... The Case of Rebellious Susan ORANGE TREE ALTHOUGH it rates only a brief mention in the reference books this witty social comedy about a wronged wife determined to repay her erring husband 'in his own coin.' brought West End and Broadway success to its author Henry Arthur Jones back in 1 894. Stuffy London critics were shocked by its candid mockery of Victorian sexual double standards. Shaw ...

... The Drowning Point VILLAGE THEATRE IN NICHOLAS Earls' play, The Drowning Point, a Brisbane schoolteacher feels her life has been destroyed by betrayal and loss. It's a cleverly constructed and slightly touching piece, but one that ultimately drowns its point with too many words and melodramatic ges tures. Beth (Claire Porter) is a broken woman. Her perfect world, filled with plenty of domestic ...

... Quite a splendid rollercoaster ride BELFAST The Taming of the Shrew ROBIN Midgley could hardly have hoped for a more auspicious start to his term as artistic director at the Lyric than he has achieved with his rollercoaster pro duction of The Taming of the Shrew, which has had politicians, personalities, senior citizens, children and even theatre critics joining in the dancing in the aisles ...

... Hedda Gabler LFICESTER LOOKING at this well produced and well presented version of Henrik Ibsen's classic it is hard to believe that he penned it over 100 years ago. There is a freshness about it which belies the 104 years of its existence and the Haymarket's own master craftsman, director Paul Kerryson combines with a strong company to present messages as relevant today as they were in the ...

... Crusade THEATRE ROYAL STARTFORD EAST PAUL Sirctt s new play leaver a mismatcned group oi jerusaiem-oounu tourists stranded in the desert on the occupied West Bank, lights the touch- paper of cultural conflict and retires. The breakdown of their bus brings out their strengths and weaknesses and inevitably leads to a greater respect for each other's differences, but the drama itself is a ...

... Reasonable doubt APOLLO Rough Justice HOW much one tries to like Terence Frisby's new play and how much one regrets that this kind of problem play, with all the pros and cons neatly and fairly laid out, does not quite cut the mustard in the West End any more. It possibly illustrates the fact that we, meaning critics, expect too much of the West End, for I am sure, with out wishing to sound ...

... No Big Deal ORANGE TREE KO1.> Kcacham s comedy takes a candid iook at sex as a pleasant way of passing a rainy afternoon, 'no big deal in fact but with plenty of tears before bedtime. It's not the first play to be premiered in-the-round at the new Orange Tree. But in Stephanie Turner's stylish production, set in the Guildford garden room of Anne and Richard (design by Su Bentinck), it's the ...

... Great Balls of Fire LYRIC HAMMERSMITH IT'S BEEN a popular trend over recent years to place a collection of nos talgic chart hits in a theatrical setting and call it a musical. Some of these have been more entertaining than others, but most of them at least had an attempt at a story'. Return to the Forbidden Planet parodied Shakespeare in a sci-fi setting, Hot Stuff's Faustian story was so over ...

... Beauty and the Beast WOLVERHAMPTON BEAUTY and the Beast has been retold and rewritten by various authors producing a miscellany of rec- ollections of this charming French 18th Century tale. The most moving and tragic reconstruction of the work seen in Jean Cocteau's mid forties film is a memory difficult to forget, but for the future, my memory will be that of the pure enchantment of the ...

... Freni's Fedora is full blooded ROH Fedora UMBERTO Giordano's opera has not been staged at Covent Garden for nearly 70 years, yet if there is any work to interest the operatic novice it is this. It is easy to see wny tnis excellent example of the verismo style has had so few productions, for it is short and has three complicated settings, one in St Petersburg, the second in a Parisian salon, ...

... Rockula OLDHAM BRAM Stoker's diabolical creation, the Count Dracula, has provided food for a multitude of filmic and theatrical treatments and now Christopher Lillicrap has given it the Rocky Horror treatment in a new rock musical Rockula. >uwi vi uik siivmauijiiv lias been lost over the intervening years since Rocky Horror first became a cult show but Rockula is proof that it is difficult to ...

... Crazy For You PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE THE MEREST excuse is justification enough to see the sensational Crazy For You a second time. But, as with all the big musicals, the first major cast change lends added interest. It is a testament to the quality of this production and the written work that both transcend individual characterisation. Nevertheless, within these parameters the new show has a ...