... Chinese State Circus Purley/Touring After a two-year gap, the Chinese State Circus is back with a troupe from the Zheng Zhou province. Phillip Gandey is still the show's artistic director but now it is being toured by Cottle and Austen's European Entertainment Corporation. Near the start of its run, it does not look quite as slick as in previous years, but there is no disputing the wide ...

... Shaolin-Wheel of Life Dominion Like a kung-fu opera without song, the soldier monks of the Shaolin temple give a terrific showcase of agility and supreme dedication by performing choreographed martial arts in an apparently historical but decidedly empty spiritual context. Their origins are relayed by the Shaolin members aged seven to 70 themselves, and it is a near-biblical tale in its ...

... Perrier Young Jazz Awards 2000 Cafe de Paris Big-name judges such as vocalist Salena Jones and saxophonist Jean Toussaint, chaired by journalist Jack Massarik, selected this year's pick of the bunch from three categories--musicians, bands and vocalists. Each of the performers, who had won through a long series of heats to reach the final stage, was given ten minutes in which to shine before an ...

... Mixed sample of Berlin style Drill Hall Berlin Brecht Calling the audience pinheads at the outset and then ordering them to sit down may have seemed a good way of giving the contemporary theatregoer a brief taste of Bertolt Brecht's twenties Berlin. But the subsequent interpretations of his songs and poems failed to live up to that initial deliberate rudeness and lacked bite. Apparently, ...

... The Original Virgins The Acoustic Cafe We're not your normal boy band, jokes Stephen Wambsganss about The Original Virgins, an acoustic duo he and Carl Hodson formed four years ago--and what a relief that is. Instead of the emphasis being on image and tacky lyrics, we are presented with two obvious talents who are not afraid to be original and honest in their songwriting. Hodson met Texan ...

... Reliving Rattigan's heydays By JOHN MARTLAND Michael Darlow's reworked biography of the man who was one of Britain's most successful playwrights for a 20-year period between 1936 and the mid-fifties made an absorbing Book of the Week: Terence Rattigan-the Man and His Work (R4, from Monday, April 10). Clive Merrison was the reader, and of particular interest was Rattigan's time as a ...

... Taste of American Home life By JOHN MARTLAND Although many examples of American television humour, such 1 as Friends and Frasier, are permanently available in Britain, we rarely experience anything from the vast number of US radio stations But just a few weeks ago, the cult variety show A Prairie Home Companion (co-produced by Minnesota Public Radio and Radio Scotland for R4, Saturday, ...

... Metropolis Kabarett Terrace Cafe, National Theatre There is something quite bizarre about this all new, late night dinner and cabaret, watched by the supposed cultural elite of London. It is almost as if a high percentage of the audience are being mocked by those on stage, and they either do not realise it or simply do not care. The show itself, directed and devised by award-winning actor ...

... Pride of the Clyde Glasgow Johnny Beattie seems to be an old friend of every member of this show's audience--and it is mutual. The crowd knows the jokes and the songs, but Beattie trusts them not to shout out the punchlines. From the traditional accor dion of Ian Muir to Russel Lane's fabulous Calum Kennedy pastiche, there is something for everyone. But, like Scotland itself, it has its ...

... Sacha Distel Isle of Wight The French star arrived at Warner's luxurious Bembridge Coast Hotel to make a rare appearance at a British holiday centre. Amazingly, it is now 30 years since he enjoyed real stardom in this country with Palladium seasons and Royal Variety Shows. Now in his late sixties, Sacha Distel still cuts an elegant figure, but it was a shame that he did not work his ...

... Golden era's sumptuous tunes The John Wilson Orchestra Pizza on the Park As a sumptuous reminder of how good the popular music of an earlier era is. John Wilson's superb orchestra, rich in warm fifties- style string sounds and boasting a repertoire of 20th century classics, would be hard to beat. Wilsons own arrangements, as well as those by legends such as Robert Farnon, are handled ...

... Barry Mason--Remember Delilah Blackpool There are singers of songs, writers of songs and singer/songwriters. Blackpool-raised Barry Mason falls into the second of these categories. Mason penned the words to songs with sales of around 50 million since the early sixties, so who cares if his delivery of them is not quite as polished as that of Tom Jones (Delilah) or Engelbert Humperdinck (The ...