... Twenty First Century Ballet Wimbledon Theatre Contemporary dance seldom attracts big battalions, but this charity gala, launching the Gielgud Foundation, pulled in an enthusiastic crowd for a diverse evening of delights. The foundation, created by former dancers Piers Gielgud and his wife Suzanne, helps unem ployed performers with in-house training, representation and casting services. At its ...

... The Boundary Bridewell Stoppard completists should hurry to catch Carol Metcalfe's lunchtime presentation for the London Stage Company, in which two donnish lexicographers exchange words--literally-- over the body of Brenda, wife cum mistress, to the sound of a nearby cricket match. The origins of this brief, arcane rarity are even odder than the plot itself. Back in 1975 someone at the BBC ...

... Berkoff's Loners BAC Stuart Robb's programme of three solo pieces by Steven Berkoff is an excellent showcase for a versatile performer and a rewarding mix of broad comedy and human drama. Berkoff himself has frequently performed these pieces, making them vehicles for his signature broad mugging. Robb wisely does not attempt to imitate him, but instead invests even the more stylised of the ...

... Play Westminster Theatre Despite its seemingly self-referential monicker, this debut from lesbian theatre company Short and Girlie is more in the vein of extended sketch show than--thank heavens--an exercise in thesbian pretension. Hooked on the premise of an all-girl gay community drama group scrabbling to come up with the goods for opening night (the lead is unconscious and the writer has ...

... Soundalikes looking good Wakefield Ambassador Promotions Billed as 'The Ultimate Tribute Showcase' and attracting a very impressive array of bookers, this event at Mustang Sally's provided much interest for the fun pub and nightclub end of the market. Employing a drag artist to compere, or if you prefer com- mere, was an inspired touch. The oddly-named Dolly Bits was the lady in question and ...

... Furrowing an explosive path New Ambassadors Speed-the-Plow The second play by David Mamet to be seen in the West End so far this year, this is even more excoriating than American Buffalo in its depiction of another aspect of the American Dream. mis time we suDjecT is Hollywood, each of the three acts being clearly defined, the philo sophy, the human weakness, the tooth-and-claw fight for ...

... The Revenger's Tragedy Bridewell Joss Bennathan's stark staging for Present Moment forges a link between the violence and double dealing of this Jacobean black comedy and the film-noir world of Chicago hoodlums. So we start and end with 'slomo' sequences for the entry of the Duke with his Goodfellas entourage, and a Tarantino bloodbath that finally litters the floor with a satisfyingly ...

... Sweet touches cook up a hit Whitehall Cooking with Elvis A play that involves adultery, under-age sex, the masturbation of a paralysed man and the serving of a family's pet tortoise at the dinner table is not the sort of play to please Terence Rattigan's mythical Aunt Edna. But it is a measure of Lee Hall's skill that this is not only hilariously funny, but also sweet and moving. It is even ...

... Letters from the Yellow Chair Southwark Playhouse Vincent is in his workshop, paint staining his clothes, fingers, and even the glass he drinks from. His brother Theo, meanwhile, is a wing-collared art dealer in Paris, always in control, always prudent. Although this sturdy and forceful production about the brothers Van Gogh makes such contrasts vividly apparent, the emotions which bind ...

... ENB Triple Bill Manchester Currently celebrating its 50th anniversary season, the English National Ballet is touring with a stunning Triple Bill, which encompasses the best of both classical and modern ballet. The stage of the Opera House, their temporary home in Manchester, may be smaller than the company's normal venue at the Palace Theatre but that does nothing to dampen the exuber ance of ...

... Royal Opera House Ashton Revisited Anthony Dowell presented the opening public performance of this four-part bill as a 90th birthday tribute to Dame Alicia Markova, who received a standing ovation from a packed house of balletomanes. Was it her benign presence or the rediscovery of the Ashton legacy that restored such sprightly panache to the Royal for the first time since the House ...

... Scottish Dance Theatre Dundee/Touring Packaging, as those bright-eyed, marketing types will tell you, is everything. So by neatly slotting in two pieces by Peter Darrell Award- winners Jan De Schynkel and Liz Roche with a couple by the Henri Oguike Dance Company, Scottish Dance Theatre have created a dream combination of novelty and freshness at the Repertory. In short, a package that is sure ...