... Revenge of the Story Spirits Pleasance London Jan Blake's work transforms the theatre from a place of conflict to a place of storytelling, and this series of five stories from African folklore, devised and performed by Blake herself, is a real feast. The five are framed by the larger tale of a young man who keeps the stories he hears crammed together in a bag, instead of telling them to others ...

... Original Spin New End This is the type of play I can remember seeing at Golders Green Hippodrome in the late fifties, prior to the West End, a statement sometimes made more in hope than reality. While watching it I actually found myself mentally casting it with leading players of that era. Perhaps there might still be a market for such pleasantly undemanding fare, but I fear not. ...

... My Business is to Love Barbican Hail In this extraordinary compilation about America's enigmatic lyric poet Emily Dickinson, Claire Bloom read her poetry, Renee Fleming sang American composers' adaptations, and the two of them half-read, half-acted William Luce's deft narrative of her life, based on her letters and poems. A figure of Dickinson emerges, glintingly intelligent, her ...

... Small Talk Brockley Jack Writer Dale Reynolds' play is a sometimes engaging, but more often tiresome, attempt to refract the state we are in today in a darkly comic light. Nine disparate characters sit in a pub chatting and bickering. Their random talk reveals a distorted version of the present in which big business, or busy ness as it is known, controls and shapes the world while society ...

... The Angel's Share Dundee/Touring There are two routes into Chris Dolan's new play, produced by Borderline Theatre and here seen at Dundee Rep. On one level, it is about the point of impact at which market-driven forces and modem technology lock horns with dusty traditions in that most hallowed of spots, the whisky distillery. The angel's share is a poetic term for the whisky that is lost ...

... Mistress of the Inn Perth/Touring This production of Carlo Goldoni's period piece will tour the Perthshire community after its run at Perth Theatre. Director Michael Winter has obviously had this in mind, as it will work better in smaller venues. As a big house production, it is very much a non-event. Peter Watson's new version is plain almost to the point of banality and there is a certain ...

... Ironmlstress Cardiff An imposing naked female figure, cast in iron, dominates the setting and action of this April de Angelis play. In its shadow, Martha, the widow of 19th century ironmaster Abraham Darby, fights to control her foundry in a man's world, gaining a reputation as an uncompromising ironmistress. But as she prepares her wilful daughter, nicknamed Little Cog, for marriage, ...

... Carmen Cambridge/Touring Sex and violence, passion in an exotic setting and irresistible tunes make Bizet's opera a favourite with audiences. From the opening bars of the overture, taken at a cracking pace by conductor Paul McGrath, this is an exhilarating production. Staged at the Cambndge Arts Theatre, it is costumed by Chrissie Madison in the latest clubbing fashions, sung in English and, ...

... Independence Day Oval House Christopher Rodriguez's play is an electric, passionate study of two people caught in a love that is destroying them. Rosemary (Josephine Welcome) is a fiftyish Trinidadian woman married to the thirty-something Marcello (David Durham), much to the consternation of the world around them. Neighbours spy on the couple in macabre fascination, his colleagues snigger ...

... Solitary Animals Hackney Empire Studio Almost panto-like, plays appear each year that link the world's violence to our own sheltered lives. Many of these are ho-hum, but a few manage to bypass our woolly consciences and get our brains ticking instead. Elaine Acworth's production falls into the latter category. Laurel, played by Laura Wilkinson, is a foreign correspondent who is HIV-positive ...

... Richard III St Luke's Church Directed by Bryan Torfeh, this all- female production is described in the programme as a rough draft, based on limited rehearsal time. While most of the cast members know most of their lines, the workshop element can be seen in the overreliance on signifying and other acting shortcuts such as mechanical posing, excessive reactions, eye-rolling and the like. As ...

... Provocatively sensual show Lyttelton Baby Doll Late in life Tennessee Williams wrote Tiger Tail, a melodramatic stage version of his screenplay Baby Doll, which unsuccessfully surfaced three years ago in Plymouth. But Lucy Bailey, whose Birmingham Rep production transfers to the National, was lucky enough to get permission to adapt the earlier film script under its original title. Back in ...