... Measure for Measure Crewe/Touring English Touring Theatre's thoroughly deserved reputation for staging top quality productions of the classics remains easily intact with this latest offering. Director Michael Gordon takes one or two minor gambles, but he must have known he had another hit on his hands by the time his impressive company took its final curtain call at the Lyceum prior to ...

... The Lady's Not for Burning Horsham/Touring Christopher Fry, who espoused the re-instatement of the comic spirit into English poetic drama, attended the first night of a tour of his play The Lady's Not for Burning by Actions and Words Theatre Company at Christ's Hospital Theatre near Horsham. The dramatist and poet set his romantic comedy in medieval times but for the nineties it is dressed in ...

... Disturbing psycho thriller Mold Equus In Theatr Clwyd's main house, the Anthony Hopkins, Terry Hands is directing a new production of Peter Shaffer's psychological thriller Equus, designed by Mark Bailey. Packed tight with allusions, concepts, references and meta physics, Equus is a supremely theatrical piece, a vivid spectacle that disturbs and stimulates one's sensibilities. This superb ...

... The Odd Couple York York Theatre Royal's new season is in orbit, probably because actors David Lloyd and Michael Mears are sharing a flat. Well, that is what they say and, frankly, how else could they have developed such telepathic brilliance on stage as Oscar and Felix in Neil Simon's ageless delight? Lloyd, who plays Oscar, the compulsively wisecracking slob, and Mears, the obsessive ...

... You'll Never Walk Alone Liverpool Set in Liverpool's Anfield football ground, this brash, hilarious piece is more about life than the game. It is presented by Premiere Theatre Company with a National Lottery Grant through the Arts Council, at the Playhouse Studio, with profits going to Marie Curie Cancer Care. Stephen McAlinden, founder of the company, author and one of the three actors, plays ...

... Oleanna Eye, Suffolk I wonder why America's pendulum swings so violently? Prohibition, bras burnt. Absolutely no booze, radical feminism. I like to think that we change things more slowly here, fewer babies wasted for the sake of the bath water. It is David Mamet's pelling Oleanna that prompted these thoughts. Tom Scott's assured direction and the inspired playing of Richard Mainwaring and ...

... Out of the Blue Gorleston-on-Sea Oh dear. Sometimes you desperately want a production to succeed. And, looking on the bright side, this community opera--set partly on a beach, partly in a harbour but mostly out at sea--does give hundreds of people their first involvement in the performing arts. And, in addition, between 3,000 and 5,000 people packed the Gorleston seafront to watch an ...

... Nightmares Chester Chester Gateway's 1997 opener has been dogged by misfortune. A one-man piece with an American star fell through when the actor pulled out at late notice. This replacement double bill of classic creepy stories should have been performed by two people. Shortly before open ing, one left and two actors stepped in, one for each play. It is impressive that it suc ceeds as well ...

... Don Quixote Haslemere Opera Omnibus enriched admirers of good music by plucking Jules Massenet's little-known work from a dusty shelf for a production of delightful operatic singing accompanied by orches tral excellence. This rarely performed work is a gem. Four suitors and the Don ser enade Dulcinea and the Don proves his gallantry by retrieving her jewels from brigands. But she refuses his ...

... Tamara McLorg Dance Jacksons Lane Choreographer Tamara McLorg's new company of young dancers presented its credentials with two new contrasting works, Neon Dreams and Fragments, which mine the perennial theme of men behaving badly. Perhaps not so new in some senses. Much of the movement looks almost old-fashioned resid ual crash and bum' tearings- around with leaps on to hips, nestlings ...

... Sophistication set the tone NEAC Southern Branch Frimley Green Sophistication set the tone for the most recent showcase from the National Entertainment Agents Council Southern Branch at Frimley Green's Lakeside Country Club. A punchy, well-dressed dance number from the cabaret troupe Sophistication was not only the name of the first act but also set the show off to a good, polished start. ...

... Circle fits well in-the-round Olivier The Caucasian Chalk Circle The Olivier's in-the-round season starts with what is often thought of as one of Brecht's most accessible plays, a left-wing fable which is put more in its context by the addition of the seldom-seen prologue. In this a group of Georgian villagers just recovering from the I Nazi occupation, are visited by an I Expert from ...