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PBS to Air SARAH BRIGHTMAN: DREAMCHASER: IN CONCERT Special, Aug 2013

Thu, 23 May 2013 16:44:19 PST

After making history on both stage and screen, pioneering the classical crossover genre, selling over 30 million albums worldwide, and becoming the only artist to perform the theme song at two Olympics, it's hard to imagine Sarah Brightman has a dream left to realize. Yet with her new album 'Dreamchaser,' Sarah is embarking on what she calls "the greatest adventure I can imagine." Inspired by the wonderment and beauty of space, 'Dreamchaser' is a reflection of Brightman's lifelong dream to travel into space.

PBS will offer TV viewers the opportunity to join Sarah in her next step on this journey with 'Sarah Brightman: Dreamchaser: In Concert,' which will be filmed on June 6 and premiere on PBS stations in August 2013 (check local listings). This unique and newly created TV special, developed specifically for PBS, will take as its theme the futuristic space-vision of the Dreamchaser World Tour. The concert performance will be recorded in front of an invited studio audience, featuring both new songs and well-known favorites that her fans have grown to love. The studio environment, custom designed for the television taping, will be transformed for all to share in this out-of-this-world live experience. The evocative lighting, elaborate costumes and powerful video imagery will synchronize into a truly spectacular and highly original program. Fans can enter for the chance to win tickets to this intimate London taping here: http://sarahbrightman.com/pbs.

As announced last year in Moscow, Brightman is anticipated to be the first musician to travel to the International Space Station, turning her dream into reality. 'Dreamchaser' is a collaboration with veteran producer Mike Hedges, known for his iconic work with the likes of U2, The Cure, Dido. The first single "One Day Like This" is a unique depiction of British band Elbow's legendary song. The album also features "Closer," a breathtaking new arrangement of "Tubular Bells." Furthering the mystique of the album, Brightman delivers many other incredible songs including an astounding rendition of Sigur Ros' "Glosoli," featuring new English lyrics by Chris Difford (Squeeze).

Following the special, Brightman embarks on a 33-date US tour, including shows at NYC's Radio City Music Hall (9/21), LA's Dolby Theatre (11/1), and Chicago's Akoo Theatre (9/28). "I want to make the shows as beautiful as possible with the feelings, in the visual sense, behind me," Brightman told Billboard. "I'm using a huge, round screen that almost looks like a satellite behind me." Full dates below.

Sarah Brightman Tour Dates:

9/13 - Hamilton, ON @ Copps Coliseum

9/13 - Ottawa, ON @ Scotiabank Place

9/15 - Toronto, ON @ ACC

9/17 - Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre

9/18 - Boston, MA @ Boston Opera House

9/20 - Baltimore, MD @ Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric

9/21 - New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall

9/22 - Bethlehem, PA @ Sands Bethlehem Event Center

9/24 - Hartford, CT @ The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts

9/25 - Buffalo, NY @ University at Buffalo Center for the Arts

9/27 - Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre

9/28 - Rosemont, IL @ Akoo Theatre at Rosemont

9/29 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Riverside Theater

10/01 - Akron, OH @ E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall

10/02 - Cincinnati, OH @ Cincinnati Music Hall

10/05 - Sunrise, FL @ BankAtlantic Center

10/06 - Tampa, FL @ Tampa Bay Times Forum

10/08 - Orlando, FL @ Amway Center

10/09 - Atlanta, GA @ Fox Theatre

10/11 - Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center

10/12 - Grand Prairie, TX @ Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie

10/13 - Tulsa, OK @ Bank of Oklahoma Center

10/17 - St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center

10/19 - Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre

10/21 - Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome

10/22 - Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place

10/24 - Victoria, BC @ Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre

10/25 - Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena

10/26 - Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre

10/28 - San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion

10/30 - Phoenix, AZ @ Comerica Theatre

11/01 - Los Angeles, CA @ Dolby Theatre

11/02 - Anaheim, CA @ Theatre at the Honda Center

West End LIVE Returns to Trafalgar Square, 22 and 23 June

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:33:22 PST

The annual festival West End LIVE - organised by Westminster City Council and the Society of London Theatre, in association withMasterCard - returns to Trafalgar Square 22 and 23 June 2013 for a weekend of free entertainment from some of London's top theatre productions and performers.

