... Magician hits out at Manning By HELEN GOULD STAUNCH Equity supporter Bernard Manning and his union have come under fierce attack from one angry Lancashire magician, who disputes claims that union members stand the best more chance of recouping fees for lost bookings. Manning last month warned acts to be wary of being fleeced by unscrupulous agents and venue managers in the recession, and ...

... The Turn of The Screw BIRMINGHAM IN HER new stage adaptation at the Rep Studio, Eve Lewis makes explicit what Henry James left clouded in uncertainty: that the apparitions of evil which the Governess encounters, and joins battle with, in her employer's house are the products of her overheated mind, created out of a repression of sexual longing It lessens the frisson of James' short story ...

... Music Hall BOLTON A VARIETY show offering a cornu copia of delights at the Octagon. A small cast go through some old time runes and wheel out their party tricks. Robert Whelan is veritably verbose as the Master of Ceremonies. The first half of the show gets off very slowly though for those who love singing along to Daisy Daisy there was satis faction a plenty. The real treats came in the ...

... The King And I LEICESTER THAT Leicester Haymarket's acquisition of director Paul Kerryson was one of the theatre's best moves of 1991 is reaffirmed in his production of The King And I Haymarket theatregoers had their first taste of his skills in the musical Chicago and he has repeated that suc cess in what is arguably the best of the Rodgers and Hammerstcin musicals. It is hard to believe ...

... Margate's missing panto DELAYS in setting up a trust left Margate's Theatre Royal panto-less this year. This season the theatre which last year starred Charlie Drake was closed. Delays in setting up the charity Tristram Trust, which will finance the theatre's production operation, meant there was no time to produce a Christmas show. But the management has denied rumours that the Royal is still ...

... Arson attacks at Pavilion thwarted TWO determined attempts to burn down Worthing's Pavilion Theatre were thwarted by staff during the current season there of Royalles Circus. Senior assistant theatres manager, Trevor Gray, said that in the more serious of the two incidents a rock from the beach had been used to smash one of the theatre's main windows and a heavy curtain was set alight causing ...

... Doormen will have to get a licence By ROBIN DUKE DOORMEN will have to be vetted and registered before they can work in Blackpool's nightspots. The resort's health committee has agreed to bring in a licensing scheme which will require all potential doormen to declare convictions and take part in training before taking up their positions. The scheme, to be administered by the council in ...

... The bad boy made good MANCHESTER Man OF The Moment ELEMENTS of a modern day morality tale in Alan Ayckbourn's witty swipe at media manipulation. Ayckbourn uses the Buster Edwards/John McVicar phenomenon to create Vic Parks (given an earthy rendering by James Quinn). Vic was an armed robber about a quarter of a century ago. Having served his time he has become a media celebrity (a touch of the ...

... Happy Daze CHARLIE Daze, one of the stars of television hit The Comedians is on the road to recovery after a hip replace ment operation. I've been trying to get round to it for some time, said Charlie who is now out of hospi tal and living with his family on Jersey. Tile doctor confused me at first I thought he said I needed a Up operation! Some people will do anything to shut me up! ...

... The Ghost Downstairs LEICESTER IT SEEMED like a good idea at the time is probably the best summing up of this production in Leicester Haymarket Studio. Telling the tale of the greedy solicitor's clerk, who like the politician was too clever by far, had a lot of promise. The Haymarket obvi ously think so, too, developing this specially commissioned work in asso ciation with Phoenix Arts and ...

... Medea CARDIFF Will; TMHR Greek tragedy can be satisfying adapted to a contemporary domestic situation is debatable. The ancient mythologies, legendary characters, theatrical conventions, dramatic structures, do not lend themselves to modern intimacy and attitudes. To write a new play based on themes explored in a 2, 500-year-old drama surely stands greater chance of audience involvement. ...

... The Pied Piper BIRMINGHAM IN HIS new stage adaptation of Browning's poem. Anthony Clark strives too hard to impart a message about the haves and the have nots in society--a theme which is undoubtedly in the original more subtly and more obliquely presented. Alternatively he might have taken the direct approach with the bravura of Dickens, for example, and occa sionally a Dickensian touch does ...