... Angel employee cleared of arson charge THE production controller accused of starting the fire which caused thousands of pounds to top theatrical costumier Morris Angel has been cleared of the charge by a jury at Southwark Crown Court. Angel employee Aiden Heed, 34, was arrested in 1989 soon after the blaze swept through the firm's West End premises. Only a day before the incident he told his ...

... Paget Rooms face new improvements PENARTH Town Councillors want to carry out improvements costing an estimated £2 1 ,000 at the council-owned Paget Rooms, which are used regularly for all types of live entertainment. Town Clerk Edward Vick told the Properties, Leisure and Amenities committee that proposed improve ments to the ladies' toilets would cost £1 1,000 and to the gents' toilets £9,000 ...

... to Judy Garland. Agent Norma Kinsella is offering three pairs of tickets for any of the remaining dates on Jeanette's tour plus six promotional T- shirts. The prizes will go to the first three correct answers to the fol lowing questions: ?Who played Judy Garland in the West End production at the Strand Theatre based on the performer's life? ?Judy Garland's best known husband was producer ...

... In search of one's better self SYDNEY Money And Friends A NEW Williamson is always a good indication of where lie this country's morals, and how seriously we should take the playwright's strictures upon them. After battling with drugs and lawyers in the eighties, David William son's last play, Siren, simply threw up its hands and admitted that we might as well laugh at a greed that had got out ...

... Romeo Et Juliette PARIS LYON Opera Ballet's contemporary reworking of a classic piece, Romeo et Juliette, aimed primarily to highlight the contrast between two societies, by way of costume, music and principally, movement. Angelin Preliocaj, the choreographer, took ples from George Orwell's works to recreate the theme of a totali tarian militia which maintains a social hierarchy over an ...

... Hay Fever MELBOURNE THERE was a time, I recall, when Australian actors, called upon to portray an Australian character, were terribly self-conscious and most unconvincing. Now, many years later, the pendulum has completely swung the other way and they are frequently far from convincing when called upon to play an English character. Never was this more apparent than in the Melbourne Theatre ...

... Easter Ball for Gulf victory FIRST Leisure is celebrating the Gulf war victory with a special Easter Saturday Ball. The VG Ball is the brainchild of marketing executive, John Herdman, and is offering free admission and VIP treatment to any member of the armed forces in Blackpool at the time. We have VE and VJ celebrations so it seemed the right thing to do to have a victory in the Gulf one, ...

... Morter forced out of Her venue GREAT Yarmouth impresario Gerald Morter has been ousted from the town's Wellington Pier theatre by its local authority owners for alleged non-payment of bills. Borough council officials repos sessed the end-of-the-pier venue last week claiming that Morter had reneged on the terms of the five year lease, which he took on last year after his second year at the ...

... Club bashing budget Chancellor Norman Lamont was branded a nightclub killjoy by venue bosses after he slapped a two pence increase on the price of a pint, xvrites Brian Attwood. The rise means that excise duty on booze will go up by nearly ten per cent and, warns Brian Hession of the Club and Institute Union, many smaller premises could go to the wall as a result. It just goes to show that ...

... Council says 'NO' to circus pressure By STAGE REPORTER FOR THE second rime within six months, Lincoln's Labour-controlled city council has registered strong pressure from animal rights campaigners to impose a ban on circuses using performing animals. Their message to circus proprietors is clear Cany on coming to Lincoln, because a circus isn't the same without animals. As reported The Stage, ...

... Industry faces the music CONSUMERS in the United Kingdom top the charts for the top buyers of music products in the world but, says a leading firm of analysts, the industry faces a tough time in the nineties. Business experts Coopers Lybrand Deloitte warn that, while the longterm future looks good, the first five years of this decade will prove dif ficult and performers could be the first to ...

... Adzido Sadler's Wells FROM relatively small beginnings Adzido has become the largest African dance company in Europe, with a 25-strong company on stage at Sadler's Wells for its latest production Siye Goli, which has a text by Odia Ofeimun which tells the story of the people of the southern half of Africa over the past 200 years and is directed by Stephen Unwin, working with a dance company ...