... Polygraph Glasgow POLYGRAPH, as presented by Robert Lepage's Theatre Repere of Quebec City, turned out to be a riv eting theatrical experience, not so much for the dramatic performances of the three strong cast which were in all truth most impressive but for the brilliantly innovative special effects and settings which were so profoundly effective. In a series of film-like sequences, ...

... Making the connection Sadler's Wells La Fille Mal Gardee WITH the version of La Fille Mai Gardee shown by Ballet du Rhin, we find ourselves caught in a time-cycle in which both coincidence and com-monaliry feature. This production, by Swedish choreographer-historian Ivo Cramer, was made in 1989 for the Ballets de Nantes (where the Ballet du Rhin's director Jean-Paul Gravier was then in ...

... Barnstorming killjoys HIGHBURY FIELDS A Midsummer Night's Dream THE INTERNATIONAL Footsbarn Travelling Theatre cheerfully tramples all over Shakespeare's text in its barnstorming approach to the Bard which opens the London International Festival of Theatre. Instead the emphasis is on gaudy surface trappings, while the protracted comic sequences provide a classic case of the actors having ...

... The Garden Venture The Judgment Of Paris/Echoes/The Panic RIVERSIDE THESE three brief pieces set their composers and librettists enormous tasks: who, apart from Puccini and a handful of names, has managed to be incisive and beautiful or memorable within such a short span? It is part of the fascination of these short pieces to watch the attempt. Perhaps the most successful is Paris (composer ...

... Margot La Rouge (Delius) Les Mamelles de Tiresias (Poulenc) GUILDHALL SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DRAMA VISITTNG the Guildhall is always an adventure. The productions and repertoire rarely fail to interest. Their current double bill is no exception. Delius Margot La Rouge ts an oddity. Unlucky cop, Thibault, dis covers childhood sweetheart Marg uerite in a bar frequented by prosti tutes, only to be ...

... English National Ballet Triple bill COLISEUM ENGLISH National Ballet may be a company reborn under the directorship of Ivan Nagy but, to judge from the poor attendance at the Coliseum last week, it is not yet a company revitalised. New names and new works--irr a bill that included Ronald Hynd's Sanguine Fan, Vicente Nabrada's Our Waltzes and the company premiere of Anne Frank are not ...

... The Rules Of The Game Almeida Theatre PIRANDELLO'S story of an eternal triangle between a man, his spouse and her lover leads to a studied game of nonchalance by a husband reduced to the role of a gentleman caller in the life of his wife. This domestic tragedy initially disarms us with the light, iron ic touch of a drawing-room comedy of manners that masks real human anguish. Playwright David ...

... The Great Big Radio Show BUXTON QUESTFEST 92 PERFORMED in a workshop production as part of the Buxton Opera House Quest for New Musicals, The Great Big Radio Show, by Philip Glassborow provided final proof that extravagant sets and a cast of thousands are not the only makings of a musical worth applauding. Good songs and a great cast point ed to the fact that here we have a writ er/composer ...

... Fern Hill Cardiff THE minor industry that feeds on the reputation and works of Wales's most widely known poet, Dylan Thomas, continues to expand. The latest offering comes from the Cardiff-based Sherman Theatre Company. Mike Kenny's Fem Hill is the result of a six-month project undertaken by the writer, director Phil Clark, com poser Paula Gardiner, and design team headed by Jane Linz Roberts. ...

... The Baby Watford JUST as well Jon Canter's first-born full-length stage play is a complete over-the-top comedy, otherwise audiences would be in grave danger of leaving the theatre in deep mourning for modem man. The caricature characters in The Baby are all stressed pieces of driftwood and debris on the snores ot modem society, in need ot both therapy and treatment. At the centre is Helen ...

... Iphigenie en Tauride CARDIFF GLUCK may not be a major draw at the box office, and his masterpiece has little chance of making the CD charts--but what a memorably power-packed night in the theatre Welsh National Opera made of it. The French producers, Patrice Cauner and Moshe Leiser, working in Britain for the first time, eschewed the visual delights of eye-catching sets, attractive costumes, ...

... Summer madness NEWBURY Cold Comfort Farm HAVING seen Paul Doust's Edinburgh hit Lady Bracknell's Confinement, artistic director Jill Fraser commissioned him to adapt Stella Gibbons' famous work. Thoroughly ton-gue-in-cheek, his world premiere seems well suited for her little theatre and its delightful gardens (one duction set partially outside is, not sur prisingly, an annual occurrence ...