... Sacred Hearts Trinity Arts Centre Five prostitutes have taken sanctuary in a church in Lyon, France. Outside lurks 'the ripper', a psychopath responsible for the murder of eight women who worked the main street of the city's red light district. But this is not the girls' only worry. For the police under the guidance of Jonathan Coote's excellent Inspector, have the building under ...

... Piaf Dundee/Touring Physically, Terry Neason doesn't look a bit like the petite Piaf, which might seem an insurmountable obstacle to credibility. After all, the songstress with the Gauloise-strained voice and magical heart-rending lyrics, who used her sordid life experiences as the source of her music, also paraded her wraith-like fragility as part of her image. So it is to Neason's great ...

... Fire Flies Hampton Wick Tim Williams' seventh and final play for GRiP ends a remarkable three years of sustained creative energy as the company's writer in residence at the Rose and Crown. His swansong, runner-up in the recent Verity Bargate Awards, is a disturbing tion piece ror a wo, two men anu a young woman, set on the derelict section of a seaside pier cut off from the esplanade by a ...

... Mental Wisbech Comedienne Jo Brand has a reputation for stripping our conventional veneer to reveal the Freudian forces lurking beneath, and this their first one-act play, coproduced with actress Helen Griffin, exposes yet another modern taboo, mental illness. For who in this psychiatric ward Is suffering? We could be forgiven for assuming at first it is the dishevelled hungover Jo, being ...

... Out Cry Cheltenham Two young actors enter a darkened theatre. A variety of props litter the stage and, picking their way through them, the pair find the place to be deserted. Their company, which is to produce that evening's production, has vanished, while Mr Fox, the r manager, has gone to ground. i The actors, who are, inciden- t tally, brother and sister, peer Jirough the curtains and ...

... Parsifal Amsterdam A chief point of interest in Netherlands Opera's Parsifal was hearing Simon Rattle conduct his first complete Wagner opera in the theatre. The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, a body Rattle has conducted many times, was in the pit and played quite splendidly for him. His account was beautifully shaped and meticulously detailed, even if the last degree of spirituality ...

... CandoCo Dance Company Coventry Welcome to the mad, bad world of CandoCo! If what the programme says is true and Across Your Heart is based on the experiences, characters and desires of the performers, what a dull life I have been leading. The themes of unrequited love and power struggles within relationships are not new ideas to dance audiences, but are expertly r&examined under Emilyn ...

... Nothing run of the mill here Bewdley Upfront Entertainments '97 Upfront Entertainments has built up a reputation in recent years for exceptionally well-organised showcases, and although the standard of acts last year was slightly below par, this year they were right back on form at the Jarvis Heath Hotel & Country Club with a programme of ten quality modem-style acts. An explosive start to ...

... Fast paced and plenty of choice Brean Sands Apple County 1997 Bookers attending Apple County's 1997 Showcase at the Farmer's Tavern had a wide variety of acts to choose from in the fast-moving two part event. While a dozen acts were appearing in the main function room, the remainder were setting up in the adjoining cabaret room, speeding up the six-hour extravaganza enormously, and cutting ...

... Jean Allen Variety Agency and Management Leeds Doncaster-based Jean Allen Variety Agency and Management held a showcase made up of its new signings for 1997, and presented it at the Plaza Club. Compere Keith Lane, it has to be said, was not the ideal choice. As a male vocal enter tainer, however, he showed a very assured delivery of songs such as Lionel Richie's Running with the Night and an ...

... The Ingenious Mrs Behn Turtle Key Arts Centre Complete with rustling skirts, 17th Century expletives and sexual skulduggery, this British premiere of Canadian Beth Herst's play looks at first as if it is going to be too literary for its own good, but turns out to be a decent yarn about a spunky woman surrounded by oppressive men. Allegra Carpegna wisely emphasises the wit and humour of ...

... Anyone Can Whistle Savoy Including a one-off concert version of Anyone Can Whistle in the Covent Garden Festival programme was a clever move. Sondheim addicts and musicals buffs must have rushed to the box office in their droves, making the evening a sell-out weeks before tne big nignt. I suppose the level of excite ment is not realty surprising, for although the original Broadway cast ...