... John Mills Entertainments TORQUAY By DAVID LOWE RAIN LEAKING through from the roof and onto the stage; freezing temperatures in the auditorium and dressing rooms, and a request by the promoter of the event for a portable stage extension, denied because of lack of advance notice despite the promoter having offered a team of his own staff to assist in the assembly of the unit. These ...

... Trick or treat GLOBE Man of the Moment WITH THE exception of Roger Glos- sop's Mediterranean villa setting, in which we set a wide patio complete with the swimming pool on stage, there is nothing tricksy about Alan Ayck- bourn's latest play, no evidence of one of those puzzles that Ayckbourn allegedly sets himself to solve in rical terms. But that is not quite the truth, because beneath the ...

... THE PLACE Spring Loaded IT SAYS a great deal for Union Danci that for three out of four years it ha: opened the annual dance festival Spring Loaded, at The Place. Th ...

... The Crucible OLIVIER THIS splendid version of Miller's 1953 masterpiece, his finest play and perhaps the finest play in American drama, gives us uniformly good per formances, with striking acting from Tom Wilkinson as John Proctor and Zoe Wanamaker as his falsely accused wife Elizabeth. If the William Dudley set, all gleam ing new wood, is overfussy and does little to suggest the light and ...

... Waltz of the Toreadors NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE THE EXQUISITELY wrought production of The Waltz of the Toreadors at the Shaw Festival by the English director-designer team of David Giles and Kenneth Mellor made one feel that an Anouilh revival was nigh. Not that the master French playwright has exactly gone out of fashion--his Eurydice is being done this season at Chichester but one almost felt ...

... Love Letters MELBOURNE A SURPRISE hit in Melbourne is the Sunday afternoon readings of American playwright AR Gurney's Love Letters in the Playhouse of the Victorian Arts Centre. Two actors read the letters sitting at desks on the stage. The desks are arranged at a slight angle from each other. The actors face the audience, but never make eye contact with each other. The correspondence begins ...

... The Lady or the Tiger RICHMOND MICHAEL Richmond's charming and witty musical, which he first directed here at Sam Walters' invitation in 1975, returns to the Orange Tree a year after the author's untimely death and makes an ideal choice for the festive season as a pantomime for grown-ups, though the youngsters in the audience seem equally to appreciate the subtle ties of Richmond's lyrics ...

... Madam Butterfly/The Love for Three Oranges COVENT GARDEN AS PART of the Westminster Opera's outreach performances, designed to reach those who might not be able to attend performances at ENO and to stimulate others into visiting ENO, this was a charmingly old-fashioned and agreeable short afternoon programme. Actress Polly March appeared in full drag as Lilian Bayhs skimpy, tightly-fastened ...

... Desirable Residents OVAL HOUSE JUST as the felines in Cats turned a rubbish dump into an earthly paradise for moggies, so the young derelicts in this Paupers Carnival Theatre production transform the scaffolding on an abandoned site into an adventure playground. i ney oniy cavort at mgni, oi course, when their dreams arc accompanied by the sounds of other people's music through nearby air- ...

... The Barber of Seville STAFFORDSHIRE FIGARO, the singing barber, has not exactly set Seville aflame with his song lyrics. So when he happens across the lovesick Count Almaviva moping over the object of his desire, Figaro decides to put his guile to use as a matchmaker with hilarious consequences. Almaviva is in love with Rosina. But she is the ward of the elderly and cantanker ous Dr. ...

... Sous Les Vetements Blancs ICA A NEW season at the ICA featuring the work of five women, from Europe, Africa and Asia who have emerged as choreographers during the 1980s, began last week with a strong Belgian contribution from Karin Vyncke. Her Sous Les Vetements Blancs is stark, intense and images. Her subjects are dead birds and caged women, seen through a wire mesh, and one interpretation ...

... If the shoe fits ANELLO & Davide, the top dance and theatrical footwear manufacturer, has been taken over for the second time in two years. Businesman Richard Kottler, backed by the Ensign Trust acquired the firm after a successful bid for Anello Davide's parent company Rayne Holdings. Commenting on the takeover Kottler said: I am pleased and proud to be associated with Britain's most ...