... Mecca circuit--still Britain's biggest employer of bands THE MECCA CIRCUIT, on which so many of today's top musicians and singers served their apprenticeship, remains Britain's biggest employers of bands and groups in the company's various ballrooms and nightspots. The group has no less than 59 bands under contract, all booked by Mecca Agency International, which is directed by Ivor Rabin and ...

... THE RE-FORMATION of the Tem perance Seven for a recent season at the London Hilton's Rooftop Restaurant was a delightful surprise for fans of one of this country's oldest established comedy bands. Since their Hilton season they have done society parties at such venues as the Savoy Hotel. Grosvenor House and Cafe Royal, plenty of college dates and concerts including dates at the Theatre Royal. ...

... Galaxy of top names lined up for Minehead Festival AN AMBITIOUS leisure experiment launched last year by a small Southern League football club is to be repeated this summer at a cost of over £100,000. Minehead Football Club is presenting 15 top stars and 30 support acts over a 15-day period. And with the experience of last year's event behind it, the aim is to learn from its mistakes. John ...

... NATTKE IN MEMBER 'POACHING' DISPUTE Entertainment union accused of 'discourtesy' JEREMY JEHU reports THE POWERFUL National Association of Theatrical, Television and Kine Employees has been accused of trying to put pressure on a tiny entertainments union by poaching its members. The criticism has been levelled by Ivor Gayus, general secretary of the 1,400-member National Association of ...

... The Barber Of Seville ALTERNATIVE OPERA CO. NEWEST OF the London showcase groups tor young professional singers, and with ILEA backing, is the one under the musical direction of Alan Hazeldine. For the first production at Islington Town Hall he mustered a double-cast of singers, the Orfeo Orchestra (which is posed mainly of music students) and the services of veteran producer Douglas Craig. ...

... Finian's Rainbow GUILDFORD A PROFESSIONAL attitude and youthful attack characterised the cast of 20 in Finian's Rainbow by the Guildford School of Acting. This famous Irish/American fantasy musical about a crock of gold has a compelling vein of reality running through it. There is the tion of greedy materialism versus the fellow who follows a dream and even a dash of the colour ques ...

... The Seagull GLASGOW ALTHOUGH there are several textually-supportable red herrings as to what the play is about, it is in fact most likely that Chekhov's The Seagull is about dedication to art. But the production directed by Margaret Gordon, and performed by mid-year stage course students of Glasgow's school of drama at the Athenaeum Theatre, did not quite come off. For Jacqueline ...

... The Revolt NEW END WITHOUT Simone Benmussa's sensitive direction and, even more, her striking design for the piece, Villiers De L'Isle-Adam's The Revolt might be regarded as a novelty, a short precursor to Ibsen in its recognition of women's emergence into a wider world which would become aware of their feelings. needs and hopes. As it is, the play brings the year at the beleaguered Theatre ...

... Rats cause cacophony STOKE The Pied Piper A RAT-INFESTED Victoria Theatre rings with the shrieks of young children. Fear not. The rats are actors and the kids are squealing with delight. The cause of the cacophony is The Pied Piper, the Vic's annual bash for five to 1 1-year-olds and their families, written specially for Stoke this year by Peter Terson. His play is liberally based on Robert ...

... The House That Jack Built MANCHESTER PLAYS FOR CHILDREN of the sort that can be staged at Christmas in lieu of the usual pantomime are in such relatively short supply that a new one is to be welcomed. For its Christmas nroduction at the Library, Manchester, the Library Theatre Company has been fortunate enough to find new material in The House that Jack Built from the pen of its associate ...

... LCDT's risky triumph LCDT Death and the Maiden ROBERT NORTH takes considerable risks by using the first two movements of Schubert's Death and the Maiden, but the more closely I reflect on the ballet of the same name that he has made for London Contemporary Dance Theatre (given its London premiere at Sadler's Wells), the more I think he has produced a minor masterpiece. At the opening, it ...

... DRAMA REVIEWS by Patrick Campbell SOME you win. some you try to forget. One Chance in Four, the last of John Bowen's six first-time productions for Thames (ITV Playhouse, Tuesday August 26. 9.0pm) belongs, I fear, to the second category. For this both producer and script editor must share some of the blame with the author. Paul Angelis. At this stage of television drama it should have become ...