... Alice BELFAST CHILDREN sat entranced, grownups delighted at Michael Poynor's direction and adaptation of Alice at the Belfast Civic Arts Theatre. Not a hint of sly mockery or contem porary jokiness to dispel the willing belief given to the recreation of Car roll's Wonderland from the moment of Alice's introduction to herself and the White Rabbit's distracted appearance and disappearance down ...

... The Dark Lady Reads The Sonnets LYRIC STUDIO THE title of Faith Kent's one-woman show is fascinating but misleading, suggesting that the much-maligned empress of Shakespeare's soul strikes back with her own provocative interpretation of the Sonnets. Now that would be the ultimate in kiss-and-tell. Instead we have an entertaining insight into the poet's love-life from an actress who is clearly ...

... Leaping for the stars PETER HEPPLE on the most dazzling Stoppard play ALDWVCH Jumpers OF ALL Tom Stoppard's plays, Jumpers is the most dazzling and stimulating. If the revival at the Aldwych does not quite match the original production at the National, it is mainly because Paul Eddington, an excellent actor, does not quite add up to the glorious eccentricity of Michael Hordern as George ...

... Disasters on Broadway NEW YORK Broadway Flops IT'S EXTREMELY rare for three new plays to open on Broadway in one week. It's even rarer for three new plays to be such complete disasters. Requiem for a Heavyweight, which turned up briefly at the large Martin Beck Theatre, is a stage version of Rod Serling's 1956 TV play, which later became a film starring Anthony Quinn. John Lithgow ...

... Raw reflection of Trinidad turmoil ARTS The New Hardware Store THE NEW Hardware Store by Earl Lovelace, the final play in the overall rewarding Black Theatre Season at the Arts, is a raw and undeveloped piece about life in Trinidad following the 1970 revolution, when natives sought better status, conditions and political and social powers. It is clearly deeply sincere and well meant, and ...

... Violent conflict in the classroom BRIDGE LANE Cross Purposes THE SIMPLE plot of a conflicting teacher-pupil relationship set in a girls boarding school on the Yorkshire moors is skilfully and sensitively played by Theatre Nova at Bridge Lane. Dance, rock music and verse arc neatly combined with stunning cos tumes and make-up and surreal set design. Dramatic use is made of a full length mosaic ...

... Jimmy Jones GREAT YARMOUTH GOING by the law of diminishing returns, it's difficult at first to understand how someone like Jimmy Jones manages to retain his undoubted popularity. He's not alone in his chosen field, of course; there are a clutch of comics out there whose material is as filthy as it is funny and their numbers are growing every day. Jones, no doubt, sees himself as carrying on ...

... Ken Webster GREAT YARMOUTH POLITICIAN Harold Wilson was always a sly old devil. Whenever he want ed to beat journalists over the head with a point dear to his heart, he'd pref ace by saying, I think I mentioned this at the Brighton Conference. Wily Wilson was from Yorkshire, of course, and so is hypnotist Ken Webster (well as near as damn it.) So it came as no surprise to those of us who ...

... Don't Dress For Dinner BOURNEMOUTH ROBIN Hawdon's adaptation of the Marc Camoletti farce Don't Dress for Dinner is jam-packed with laughter opportunities and the star-studded cast in this Mark Fumess/Paul Elliott production at The Pier Theatre exploits them with predictable expertise. The hilanously implausible scenario has husband Bernard, who intends taking advantage of wife Jacqueline's ...

... Central WM Club/Trades Club BLACKPOOL WITH admission prices about the price of a pint and the price of a pint considerably cheaper than some town centre pubs, it's hardly surprising that Blackpool's social club summer shows are enjoying a bumper season. Blackpool Central WM Club on Kent Road boasts the kind of cabaret room many a major venue would do well to emulate and this year it has rung ...

... The Comedy Of Errors BATH THE ENGLISH Shakespeare Company may be employing a guest director for the first lime, but Glen Walford has splendidly upheld the reputation it established with The Wars of the Roses for innovative and challenging theatre. Ine former Liverpool Everyman artistic director has discovered a whole skein of new threads with which to parcel up one of Shakespeare's more ...

... The Mirror BORDERS FESTIVAL PULLING strands from the substantial yarns of Sir Walter Scott, The Mirror, by the Rideout company weaves a lighthearted entertainment of mildy mysterious episodes. Despite dexterous work from the adapter and director, Anne Plenderleith, it is not a seamless drama, but three staunchly separate stones, interspersed with deli cious clarsach music by Elspeth Smellie ...