... Campbell's tour GLEN CAMPBELL supported by Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, begins a tour at the Hexagon, Reading on April 17, with dates to follow at Port Talbot, Guernsey, Jersey, Southport, Carlisle, Nottingham, Cambridge, Southend and the Dominion, Tot tenham Court Road, where the tour ends on April 29. The Gatlins will not be going to the Channel Islands but will appear in Stockport ...

... Nymph night BARRY J. MISHON has announced that Patricia Hodge, Marti Stevens, Frances Ruffelle, Nichola McAuliffe, Ian Charleson, Virginia McKenna, Elaine Stritch, Paige O'Hara, Kaye Ballard, Robert Meadmore, Patrice Munsel, Liliane Montevecchi, Alexis Smith, Peter Noone, Jane Powell, Andrea McArdle, Fiona Fullerton, Tim Curry and Elisabeth Welch (Subject to availability) will be taking part ...

... No talent to keep contest going A BIG MONEY talent contest has been scrapped at Blackpool's Bloomfield Club because of a lack of suitable performers. After being widely advertised, the competition was dropped after organiser and local agent Derek Allen, together with club officials, gave the thumbs down to the standard of local hopefuls. We didn't attract as many initial entrants as we ...

... Buffery sows seeds THE ROYAL Shakespeare Com pany's assistant director in Strat ford, Bill Buffery, is to take over as the new artistic director of the Orchard Theatre from mid January. He will succeed Nigel Bryant, who will leave for a post with the BBC in Birmingham as a radio drama producer after five years in which saw the audience treble. A spokesman for the company said Buffery would ...

... Spring term HUMPHREY LYTTLETON and his Band start off the spring term of concerts at University College School, Hampstcad on January 26. The Top Brass Jazz Orchestra directed by Bob Wheal, with vocal ists Dennis Lotis and Lee Gibson, follow on February 2, Canadian saxophonist Jim Galloway on February 9, Adelaide Hall (Febru ary 23) and the Jean Toussaint Quartet (March 2). ...

... Dench talks JUDI DENCH speaks at the first 1989 meeting of the Gallery First Nighters Club on January 8, to he held at 7. 15 pm at the Club for Acts and Actors, 20 Bedford Street, WC2. ...

... *We must stick together or die together1 Cafe Theatre masters support after £900 fine By BRIAN ATTWOOD THE director of the Cafe Theatre in Charing Cross warned this week he may close the venue after it received one of the stiffest fines ever to be imposed on a London fringe site. Michael Almaz broke the news after Bow Street magistrates imposed the third penalty in just two months after staff ...

... Last Tango On The North Circular/Caedmon/The Menaced Assassin DONMAR I Ht tirst opera in tnis, tne seconu Carden Venture programme intended to assist young British opera composers, is something of a tour de force, con ducted by Peter Wiegold who also composed and wrote the libretto. The beguiling title for surely London Underground and British Rail suggest not a tango, but a dance of death ...

... Bromley gets arts festival BROMLEY is gearing up for its first ever community arts festival in 1990 in the form of a mammoth celebration to mark the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Bri tain. Highlights will be the British pre miere of Scott Joplin's only opera, Treemonisha, and an international star-studded performance of Berlioz's Requiem in a specially converted han gar at nearby Biggin ...

... Blackpool Grand boots out Duffy BLACKPOOL Grand Theatre stage director Robert Duffy says he is stunned after being told he was no longer needed. The direc tor, who had worked at the theatre for the last eight years, says he was given a week's notice by recently appointed Grand Theatre general manager Paul lies. Dufly, of Rosebery Avenue, South Shore, claims he was asked to account for his ...

... Ticket agents' tax nightmare By BRIAN ATTWOOD TAX reforms introduced to cut down on red tape for tour operators overseas have created a tax nightmare for many ticket agents. The tour operators margin scheme was brought in this year to tidy up VAT rules for holiday firms based in this country who sell trips abroad. But the regulations also cover firms which buy theatre tickets and sell them as ...

... The Stage's back page funny business BRITAIN'S legendary directory of light entertainment, the picture directory section of The Stage was itself the subject of a new produc tion in London this week. The Back Page of the Stage Show was the brainchild of Punchline comedy club boss Tyler Moore whose venue is one of the hosts for the Holsten Funny Business festival. Star turns whose names and ...