... Role models VAUDEVILLE Reflected Glory RONALD Harwood's new play poses the question of whether an author is entitled to ransack his family's lives to provide material for a stage work, a matter which is presumably of particular significance to him, because he himself did so in Another Time. He also, of course, used personal ence, though not on a tamuy level, m his most successful play. The ...

... The Virtuoso BARBICAN PIT THE Swan at Stratford, where this production was first presented last year, was built to show there is a rich seam of English dramatic literature quite apart from Shakespeare. Greedily, one is always hoping the RSC are going to uncover there another Congreve or Wilde, though the chances of a further Way of the World or Importance of Being Earnest languishing ...

... My Fair Lady MANCHESTER 'WIV a little bit of luck' Simon Callow's production of Lerner and Loewe's popular musical My Fair Lady could well be a success by the time it reaches the West End after a 30 week regional tour. The main flaws apparent on its first night at the Opera House in Manchester, most noticeably a couple of lacklustre opening num bers and under-rehearsed lighting cues, could ...

... International Opera Gala ROH FUNNY old things, galas. I'm not entirely sure what purpose they serve now adays, unless it be to raise funds for a worthy cause. So it seems wholly appropriate that the ROH should host a junket to benefit British Youth Opera (BYO), many of whose alumni currently grace our operatic stages. The first half of the evening was a showcase for a clutch of BYO singers ...

... Billy Budd SCOTTISH OPERA WHAT a curious piece of work Billy Budd is. about a young seaman who murders an officer, yet it's not about him, and it wasn't murder. It's about good versus evil, but the beauty is flawed and the depraved one is also beautiful. l lien lucre is me siiaugc iauhuuiu- tion of period effects 1 9th century short story about an 1 8th century inci dent, adapted in the 20th ...

... An enjoyable evening and it's no accident MOLD Murder By Misadventure THEATR Clwyd Mold, in conjunction with Excalibur Productions Ltd, is currently offering Edward Taylor's cleverly contrived thriller/mystery play Murder by Misadventure at the Emlyn Williams Theatre. The production has all the ingredients required for a hiehlv successful run. namely a hugely experienced and talented cast, ...

... The Heiress BROMLEY I'VE HEARD it said, often, that a bad dress rehearsal means a good first mght,and vice versa. If we're to believe that, then the opening night of The Heiress at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley last Tuesday clearly followed an excellent dress rehearsal. Thank goodness for Nicola McAuliffe as Catherine. She alone gave us an exemplary performance, with The Marriage Of Figaro. ...

... Bourke and Blake DUBLIN THIS TWO-HANDER performed by Dublin's Portrait Theatre Company is the story of the spy George Blake and the man who helped him to escape from Wormwood Scrubs Prison, Sean Bourke. In Act One, Blake and Bourke are in the Scrubs looking back over their lives and discussing their escape plan. In the second half.the pair seem no more free as they live in exile under the ...

... Jump! The Life to Come GLASGON THEATRE is a fierce denunciation of chose responsible for the destruction of the Scottish steel industry and the people who allowed it to run down to a mere shadow of its former self in its very heartland Motherwell. The play, performed at John St Public School, Bridgeton, Glasgow is based on conversations over a six months period with the people of Motherwell ...

... Global warning is a world class act CARDIFF From Honey To Ashes MANKIND'S indifference to environmental devastation is the real-life tragedy that continues to turn the one-time Garden of Eden into poten tially uninhabitable wasteland. Such i> the theme of the latest stage work I by The Practice, the ensemble established by The Centre for Performance Research. And what a compelling, ...

... The Marriage Of Figaro HARROGATE ANDREW Manley, the artistic director of the Harrogate Theatre, always looks for new ways of presenting a well established piece of Theatre. Therefore, when he decided to do a production of The Marriage Of Figaro by Beaumarchais he thought it would be a good idea to use some of Mozart's music from his opera based on the play to mark the bicentenary of the ...

... Beyond Reasonable Doubt COLCHESTER DISTINGUISHED barrister Sir David Metcalfe, chairman of the Bar Council, is on trial for the murder of his apparently-beloved wife. Already terminally ill, did she mis takenly take an overdose of medicine or, as her devoted housekeeper insists, was she deliberately overdosed by an ill-tempered, cruel husband? Jeffrey Archer's renowned thriller, Beyond ...