... 'DINGO' CHARLES WOOD'S Dingo, which recently joined Brecht's Schweyk in the Second World War in the repertoire at the RSC's small Stratford theatre. The Other Place, though it also deals with the grotesqueness of war, lacks the perspective of the earlier play. Mr Wood is obsessed with horrors, and he presents some horrific images: the contorted charred body of a tank-trooper mourned by his ...

... 'RUMPELSTILTSKIN' BARRIE STACEY has revived the Easter pantomime tradition with great success, and the books he writes are marked by absolute cleanliness and strict suitability throughout for children. His new tour of the lesser-known theme Rumpelstiltskin keeps the same high standards. Impeccably dressed, ingenious adaptable decor, strong storyline, and appropriate melodies that carry ...

... LAM DA DOUBLE BILL POOR OLD Erik Petterson in Kenneth Jupp's (appropriately?) meandering play, The Explorer, doesn't have much luck. First he discovers egocentric explorer Harry Hamilton's body, punctured with arrows, in a Brazilian forest. Then, just off the plane, in England (and still suffering from jet lag), he finds himself acting as catalyst in Robin and Lena Hamilton's adjustment ...

... SAM SHEPARD TWO EARLY Sam Shepard plays have made up an early evening double-bill at the Little. They were performed by a largely American cast directed by David Amitin and concern the author's particular attitude to the America of the Sixties, the years of that country's equivalent of you've never had it so good, of the rise of the drug culture, of the youthful awareness of older futilities ...

... Aldwych 'Henry the Fourth' Opened January 29 THE TWO PARTS of the Terry Hands production of Henry the Fourth, seen last year at Stratford-upon-Avon. have joined the Royal Shakespeare Company repertory at the Aldwych, along with Henry the Fifth. The occasion is an event of the year. The staging is austere as far as settings are cerned. but highly charged with atmosphere, changing from ...

... Whitehall 'Come Into My Bed' OPINIONS might vary as to the exact audience for which Paul Raymond's new production Come Into My Bed at the Whitehall is designed. One thing is for sure --it certainly isn't for the lover of great drama and superlative acting. Come Into My Bed, written by one Andre Launay who must exist, mustn't he, because there is a picture and biography of him in the pro ...

... LIGHTHOUSE THEATRE ON THE WAY into Crouch End from central London, there is one of those now disused church halls which are rapidly becoming focal points for community activities of all kinds. The Edison Road church halls, it is hoped, will house a range of activities from old aee pensioners' luncheon clubs to karate, from bingo to playgroups, from pottery to theatre. The Lighthouse Theatre ...

... Royal Court Theatre Upstairs 'Just a Little Bit Less Than Normal' DO WE, any of us, know or even care what happens to those people bullied by life, whose unfortunate circumstances force them tempor arily into the public eye? In Just A Little Bit Less Than Normal, Nigel Baldwin rather inconclusively allows us into the grim life of Danny, victim of a pub bombing, loser of a leg, to see what ...

... 'Measure for Measure' BIRMINGHAM Repertory's production of Measure for Measure must register as one of. it not the. dramatic highlight of this year's Edinburgh Festival. Director Stuart Burge presents Shakespeare in the grand manner, making full use of the apron stage of the Assembly Hall to promote the sense of swiftly developing action. Robin Archer's design matches the swashbuckling mood ...

... Cockpit Islington Dance Factory ISLINGTON Dance Factory ventured upon an ambitious programme at the Cockpit with a short fourscene dance-drama The Sea King to involve all their dancers from the tiniest to the most experienced and a selection of highly original inventions to show off the paces of the senior dancers in solos, duets or trios. Grant-aided through ILEA, the husband and wife ...

... SCOTTISH BALLET PREMIERES 'MARY' SCOTTISH Ballet are certainly adventurous and bold. The new full-length ballet Mary Queen of Scots, choreographed by the company's artistic director Peter Darrell, and given its world premiere in the elegant redecorated Theatre Royal, Glasgow, on March 3, is an bracing production with memorable blue and silver colourings, good performances by the company, ...

... 'Viva Espana' Bankside LOPE DE VEGA'S Fuente Ove- juna, which was written some where around 1614, has been hailed as the first class-war play; it shows a group of oppressed peasants in revolt against a tyrannical overlord. De Vega, however, had an ordered view of society, a Christian (Catho lic) one and he saw Guzman's offence as being equally against his own overlords (the reigning mon- ...