... Peppered with frenetic action Sadler's Wells Salt Edouard Lock, choreographer of radical Canadian dance company La La La Human Steps, gave up studying literature for dance, and the switch seems more than academic. Actively resisting to embed meaning in his direction, he attempts to get as close as possible to a state of pure dance. For the nine performers this means 100 minutes of the most ...

... Versatility shines through Criterion London Studio Centre/Musical Theatre Showcase Seedtime, directed by Ian Dewar, is the performing company of third year students following the Musical Theatre Professional Option on London Studio Centre's theatre dance course. At this point in the year, the company is divided into three groups which undertake different projects a play, a TV and video ...

... Best Before Etcetera This cleverly titled new play about Alzheimer's Disease, written and directed by Lizi Hann, is not as grim as you might expect. Although it does not shirk the stark realities of dementia and it does not offer any easy comfort, you do not come away feeling depressed. For one thing, this does have some surprisingly funny moments. But there is a strong sense of the value ...

... Running riot with cliches Edinburgh The Shaughraun Dion Boucicault's 19th century comic melodrama runs riot with every cliche about the Irish in the book. From the big-hearted wandering poacher of the title to feisty Irish county ladies, red-headed informers and dim British soldiers, Boucicault sets them all up. And in this fast-paced production at the Royal Lyceum, director Mark Lambert ...

... Things We Do for Love Chester Alan Ayckbourn's mordant look at the destructive effects of love receives its north west premiere at the Gateway. Guy Retallack's beautifully- judged production portrays every shift of mood and emotion as the play moves from the style of Abigail's Party to that of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Barbara, a poised career woman, lives in the elegant flat which ...

... The Pearl Fishers London Coliseum Philip Prowse's exotic version of Bizet's Gallic Mills et Boon romance set on an island in the Indian Ocean is back. Savour again the petal-strewn stage, the central pillared platform, sacred elephants carved on its columns, the beached boat and huge slatted overhang, all awash with Gerry Jenkinson's colourfully expressive lighting. It is possible to find ...

... Salient points among laughs Donmar Warehouse Helpless If Dusty Hughes is to be believed, Tony Blair's greatest achievement has been to antagonise both the followers of Thatcherism, presumably by appropriating many of its policies, and the quasi-revolutionaries of the sixties. Helpless is an amusing generational play which has quite a number of salient points to make in between the laughs, as ...

... Dealer's Choice Belfast Patrick Marber's award-winning play may be nearly five years old but its Northern Ireland premiere, by Prime Cut Productions, breezes into the Lyric like a breath of fresh air Not that the air is exactly fresh around its ensemble of six characters, whose existences revolve around nail-biting poker games played out in the gloomy basement of a London restaurant. Each ...

... The Rivals Basingstoke Director Alasdair Ramsay and designer Elroy Ashmore have done to Sheridan's play what many try to do to Shakespeare and fail. To inject some variation into a well tried and tested play is always a risk and to mix tradition with contemporary art is often an interesting combination. Costumes are traditional, but with a quirky addition. Each character wears the bouffant ...

... Snapshots Manchester Sibling rivalry taken to the extreme and viewed through a series of snapshots is the main theme of this new work at the Royal Exchange Theatre. Written by Fiona Padfield, it is an adult play which concerns two sisters. Catherine and Lian. They are embroiled in a confused relationship of love and hate. Jessica Lloyd and Amy Marston give fine performances as the sisters, ...

... The Flag Chelmsford/Touring Alex Ferguson's free adaptation of Robert Shaw's post-First World War novel is Northern Touring Theatre Company's spring show. As Ferguson notes, Britain had then become a vast psychiatric ward, through which the victims of Armageddon wandered raving neglected, unknown, until they died. A seven-strong cast play out the drama on Cath Young's bleak scaffolding ...

... Bath The Free State Janet Suzman's play at the Theatre Royal, in which she stars, as well as co-directing with Martin L Platt, is described as a South African response to The Cherry Orchard. It is actually a close adaptation, transposed to South Africa with inserted sequences of political discussion to illuminate the play's application to its new setting. The Ranevskys are now liberal white ...