... that they all have the gift of the gab and are touched with eccentricity. Cripple Billy himself stares at cows, his aunt Kate speaks to stones, Johnnypateenmike is obsessed with gathering news which he jots into a notebook, his mother lies in bed all day ...

... Les Cousins London International Mime Festival Purcell Room I thought: Mime--that means they won't speak. But with Les Cousins I could not have been more wrong. This personable French trio, Philippe Etienne, Christophe Philippe and Laurent Serre, started ...

... Zeffirelli film, but this production will be a big hit with anyone under 21 and anyone with an unrestricted mind. It speaks to teenagers and speaks about teenagers. Kevin Berry ...

... everything proceeds smoothly, with dignity and class. Alfreds uses drapes and shutters for a clean-cut production. The prose speaking is almost conver sational and easy to follow. The play splits neatly into two halves and the prologues at the begin ning ...

... Knott certainly makes a watchable drama out of their crises. While we know not everyone will live to tell the tale, strictly speaking this is a who's-going-to- get-it rather than a whodunnit and, as such, the cast of six at the Grand does a worthy enough ...

... the forthcoming transatlantic audi ence to assimilate easily. Frank Eggins Dazed and confused--Kim Hartman in Relatively Speaking at the Belgrade, Coventry. Picture: Ian Tiltan ...

... Joyous night of comic writing Coventry Relatively Speaking It is 1967 and the Beatles are playing. Designer Cathy Ryan has had a field day with her psychedelic drapes and collage of memorabilia for Ginny's London flat just off Camaby Street. Bob Eaton ...

... Two of a Kind, who were a little tepid. Burly guitarist Duggle Bee was more sure of his material, contrasting a baritone speaking voice with a surprisingly light singing tone. Flesh and feathers came next as the five Elizabeth Borrowdale Dancers flitted ...

... might revel in the leak under the sink and take narcisstic pleasure in getting wet, but when the bluff voice of the plumber speaks up offstage, he carries more conviction. Still, the production is smooth and snappily paced, and Maria's desire to transform ...

... Hamlet Leeds/Touring When Michael Maloney's Hamlet speaks the To be or not to be soliloquy, we are left in no doubt of his turmoil. Other actors seem to deliver the lines as if they are a poem and the poem is a welcome respite, an unexpected interlude ...

... fact, Sandford's staging takes a while to live up to the set. The early scenes have a stiff ness about them and the verse speaking is awkward. The cast is considerably more comfortable when the play's farcical confu sions of mistaken identity get underway ...

... of concentra tion camps and war crimes and some Shakespeare. There is a concern with the impact of words, how language can speak the unspeakable but not necessarily chill the listener's emotions. Evil often defies the scope of language, there is a language ...