... JME BREAN K A Dowling The two day showcase for the military presented by JME was first class. Having done many of these showcases John and Diane Mills and his able staff have really got it down to a fine an. Everything went like clockwork, and the acts were excellent. On the first day the show was compered by Jerry Thomas, a first class comedian with a wealth of experi ence and the same amount ...

... The Barber of Seville OPERA NORTH ROSSINI's The Barber of Seville is notoriously difficult to stage with success. Opera North have been unlucky with both their productions, which have emanated from Welsh National Opera. The present revival is of Giles Havergal's version, which reduces the work to the level of touring amateur opera fodder. Can there be any greater disservice to a masterpiece ...

... The Two Gentlemen of Verona NEW END PIZZA and Peroni regale the customers at Four Corners production, putting us firmly in Italy. Shakespere's early and tricky play handled here with consummate ease and imagination by director John Abulafia. A fine set for such a small theatre (Kit Line), furnishes a sun-baked scene, sporting an upstairs balcony, while a couple of chairs and a table can ...

... Missed the coach ANN NUGENT on a ballet lacking passion ROH Cinderella WINDING away in the distance with their last high lift, Cinderella and her Prince leave us with the promise of happiness ever afterwards. Their union is blessed--even the sisters have been brought to humility at sight of their newly exalted step-sister--and we are meant to leave the Royal Opera House feeling warm and ...

... The Room/A Kind of Alaska HAYMARKET THIS fascinating double bill, of early and late Pinter, is presented by the Terrence Higgins Trust, and brings together the directing talents of Paul Jepson--The Room-- and Frith Banbury. Part of the interest in seeing these starry casts here lies in the contrasting natures of the plays, with their very different uses of dramatic language. The Room ...

... Mistress of his heart COMEDY Noel and Gertie I LAST saw this celebration of two of our most remarkable stage talents, devised by Sheridan Morley from the songs, plays and autobiographies of the Master, a few years ago at the King's Head, with--if memory serves--Morley himself supplying the linking commentary. Here Simon Cadell, like Noel, did everything. Not, I think, fully recovered from ...

... Treats HAMPSTEAD TREATS, first produced in 1976, stems from Christopher Hampton's translation of A Doll's House at the beginning of the seventies, heavily applauded at the time as an early example of Women's Lib. Hampton's aim was to show that modern women can still become trapped in tory relationships, like his heroine Ann, who has thrown one live-in lover, a footloose, charmingly drunken, ...

... Hobson's Choice SADLER'S WELLS THE BRITISH love full-length story ballets, and now that Hobson's Choice has been given an extra interval and turned into three acts, it becomes a good evening's entertainment, as good at Christmas as at mid-summer. Throughout, the narrative, in which the underdog Will by diligence and the determination of his wife rises in the world, pays off the debts of his ...

... American Eagle LYRIC STUDIO CHRIS Amos has a funny and fizzy idea as the basis of this comic strip show, which also has a strong air of improvisdation about it with its small, energetic cast, most of them recent graduates of Bretton Hall. It is the sort of show that given more attention to detail and with much stronger editing, could become quite a cult. It's a patchy show with still much to ...

... Hold on Hortense WAREHOUSE CROYDON HORTENSE is the female Daniel in Guignol's den, situated for Vince Fox-all's bouncy Christmas show in a cafe bistro in the Rue Bastille. Based on the Grand Guignol plays of the tum-of-the century Guignol himself is played in grand style by Frank Ellis, a dab-hand at chilling the blood. Director Ted Craig masters the histrionic ceremonies with an adept cast ...

... Sylvia CAFE THEATRE JULIA Tarnoky's anxious stares set the scene for Jane Thomason's com pilation of Plath poetry and prose and inject a glimmer of madness into the poet of the title Sylvia. Tarnoky succeeds well in her por trayal darting from eager excitement to manic depression creating an illusion of schizophrenia which badgered Syl via throughout her life in which she constantly sought ...

... Big top falls flat SHEPHERDS BUSH Barnum IT MUST have seemed like a great idea to stage Barnum, a musical about the circus, in a circus tent. But in the upshot it did not come off particularly well on press night, which was admittedly reached with some difficulty owing to the previous week's high winds, which severely reduced sal time. Some of the circus skills, notably in juggling and ...