising students dealt with their problems. New to them was Cranko's duet Beauty and the Beast, with Lorna Murray's fresh young personality allied to a soft style ...

... IN A WELL-REASONED programme note to Dr. Angelus, which Pitlochry Festival introduced as its second producion of this season on April 22, a claim is made that a reassessment of James Bridie may reveal him as a dramatist who has something for the 1970's. The light in which it is sug gested this may develop is in the reaction of modern audiences to Bridie's revelation of the complex ...

... THE BUSH 'A NAVAL OCCASION' IF NOTHING else, an actor should be able to write effectively for other actors, and this Henry Woolf does with a true theatrical flourish in A Naval Occasion, at the Bush. In fact, one could say that Mr Woolf specialises in that very English art of the tirade, which is a bit unnerving at close quarters. A Naval Occasion is apparently about the English need to ...

... Personality of the Week PETER STEVENSON is one of the most gifted and interesting young directors to emerge in recent years, and his latest production, of Nightlight at the King's Head Theatre Club. Islington, shows to striking ad vantage his feeling for at mosphere and ability to build it up, his subtle and telling arran gement of movement and posi tion, his imaginative way with detail, which ...

... LONDON FESTIVAL BALLET LAST week's dance events produced nothing to equal Barry Moreland's Prodigal Son for originality. London Festival Ballet's production, first seen at the Coliseum on May 7, does full justice to a work which shows this young cnoreograpner in a new vein oi theatrical, almost showbiz, effectiveness. Set to Grant Hossack's orchestration of some Scott Joplin numbers, and ...

... BACH FESTIVAL FROM THE France of le grand siicle, this year's English Bach Festival moved on April 29 and 30 to fin du siecle Spain. An evening of dance, both classic and flamenco, at the Queen Elizabeth Hall was preceeded by one of zarzuela at the Royal Festival Hall. This anthology programme demonstrated one pos sible reason why this charming variety of musical theatre is seldon presented ...

... Women's Theatre Group LAST SUMMER the Women's Theatre Group was formed to present a lunchtime season at the Ambiance Luchtime Theatre Club at the Almost Free. This season, organised with the co-operation of Inter-Action and financed by the Arts Council, ran for ten weeks from October through December to full houses. Four new plays by women playwrights were directed by women directors with ...

... 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 ...

... 'THE TURNING POINT' AT THE DUKE OF YORK'S R.B. MARRIOTT REVIEWS Opened September 26. HOW DANGEROUS it is to satirise, or just send-up. a certain type of play in the course of another type. The writer must at least be as good as his target, if not better. In 'The Turning Point at the Duke of York's. Francoise Dorin attacks avant garde theatre. She does a dou Die. however, also showing up ...