... Byzantine Flowers SYDNEY AT LAST the epic-poetic playwright and novelist, Louis Nowra, has come up with a play that is both domestic enough and morally grey enough to take a wider audience with him into his world of good and evil, myths and guilt about Australia s treatment ot its na tive people. Unfortunately, its world premiere didn't receive the staging it deserved from the Sydney ...

... Theatre Soap CAFE UPSTAIRS TAKE a mixture of the television series Whose Line Is It Anyway, charades and Twenty Questions and you have the basic premise of Attick Theatre's Theatre Soap at the Cafe Upstairs, the Bear and Staff Pub in Charing Cross Road. Described as an audience-led impro visation, this kind of theatre is totally dependent on contributions from the audience and it is they who ...

... Dublin Gaiety hit by musicians row Grand reopening may be all at sixes and sevens ANTHONY GARVEY reports A DISCORDANT note is threatening the ambitious plans for the reopening of Dublin's Gaiety Theatre later this month following a £750, 000 renovation. The Irish Federation of Musicians and the Gaiety management are in dispute over the strength of the orches tra for the planned Christmas panto ...

... The Threepenny Opera BIRMINGHAM DIRECTOR Anthony Clark and Musical Director Mark Vibrans set a very deliberate tempo to both music and dialogue. It's good for clarity every syllable of Brecht's social com mentary in the lyrics gets its full weight and attention, but it gives the produc tion a slow, heavy pace which is, ini tially difficult to lift. Marc Blitzstein's 1954 translation and Kate ...

... Musicians attack JazzFM over new music policy ANGRY musicians this week attacked London independent local radio station, Jazz FM, over its new music policy, which they claim could distort the public's understanding of jazz. And Jazz FM founder has Dave Lee has resigned from the board, fol lowing reports of his growing dissatis faction with the station's new direc tion. Changes in the style of ...

... Time for the north By PETER HEPPLE THE SHOWCASES presented for delegates at Entertainment '88 in Harrogate were particularly interesting for a Southerner because they proved there is an amazing amount of talent which can never be seen in the south because the venues are not there. Moreover, one or two of the offerings were astonishingly elaborate, of touring fringe company numerical strength, ...

... Looking like a thousand dollars PERHAPS we may be pardoned for making a mistake in one of our captions last week, for the lady whom we thought was Barbara Kelly in our picture of the celebrities of the VALGO Autumn Fair was in fact Celia Lipton. For both ladies appear to defy the passage of time, both are equally gla morous, but Celia has been away from Britain for so long that few of those ...

... Musically wired for a great sound ROYAL OPERA HOUSE Cosi Fan Tutte JOHANNES Schaaf's 1989 production of Cosi Fan Tutte is gripping almost despite itself, for the initial impression of Hans Schavernoch's design is not promising-- bare screens, except in the opening scene, virtually no furniture and a large pit in the centre of the stage, which is there for no particular reason as tar as 1 ...

... There's a hole in your contract, dear Mervyn' ANNIE PRODUCER Mervyn Conn is being made to carry the can after a rumpus over child stars who are being paid the equivalent of about £4 a week and have to provide their own metal bucket for the show. Equity spokesman Marilyn Stoddart said the union had received complaints from parents about the children's pay and confusing and irrelevant con ...

... RTE cross Irish sea IRELAND'S LEADING orchestra, the RTE Concert Orchestra, visits England for the first time next month, playing three special Celebration Ire land concerts at Liverpool Philharmo nic Hall, March 14, Birmingham Town Hall, March 16 and the Royal Albert Hall on St Patrick's Day, March 17. Featured in the concerts will be composer Shaun Davey, Rita Connolly, Liam O Floinn ...

... Circuit breakthrough ELECTRICITY circuit breakers are to be mandatory in all licensed clubs and pubs in Edinburgh which feature live acts. The decision was taken by Edin burgh's Licensing Board after it heard how 18-year-old rock guitarist Phillip Hardy was electrocuted in a pub in Stratford Upon Avon last year. The South of Scotland Electricity Board's Consultative Committee and Edinburgh ...

... Me and My Friend SOHO POLY THIS IS a beautifully balanced play, interestingly enough, since it deals with people who have lost their balance in life. Gillian Plowman chooses not to include any unnecessary social or political criticism of the rights and wrongs of care in the community, but states her concerns bv showing us the weaving lives of four people who are helping themselves and each ...