... Macbeth and the Maestro Gilded Balloon This promenade performance, up and down the wynds and closes oi the Royal Mile, is half Macbeth, had a New York set adaptation In which the fight for Scotland's crown Is turned Into a gangland drug war. It Is an interesting concept which entertains more because of Its set ting than in its execution. Using a mixed cast of profes sionals and students from ...

... Macbeth Moray House Studio A dark, brooding, Intimate and ulti mately deeply ironic Macbeth Is the vision of Krakow's Teatr Ludowy. A certain amount of visual flash Is inevitable in Polish theatre, so witches swing from the celling or pop out of the floor, while Hecate flies down a wire. But in fact the staging Is for the most part literally dark, Illuminated by flashes of light from inner ...

... An Evening of Blaster Al Ackerman Harry Younger Hall An encounter with Blaster Ackerman is frankly disconcerting, he inhabits a world of such unique strangeness, none of its inhabi tants having the remotest nodding aquaintance with normality, that one's judgment tilts and reality becomes disturbingly slewed. Ackerman tells two stories of wildest fantasy, the first about someone called the ...

... Word-'Plays' Roman Eagle Lodge Not so much a play, more an illus trated talk with actions, Paul Fallon's presentation is an extreme ly varied list of disjointed pieces, part performance poetry, part favourite great speeches and part random anecdote. I did not find, as in the pro gramme, that it cut through the more usual and naive approach to readings, but felt rather that delivery was ...

... Alex Lyons Assembly Rooms This marginally overweight Irishman replaces American Nick DiPaolo and, with his orange and black stripy football shirt, a pint of water, a white towel and a mike, had a vir tual capacity audience to entertain and satisfy. But after the initial promising start of giving his reasonably dead pan view on festival buskers, he made his exit to give a ten minute unscheduled ...

... The Cheek of Ian Stone Gilded Balloon II Oooh, what a cheek. He comes on, with a small glass of water, that he has the gall to only sip from once, and no mike no mike! And he still makes an awkward audience laugh?! What does this guy have? Talent. The Wee Room at the Gilded Balloon II which, on a day when temperatures in Edinburgh hit the unusual seventies in the sweat ing furiously scale, ...

... Free falling Famous Grouse House Owen McCafferty's atmospheric two+iander happens to be set in Ireland but has little to do with politics, transcending its local context to provide an insightful and ultimately despairing picture of contemporary youth. In a series of contrapuntal monologues, a working-class boy (Miceal Murphy) and a middle- class girl (Anne Bird) lay out the emptiness of their ...

... Philip Jeays Trio Cafe Royal Performed with wit and flair, Philip Jeays' songs move from caustic satire to sentimentality, and never hit a false note. The music is good stuff, but this outfit have got more than tunes going for them Jeays delivers his material with real showmanship and a deft comic touch. Jeays has a rich, dark voice, like Tom Waits, which can turn sardonic or pleading. Both ...

... More Dame required Wimbledon Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood Strong individual performances form the centrepiece of this year's Wimbledon Theatre pantomime. Tudor Davies as Dame, Paul Nicholas as romantic lead Robin Hood, Forbes Collins' sinister Sheriff, and comedy duo Hope and Keen (Robbers) are most effective casting. But this is very much a pantomime of party pieces, where the ...

... Aladdin Southsea It was a pleasure to see live entertainment back at the troubled King's. The old place is an attraction in itself- a real theatre. Aladdin may not have been one of the most ambitious productions of the past decade but it is a most enjoyable experience. Television Gladiator Hunter. James Crossley, has the mums and daughters screaming both inside and outside the auditorium. ...

... Cinderella St Alban's Any panto needs a central character with boundless energy who can establish instant rapport with the kids. The pre-show billing of Timmy Mallett as Buttons always looked the certain bet it turned out to be. The scramble for Mallett memorabilia was another good omen and it was not long before the first cry of Utterly brilliant got everyone in the party mood, as his ...

... Phantom of the Opera on Ice Birmingham/Touring Wild Rose Productions has assem bled a top-flight cast of Russian skaters, all of them champions and medal-winners, for this production, which aims to break new ground as a piece of theatre rather than as an ice show. The skating is superb, and though the dimensions of the Alexandra stage in Birmingham confine the skaters, they only serve to ...