... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... 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 ...

... Rising stars raising laughs Hackney Empire New Act of the Year 2000 Walking into the foyer of this famous venue, it is easy to imagine the ghosts of audiences past roaring with laughter at the great comics who have trodden its boards. The fresh-faced comedians on trial at this year's final had battled their way through heats held in an adjacent pub over the past few months. Arthur Smith ...

... 51st Annual Blackpool Command Performance Blackpool Packed to capacity, a Horsehoe Bar audience consisting mainly of prominent northern clubland figures gathered for a show which has become a key date in the clubland calendar. Backing musicians Steve Cox and Tony Lea could have been a much more substantial asset to the event had their sound been better balanced. They were not loud enough to ...

... 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 ...

... Darkness and Disgrace Rosemary Branch This cabaret, inspired by the songs of David Bowie, could have so easily been a pretentious joyride, perfect for the singer/ songwriter's fans, but lost on the uninitiated. Fortunately, it is nothing of the kind, and so much more. Those people who count Let's Dance as their favourite Bowie track may at first be disappointed by the programme. It is a show ...