... Alfie Unicorn/Touring What's it all about, Alfie? Definitely not Bill Naughton's anti-hero, despite the similarity of name. Alfie is a pre-school child, the central figure of Shirley Hughes' much-loved picture books. But as played by Adam Bampton-Smith in Richard Williams' very free adaptation, he is no wide-eyed innocent cherub more of a broken-voiced Adrian Mole than a playgroup pupil. In ...

... Beatrice on the Frankfurt Express London International Mime Festival BAC What are you to make of The Glee Club Performance Com pany? It consists of two men (Ed Aylward, Mark Whitelaw) and two women (Yael Flexer, Ursula Lea) who shuffle sheepishly on stage, apologise for their first- night nerves and promptly deliver 80 minutes of quite endearing sketch-based theatre. Their reper toire of music ...

... The Tempest Richmond/Touring In her ten years as artistic director of Shared Experience, Nancy Meckler has redefined the staging of classic novels. Her productions of Tolstoy and Eliot have thrilled us with their passion and lively ensemble work, but this is a dull, uninvolving vision of Shakespeare's last, most deeply felt romance. A pale setting at the Richmond Theatre by Sophie Jump is a ...

... Frankie and Johnny Dundee Orgasmic noises on the discreetly darkened stage were just long and loud enough to raise a snigger from the demure among the Repertory audience, more comfortable perhaps with the sounds of industrial disputes than those of sex w. ww,^\4.j II^UI^O U IVl III Terrence McNally's poignant tale of a couple of bruised loners who work together in a New York diner and ...

... Wonderful play very well acted Mold The Glass Menagerie Theatr Clwyd's opening production in 1997 is Tennessee Williams' celebrated family saga The Glass Menagerie which, in 1945, established him as a major American dramatist. The group of truly remarkable plays that he subsequently wrote confirmed his stature for posterity. All his plays are funda mentally controversial because they deal with ...

... Up 'n' Under Norwich Part of John Godber's success is that his plays appeal to those who rarely visit the theatre. Just as skiers are tempted by On the Piste and office outings opt for Shakers, so rugger players will risk Up 'n' Under. And it is a tribute to this Playhouse tion that when the hapless Wheatsheaf team eventually scores, the rugger fraternity in the audience gives them a ...

... Holm is where the heart is Cottesloe King Lear It lasts little more than a second, but there is a telling moment at the start of this production. When Ian Holm's Lear playfully rattles a table, around which sit his three daughters, we know these are not the actions of a monarch concerned with the business of government but a father initiating some kind of family game. The family home can of ...

... Lady Windermere's Fan Theatre Royal, Haymarket When the IRA bomb forced the Royal Exchange to set up shop at Upper Campfield Market, there were doubts that Manchester playgoers would follow. But Braham Murray's handsomely dressed Oscar Wilde production pulled in crowds over onnstmas and now gets a ten-week London season, with Gabrielle Drake repeating her splendid Mrs Erlynne, the ...

... Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Glasgow This Citizens production of Tennessee Williams' script is still laced with meaningful, spiteful dialogue (Excuse me, my mistake, I just wanted to feel that river breeze, being a taster) and despite some repetitive and con-seauently irritable ing phrases (as opposed to dialogue), the smooth-ish show passes incredibly quickly. Simply superb and reaching a ...

... The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband Nottingham These days Hilary is keener on cooking than sex. She has lost her husband Kenneth to Laura, a hot number in bed but a non-starter in the kitchen. Now Hilary has invited Ken and Laura to dinner in this production at the Playhouse. On an ingeniously mobile set by Will Hargreaves. complement ed by smart tricks of lighting, movement and sound by Jon ...

... 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 ...