Now in its 9th year, West End LIVE is the largest event of its type in the UK and the stage is set for another record breaking weekend as large crowds are expected to gather for special live performances from West End favourites Billy Elliot The Musical, Horrible Histories, Jersey Boys, Disney's The Lion King, Mamma Mia!, Matilda The Musical, Les Misérables, Monty Python's Spamalot, The Phantom of the Opera, Stomp, Thriller Live, Top Hat, War Horse, We Will Rock You, and Wicked appearing alongside newcomers Burn The Floor, The Bodyguard, A Chorus Line, The Color Purple, Dirty Dancing - The Classic Story On Stage, From Here to Eternity, The Golden Voice, High Society, Let It Be, Limbo, Merrily We Roll Along, Once: A New Musical, Peter Pan: Never Ending Story, The Showstoppers and The Sound Of Music.

The event, which attracted over half a million people last year, is free and takes place in the iconic setting of Trafalgar Square on Saturday 22 June 2013, 11am - 6pm and Sunday 23 June 2013, 12pm - 6pm.

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson, said: "West End LIVE brings the roar of the greasepaint to the heart of the capital and all for free. From curtain up, to the encore, London Theatreland is unbeatable and this is a fabulous way to sample some of the most exciting shows to be seen anywhere in the world."

Cllr Robert Davis, deputy leader of Westminster City Council, said: ""This will be the largest West End LIVE we have ever produced - with more shows taking part than ever before. From humble beginnings in Leicester Square nine years ago, our event now attracts hundreds of thousands of people from across London, the rest of the UK and from around the globe. We cannot wait to get the weekend started and showcase exactly what the West End of London has to offer - the best art, musicals and theatre in the world."

Julian Bird, Chief Executive of the Society of London Theatre, said: "Theatre is one of the capital's greatest draws with an international reputation for offering world-class entertainment, and West End LIVE is a chance to showcase the quality and range of shows the London stage has to offer as well as putting on a great free event for the public to enjoy."

For more information visit the West End LIVE website www.westendlive.co.uk, and for the latest news and chat visit www.facebook.com/westendlive and Twitter @WestEndLIVE

For all the latest information on West End theatre, and to book tickets for the shows participating in West End LIVE, visitwww.officiallondontheatre.co.uk .

Michael Ball Headlines AN EVENING OF GERSHWIN At Kenwood House, With Ellis, Shannon & Beck

Thu, 23 May 2013 05:52:47 PST

Rouge Events are delighted to announce that Musical Theatre Legend and double Olivier Award winner Michael Ball is to host and perform at "Summertime - An Evening of Gershwin", part of the Live by the Lake concert season set to take place in the majestic setting of Kenwood House on Sunday 1st September.

Michael Ball, Britain's leading musical star, has starred on Broadway and dominated the boards on many of the leading West End shows for more than two decades. A proven and varied talent, Michael won acclaim and the hearts of the public with his numerous performances on stage, film and television. Now he returns to Kenwood to treat us to a Gershwin spectacular.

Michael is joined by a host of exceptional talent who will really bring the magic of Gershwin's repertoire to life.

Kerry Ellis is a firm West End favourite, loved for her starring roles in London and on Broadway. She has also achieved chart-topping success as a recording artist signed to Universal Decca with her debut album Anthems. Kerry originated the role of Meat, in Queen's We Will Rock You and was the first British Elphaba in the West End smash, Wicked, for which Kerry won the 2008 Whatsonstage.com Award for 'Best Takeover in a Role'.

David Shannon who has played the leading roles in some of London's most famous West End Musicals including Valjean (Les Miserables) Sweeney Todd (Sweeney Todd) Jesus and Judas (Jesus Christ Superstar) Chris (Miss Saigon) and most recently The Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera at her Majesty's Theatre London. David was nominatedfor best actor at the 2001 Oliviers for creating the role of John Kelly in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Beautiful Game at the Cambridge Theatre

Gina Beck is currently playing the role of Glinda in the musical Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre and has received a host of critical acclaim for playing major roles in leading West End theatre productions. Gina previously starred as Christine Daaé in Cameron Mackintosh's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, for which she was nominated for a Theatre Fans Choice Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical, 2010.

