... Let the Good Times Roll Isle of Wight Gurnard Pines Country Club, near the world famous yachting mecca of Cowes, was until recently a privately owned complex. It has a resident company which provides in-house shows and cabaret. Among its weekly productions is Let the Good Times Roll. Heading the company is Ritchie Monroe, who was featured in Stars in Their Eyes as Johnny Mathis. Unlike some of ...

... Summer Laughter Show Porthcawl Song, dance and lashings of comedy are the main ingredients of Porthcawl's superbly staged summer show at the Grand Pavilion. It is great to see lavish costumes and colourful scenery on a bill reminiscent of the good old days of variety. Welsh laughter-maker Owen Money is in sparkling form topping the bill, with hilarious quick-fire gags about schooldays in the ...

... BMHS Central Conference Centre President of the BMHS Roy Hudd's annual shows are always something of a surprise and this one was no exception, filled with pace, humour, good spirits and delightful touches. Hudd has an uncanny knack of spotting new talent and blending it with the best. Earl Okin, direct from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, is a somewhat laidback vocal comedian. Here is a lispy ...

... Having the legs is just not enough By LISA MARTLAND In the preview publicity for I Can't Begin to Ten You: The Betty Grabie Story (Rewind Productions for Radio 2, Tuesday, September 12), producer Olivia Landsberg was quoted as saying: Jerry Hall is superbly cast (in the leading role)-not only has she great admiration for Betty Grabie but, like the character she plays, she is blonde, sexy, ...

... Great Legends St Helier, Jersey Elvis lives! As do Patsy Cline, Gene Pitney and various other music legends in this seasonal cabaret snow at the Ritz Club, Mayfair Hotel. Great Legends does not follow the traditional dancers/ comedian/singers style cabaret Instead, it is a chronological tribute from the rock'n'roll of the fifties to the present day, performed by very talented enter tainers ...

... Gerry Gowans Hill Street Theatre Gerry Gowans greets her audience in completely direct style. Even before it sits down, she is chatting in the manner of someone giving an especially chummy party. We are invited to help with deci sions on the vexing problem of how to start. I'll walk outside and when I walk back in I'm charismatic! In this vein she discusses her perfor mance, and there is not ...

... Shylock as the common man Edinburgh International Festival Royal Lyceum Theatre The Merchant of Venice To say that this production is pretty much what you might expect from the Berliner Ensemble is not to diminish its worth. Director Peter Zadek sets his production in a major financial cen tre, an idea seen before, but it is given new life here. And his mes sage is clear: forget their racial ...

... Acid Maze Marco's Alan is a straight drug-loving clubber in his mid-twenties. He has a devoted girlfriend and good pals to share his moments of pleasure. White enjoying the benefits of an umpteenth Ecstasy tablet. Alan (Steven Green) seduces his gay friend (Sebastian Cheswnght) and in the aftermath tries to realise the evidence of his mixed feelings towards both sexes. Alan's emotions ...

... Peasouper Bedlam Theatre From the Old Bailey to Oklahoma and twice around the Pyramids, the madcap trio of Rejects Revenge Theatre pursue their global comic trail to solve the mystery of the Tiger Pearl of King Ting. They do it all at breathlessly breakneck speed, and with constantly hilarious resui^s. Romance is added to the thrills as Mr WHks proves himself a true Victorian gentleman, ...

... Mother of Oscar Southside Photographs, letters and sketches of the Wfldes decorate the walls surrounrJng the aurJence. It resem bles an exhfcrrjon, and yes. it is part of a display which is at another loca tion, but the aurJence is supposed to be here to see the play. Mother of Oscar concerns exactly that Jane Bgee, a writer in the mid 19th Century, married Dr WWam wade. Then Mrs WHde became ...

... Julian Clary Assembly Rooms He's been away for a while, living mainly in Oz for the last couple of years, letting the furore over the Norman Lamont incident die down. Now he is back with a new. more intimate and honest show. There are no flamboyant frocks, only the merest hint of slap while Hugh Jelly and the lovely Russelr are no longer needed. This is Clary in auto biographical mode. He is ...

... Sweet Desserts Pleasance Those two old bedfellows sex and food gang up to provide the themes for this touching and funny adaptation of Lucy Ellmans novel about sibling rivalry. Fran is vivacious, laid back, successful. Suzie is an over wrought, overweight underachiever. The Mary and Martha of the modem world. The play follows them from sfuwbtihiig toddterdom to the restrained rivalry of ...