... Peer Gynt Duke of Cambridge Dominic Druce's new version of Peer Gynt is somewhat confused. He appears to have sat on the traditional fence, occasionally falling asleep and toppling over into 'touch of modem'. Personally, I'm all for guts and bad language in Ibsen but Druce nas nis liynt naming with the bit ing winds its long tenacious fingers around me one minute and breaking out into ...

... Trainspotting The Bush Anyone thinking this is in the same vein as Anorak of Fire, the comedy about nerdy trainspotters, is in for a big shock. Adapted from Irvine Welsh's cult novel this hard hitting, honest play deals with Edinburgh lowlifes. Our guide Mark (Ewen Bremner) is funny and charming and a long term heroin user. Mark loves heroin and raptur ously explains to his friend Tommy why ...

... Independent State Grace at the Latchmere One thing Susannah York isn't, is a singer, certainly not a country and western one. What she is though is a powerful, multi-faceted actress and that's displayed throughout her solo performance in Mark Davies Markham's Independent State as Patti O'Brien, the singer who seeks fame in Nashville, Tennessee. York put heart and soul into this tortured ...

... Enemy Palmers Green John Forgeham, director of the Fox, has revived Robin Maugham's play Enemy, last seen in London over 25 years ago ago at a theatre, the Saville, that was far too large for it. It is, in fact, an intimate, intense piece, a meeting in the Western Desert between a British and a German soldier, both sepa rated from their tank units follow ing bombardment, drawn together through ...

... Webb knows Evita well Touring Evita Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita, starring Marti Webb had its opening at the Orchard Theatre, Dartford, beginning a long awaited major tour which will run for the rest of the year. Given the size of the role and B the dramatic and sometimes I shouting vocal demands of the lead role, the puzzle is how I Webb's voice can stand up to it. But she's ...

... Lunch Girls Blackpool Although written before the television sitcom success of The Golden Girls, Ron Hart's bosom buddy play is forever going to find it difficult to shake off certain comparisons. With an all female cast of friends it certainly shares some of the same territory. Vee, Dee, Bee and Jay are the unfortunately named quartet of mismatched chums who. together with the never present ...

... Single Sex Hornchurch When a gingerbread group goes on a camping holiday, the emotional tensions of the single parents and their respective children are stretched to the limits. Dave Simpson's brand new comedy, produced by the Queen's Theatre in association with Inner City Theatre Company, explores fl the mental turmoil associated with separation, divorce and! spouse bereavement in a I light ...

... Tenri Gagaku ROH Based in Tenri city in Japan, Tenri Gagaku is a 31 person ensemble of musicians and dancers dedicated to preserving and performing the ancient Japanese court and shrine music Gagaku and the accompanying dance Bugaku. Originating in 5th Century China and Korea along the route of the ancient Silk Road, from the 8th Century onwards it became quintessentially Japanese, its style ...

... Magnificat Bastille Like Bach's canticle, John Neumeier's Magnificat alludes to the Latin text, Magnificat anima mea Dominum (My soul doth magnify the Lord) from the Book of Luke. Yet for all its biblical influence, the ballet avoids stark ecclesiasticism. Set to the aforementioned canticle sandwiched between three Bach suites and extracts from Mass in B Minor, the ballet opens with Adam and ...

... A Patchwork Quilt Polka Spanning the generations of one black family, A Patchwork Quilt is a delightful play, with music and song interwoven. Based on a novel by Valerie Floumoy, it is adapted for the stage by Canadian Michael Miller, who also directs. Stripped stage wings leave the eye to follow through a two tiered set designed by Gary Thome. In the foreground is the pre sent day home of ...

... Oleanna Westcliff-on-Sea David Mamet'scompelling play at the Palace Theatre really made me think. John is a professor at an American university. Carol is one of his students. Carol and John attempt to communicate but they are continually thwarted by their mutual incomprehension of one another's needs and wishes, and by the telephone on John's desk. This powerful metaphor for ease of ...

... More than a raucous romp Derby Our Boys Only in retrospect does Jonathan Lewis' play at Derby Playhouse, which he also directs, achieve its full impact. it is about the goings-on or five squaddies and a potential officer, or Rupert, variously afflicted, thrown briefly together in a military hospital in the spring of 1984. This is a play filled with mad cap antics involving beer and the more ...