... Cork gets new Arts Council post A FORMER Lord Mayor of London has been appointed the new vice- chairman of the Arts Council. Sir Kenneth Cork's new post was announced this week by the Arts Council executive. He succeeds Mar- ghanita Laski as deputy to chairman, Sir William Rees-Mogg. Cork, a chartered accountant, was chairman of the Royal Shakespeare Company for 10 years. He joined the Arts ...

... East of Aldgate Pump CANAL CAFE EASTEND Theatre Company's production of this small-scale musical has both charm and verve and must be an ideal choice for Cafe Theatre, in London as elsewhere. The company of nine, led by the indomitable cockney survivor, Ethel (Millie Kicve) and husband Arthur (Frank Scantori) are ably supported by a young cast, and there are attractive, hummable songs from Ron ...

... The Shattered Jug STRATFORD EAST HEINRICH VON KLEIST's play The Shattered Jug must be virtually impossible to perform in English--Goethe seemingly found it difficult enough in German, and Kleist never forgave him for its failure. Henry Livings had the idea of trans posing it to early 19th century rural Lancashire and it is still difficult to make it work satisfactorily. While the scene is ...

... Medea LYRIC HAMMERSMITH GOOD HEAVENS - what next? A musical on the subject of Medea? London has in the past few months been littered with Medeas and the latest to try this plum role is Madhur Jaffrey, in a production which, though low on poetry, is high on glitz. It also has a stunning 'score', from Richard Blackford, which reverberates round the theatre, creating its own drama, rarely matched ...

... Waxworks--not actors--at the Pavilion A SET OF waxworks representing over thirty years of rock music will be the star attraction and possibly the only entertainment on offer at the London Pavilion when it reopens at the end of the decade. The Rock Lives exhibition is de scribed in the atest planning detail* revealed by the site's developers Grosvenor Square Properties Group and Kennedy Brookes ...

... ROGER CAIN, of Michaels, Pullan and Cain, 252 Goswell Road, London EC1 has been appointed liquidator of John Offord (Publications) Ltd, which ceased trading on June 2. An estimated deficiency in excess of £200,000 was reported to a meeting of creditors on June 17 and a committee of inspection was appointed. ...

... Of Mice And Men WORCESTER A SELF-CONSCIOUS delivery of drawls and long pauses in which the actors appear to be wrestling with the laconic style of Steinbeck's writing results in an overall flat tone to Rob Walker's production, making it slow to catch our interest. It is also, at times, difficult to hear exactly what is being said and this diminishes some of the pleasure in the colourful idioms ...

... Oh Humans LYRIC STUDIO DURING the interval of Oh Humans an obviously disturbed woman was sitting in the Lyric foyer, shouting incoherent abuse at all those unlucky enough to catch her eye. The police were called and took her quietly away. While they were about it they might also have entered the Lyric Studio and apprehended Robin Driscoll and Tony Haase, joint authors and performers of this ...

... All American wind-bag Charles Spencer on Faye Dunaway and her rackety vehicle HAMPSTEAD Circe and Bravo HAROLD PINTER has always given the impression of being a writer who would sooner part with £50 rather than waste a word. So it is odd to find him directing this preposterous gas-bag of a play which is full of sound and fury and signifies virtually nothing - or at least nothing that we have ...

... Ashton programme ROYAL BALLET THERE IS no choreographer the Royal Ballet understands better than Frederick Ashton. The visitor, seeing the company for the first time in this new triple bill of Ashton works, would find instinct triumphing over past adversities, would find dancers properly absorbed by the contrasting moods of Les Patineurs, Scenes de Ballet and The Dream, and united by their ...

... Theatrical knife-edge SWANSEA One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest IT IS a unique experience to sit in the 300-seat studio of the Grand Theatre which has been created behind the iron curtain of the largest modern stage outside London. Dale Wasserman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, based on the novel by Ken Kesey, opens the season and is directed by Peter Dayson in a flowing production which is ...

... Heyday KING'S HEAD WITH HEYDAY Herbert Appleman has fairly and squarely invaded Boy Friend territory, even to the extent of describing it as a new musical of the twenties. But it is based on a story by Ring Lardner, a charming tale, of no particular relevance, about an 18-year- old girl who can't say no - to the promise of marriage, that is for this, being 1926, is all in the best ...