... Giselle ROH WHEN Stephen Jefferies is cast as Hilarion in Giselle, the ballet becomes a genuine love triangle. Unlike most Hilarions, who are content to play the role for its stylised gesture, his movements have a sense of realism. Jefferies's Hilarion is not having a lingering love affair with the ballet's 150 year old 'origins, does not lean on history for its sentimentality; rather it ...

... Me and My Friend SOHO POLY THIS IS a beautifully balanced play, interestingly enough, since it deals with people who have lost their balance in life. Gillian Plowman chooses not to include any unnecessary social or political criticism of the rights and wrongs of care in the community, but states her concerns bv showing us the weaving lives of four people who are helping themselves and each ...

... Galaxy of Welsh talent PREPARATIONS are well under way for Llandrindod Wells' tenth Victorian Festival, which takes place throughout the spa town between August 18 and 26. A galaxy of events to suit all tastes will include a carnival procession, (Caribbean Evening, bandstand con certs, Old Tyme Music Hall, puppet theatre, jugglers, lire caters, a Gilbert and Sullivan night, Viennese gala ball ...

... Cottle shrugs off petition By Stage Reporter A PETITION signed by 5,000 local people opposed to the use of live animals in circuses was handed into Cardiff Qty Council to coincide with the arrival of Gerry Cottle's Circus in the city's Sophia Gardens. Leading the delegation of concerned residents was Labour Councillor Ian Brown, accompa nied by representatives of the newly-formed Animal ...

... Clampdown on 'fake' Drifters DERBY-based venue The Top Hat In Spennymore has agreed to withdraw its booking this month for a group billed as The Great Sound of the Original Drifters, following complaints from interna tional manager Faye Tread well. Tread well, who holds the rights to the hit group's name, threatened legal action if the rival band appeared as scheduled on May 26. The club has ...

... Time please CHANGES in Britain's lunchtime drinking laws could spell good news for thousands of variety entertainers. Working men's clubs throughout the country have reported a substantial drop in turnover since the Government agreed to allow all-day drinking in pubs. The change, introduced two years ago, has robbed many small scale venues of much needed lunchtime and evening trade, claims the ...

... Coriolanus BARBICAN DIRECTED by Terry Hands with John Barton, Shakespeare's ruthless study of power and self-deception is dominated by an appropriately strong performance from Charles Dance as the great warrior. Tall, golden-haired, and martial in aspect, he looks the living proof of the praise bestowed upon him by the consul Comimus (Frank Moorey), That valour is the chiefest virtue ...

... Too Little Toulouse WATER RATS THE DELIGHTFUL intimate music hall ambiance of the Water Rats Theatre is the perfect venue for Rhubarb Alley's production of Too Little Toulouse by Simon Towrtley and Gary Willis. Set at the turn of the century in the Naughty Nineties, this pastiche of Feydeau farces and romantic operettas of the time takes an amusing look at the hypocritical moral values of the ...

... Fifties singing star pulls out after one song FIFTIES singing star Ruby Murray was forced to pull out from her current tour three weeks early after collapsing onstage at Ayr's Gaiety Theatre writes Brian Attwood. She broke off after completing her first song in the production, the Fabu lous Fifties Show and told a shocked audience, I'm sorry, I can't sing any more. Murray staggered ...

... Playing it safe PAULINE LORIGGIO sees Lloyd Webber consolidate his position SHAFTESBURY Song and Dance WITH his tried and trusted knack of capturing the heart, rather than the mind of an audience, Andrew Lloyd Webber guarantees another safety in numbers night out as eight year old Song and Dance returns to the West End. As he already has four other musicals running in London and three on ...

... Flying horse puts a stop to show PERFORMANCES of Carousel at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds had to be abandoned when faulty machinery grounded the show's flying horse. The mechanical horse takes the hero up to heaven, but difficulties with it during last Saturday's matinee led us installers to recommend it should be shut down on the grounds of safety until repairs could be made. The ...

... Treasury tax reforms are a turn for worse CLUB managers have complained to Parliament that they are getting a raw deal from the Treasury. The powerful Club and Institute Union, which has more than six mil lion members and 3,500 branches, says high tax and rates charges are threaten ing to send variety venues into immi nent collapse. It claims that recent protests over the effects of tax and ...