... Last week of Dance Umbrella ALMEIDA Dance Umbrella FOR ITS FINAL week in London, Dance Umbrella moved to the Almeida, where the most stimulating performer turned out to be the American soloist Dana Reitz. Part of the fascination in watching Reitz is to see the way her spare frame allows her to move with a rare harmonic completeness. She appears capable of dancing almost anything; nevertheless ...

... Translations LYTTELTON TRANSLATIONS might almost be regarded as the antithesis of the wellmade play. It has several strands of plot, but resolves none of them. But despite this, or more likely because of it, it is moving and almost thrilling in its ability to make us aware of its subject. This is, of course, Ireland, not merely whether the missing Lieutenant Yolland will ever be found, or ...

... Brilliant stage adaptation SALISBURY 84 Charing Cross Road THE DELIGHTFUL book, 84 Charing Cross Road, by American writer, Helene Hanff, has been brilliantly adapted for the stage by James RooseEvans, and its premiere at Salisbury Playhouse was given a deservedly generous reception. The play is set during the rationing and privation after the last war, and tells the true story of Helene ...

... Othello OVAL-HOUSE IT NEVER QUITE matters that the Oval House team directed by Gordon McDonald have an anarchic gift for upending every classic they can lay tongue and heel upon, for the end result is always one which illuminates. Their athletic Othello is brought to us by a rather sinister and run-down bunch of vagabonds whose in-fighting is as lethal as that of the story they unfold. The ...

... DANCE UMBRELLA Third Week THE HIGH NOTE of Dance Umbrella's third week was hit by a tall black man and a short white man--by Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane, with a captivating programme, at the ICA, of opposing forces and rhythmic exactitudes. in tnetr two works, Ulauveit Moun tain and Valley Cottage, they were dexterous and athletici they were also humorous or serious, coy or mildly sexy, ...

... DUBLIN FESTIVAL THERE WERE THREE dance offerings during the Dublin festival, one Irish and two from overseas. The first week saw the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company (USA) at the Olympia. They presented two programmes, neither of which can be wholeheartedly praised. This company contains many talented highly-trained dancers, but relied on the choreogrphy of only one person, Lar Lubovitch himself ...

... I Gave You the Spare Ribs and Told You to Get On With It! THE GREAT NOBODIES THERE'S A MOUTHFUL of a title for a shortish two-hander if ever there was one! Unfortunately, the invention of Tony Randall and Alastair Hutchinson doesn't quite sustain the thesis. We are concerned with a middling sort of man with middling theories who is told that he has only a short time to live. That's ...

... Zigger Zagger NYT NO MATTER how enthusiastic their fans, ageing football plays, like ageing footballers, might best be left to slide gracefully into legend or obscurity. For many reasons, Peter Terson's Zigger Zagger was ideal material for the National Youth Theatre's Silver Jubilee production. Not only the best- known and most hallowed show in the company's history, but bubbling with a ...

... Looking for Happiness in a Hot Tub CHISWICK THE INSATIABLE appetite of some Americans for self-improvement is the underlying theme of Robert Gretton's new short comedy Looking for Happiness in a Hot Tub, recently premiered at the Emperor Theatre, Chiswick. Set in a Los Angeles flat, it introduces us to four young people fully occupied with improving their life-style. Bob believes he can ...

... Annual Ball LONDON COMEDIAN Charlie Smithers is being nominated for the top post of King Rat when the biggest show business get-together of the year takes place at Grosvenor House on November 29. 1,500 guests will attend the sell-out .annual ball of the Grand Order Of Water Rats. The Order was founded in 1889 and has raised over £100,000 for charity in the past five years. Past King Rats have ...

... Sub reopens BLACKPOOL town centre cabaret spot, the Yellow Submarine, has re opened from its post-summer break under the new-look banner of the area's cheapest, biggest, brightest, fun pub. Determined to remain a part of the year-round entertainment scene but aware of changes in taste and ever- tightening belts, the new policy will feature name acts at a fixed admission price of 50p. We ...

... UN blacklist for S Africa visits MOIRA PETTY reports SHOWBUSINESS STARS who work in South Africa may find themselves on a blacklist compiled by the United Nations. The announcement, made in London last week by the chair man of the UN's apartheid com mittee, could draw top stage names into the political con troversy now engulfing the sports world. The list of personalities who have ap peared in ...