... Timon of Athens Barbican Theatre Shakespeare's play tells the tale of a man whose fair weather friends desert him the moment he is bankrupt, among them politicians whose statements exemplify a society where promising is the air of the time. Does that sound familiar? Helped immeasurably by Duke Ellington's edgy, evocative music, Gregory Doran's staging for the Royal Shakespeare Company moves ...

... It's a long hard night's sell Birmingham Death of a Salesman It is a long, long night at the Rep. Di Trevis production of Arthur Miller's masterpiece is three and a quarter hours of relentless anguish which is too much, even for a Miller devotee. David Ross pours his heart and soul into Willy Loman, a stumbling, shambling, clown- like figure whose right arm dangles as though from a stroke and ...

... Popcorn Chelmsford Ben Elton's deadly accurate study of fictional violence glorified and victim culture in America has been overtaken by time. British media is permeated with cop shows, trial by television and guilty but innocent stories. In this regional premiere, at the Civic Theatre, director John Newman brings out how fictional violence and me culture corrupts. Heavily ironic, it ...

... Fling! Sonning More than 20 years ago, Bernard Slade's comedy about an annual 25 year illicit affair, Same Time Next Year, became a worldwide hit and transferred successfully to the silver screen. His inspiration for this production at the Mill at Sonning is the monogamous couple, still having fun in bed after 24 years of marriage. But should it be this good and does the husband (Leslie Lawton ...

... The Country Royal Court, Jerwood Theatre Downstairs After taking theatrical conventions apart with his 1997 play, Attempts on Her Life, Martin Crimp returns to the Royal Court with a less postmodern drama which retains his characteristic self-irony. Richard and Corinne have moved out of town in search of a rural idyll, but before long it emerges that Richard (a doctor) is a drug addict and has ...

... Closer York Director Damian Cruden's decision to bring a production of Patrick Marber's play to York feels almost subversive. This is as radical and controversial a piece as has been seen at the Theatre Royal for some time. Its franker moments remain the best the gender-bending on-line chat, the in-your-face conversations about sex and the outbursts of the four emotionally scarred characters. ...

... Frankenstein Hull Nick Lane has been something of a regular face at the Truck Theatre as an actor over the past 13 years. This adaptation of Mary Shelley's Gothic classic is his first crack at both writing and directing, and forms part of the venue's expanded spectrum of artistic output as it looks ahead to a new building. Lane has remained faithful to the spirit of Shelley's text, adding ...

... Melonfarmer Plymouth Here is a heady brew of twentysomething angst unfurled against a dark Dublin backdrop. Alex Johnson's tragicomic script, staged at the Theatre Royal Drum Theatre, centres around the emotional void of Sean, who realises his abilities fall short of his ambitions and spins into the sexual proclivities of his friends. Charlie Bonner gives Sean a sympathetic edge. Despite good ...

... Jenufa Glyndebourne Janaceks works are transcendent monuments to human compassion, in which the innocent suffer intolerably while the abusers are themselves often revealed as abused. Kostelnicka publicly pinpoints Jenufa's tragedy when she keens to her: I loved myself more than I loved you. But social taboos have also played their part, which director Nikolaus Lehnhoff memor ably visualises ...

... Boonham & Marwood/ Angika The Place Cultural pick and mix is now so commonplace that we think nothing of watching a French film, eating an Indian meal and drinking Russian vodka. Splicing Eastern and Western dance traditions is not so easy, because the techniques are very different. The angular, splayed style of Bharata Natyam and the free, open moves of contem porary dance do not make easy ...

... Filled with top draw talents Criterion Mountview-- Acting Option More than 40 graduates filled the tiny stage and launched this fast-paced showcase with a spirited rendering of This is the Moment, from Leslie Bricusse and Frank Wildhom's Broadway musical Jekyll & Hyde. There followed a nice mix of material, most of which stemmed from the past decade, beginning with the unfamiliar Hiraeth ...

... The Tempest Shakespeare's Globe The opening production of the reconstructed Globe's 2000 season offers some bright clowning and the muted star presence of Vanessa Redgrave, but little else. There is no magic, no romance, little poetry and a generally unimaginative use of the space. After several seasons, actors and directors still haven't figured out how to use the Globe. Some, like Steven ...