Viv Mclean has been a celebrated pianist for a number of years. Recent highlights include performances with the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Philharmonic and a USA tour with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

Jae Alexander will conduct the evening. Jae has conducted across the country and worked with some of the most famous orchestras in the world, including The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Philharmonia, The English National Symphony and The Wren Orchestra. These events have seen Jae accompanying many international stars such as Sarah Brightman, Sarah Walker, Julian Lloyd Webber and Charlotte Church to name but a few.

Olivier and Tony Winner Mark Rylance Becomes LIFT Patron

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:34:28 PST

LIFT is delighted that Olivier, Tony and BAFTA Award winning actor, director and writer Mark Rylance is its new patron.

Rylance said about LIFT: "I love the old stories of a time when the Thames was an international port and the people of London would rush to see a great ship carrying an inestimable cargo of spice, textiles, or other exotic commodities.

"LIFT festivals have always been such an event for me and for my friends who work in the Theatre. LIFT has always provided something original and liberating, a different form, a new beat, and we have spoken about the work for many months, if not years, as we devise our own new pieces.

"I feel LIFT has done more to influence the growth and adventure of English Theatre than any other organization we have. It would be a boring Thames without their beautiful ships."

LIFT has been bringing extraordinary stories told in new ways from around the world to spaces right across London since 1981, and has had a significant influence on the work that is now seen throughout the UK. The next LIFT Festival will be in June 2014.

Mark Ball, Artistic Director of LIFT said "We're thrilled that Mark, the leading stage actor of his generation, has joined LIFT as a Patron. Both LIFT and Mark share a love of storytelling, a deep sense of curiosity about the world around us and a passion for doing things differently."

Meanwhile LIFT continues to produce shows, cement relationships with companies it has worked with and to develop new relationships for the present and for future festivals. Particularly of interest to LIFT, as seen in LIFT 2010 and LIFT 2012, is finding performers that, for political or cultural reasons, find their work forbidden or at least curtailed in their home country. Special focus is on theatre from the Middle East, where insiders bring new voices and perspectives on life in a region that is under the scrutiny of the world.

This summer LIFT is supporting three new productions which fit into these categories:

THE UK PREMIERE OF TRASH CUISINE at the Young Vic 30 May - 15 June 2013
Last year LIFT 2012 was proud to co-produce Belarus Free Theatre's award-winning production Minsk 2011: A Reply To Kathy Acker, and now support their return to the Young Vic.

Drawn from 5 years of research with executioners, human rights lawyers, inmates and their families and re-told in Belarus Free Theatre's inimitable style, Trash Cuisine is urgent theatre that challenges the use of capital punishment in modern society.

THE UK PREMIERES OF MADAME PLAZA and SEVEN + 7 at the Chelsea Theatre 24 - 25 June 2013. LIFT is producing two new pieces as part of Shubbak, A Window on Contemporary Arab Culture.

Madame Plaza - Company O (Morocco). Four women met in the Madame Plaza nightclub in Marrakesh. A choreographer and three aïtas: women who perform at celebrations, weddings and popular nightclubs, bringing songs of pain, loss and impossible love called fado, revealing the complex relationship aïtas have with the men who watch them.

Seven + 7 - Dar Onboz & Collectif Kahraba (Lebanon). Reviving traditional Lebanese techniques of shadow theatre and hakawati with a contemporary twist, Seven +7 is an adventure through shadows, lights, mirrors and reflections. The tale of the day the moon disappeared, taking with
it all the stories, and how people joined together to fix the moon and so bring the stories is told by Nadine Touma, storyteller and author.

The next LIFT will be in June 2014. For updates, go to www.liftfestival.com.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride

Ned Campbell Awarded Radley College's Milligan Cup

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:33:03 PST

Radley College's The Milligan Cup, for Musical Theatre Performance, was held in the Theatre on the evening of 21st May. There were twelve finalists, representing all Radley yeargroups.

The Adjudicator was the distinguished Composer and West End 'MD' (Musical Director), Corin Buckeridge. Debbie Milligan, the presenter of the original trophy was present - and the Cup itself was presented by Michael Crawford (the original 'Phantom of the Opera' in the West End and on Broadway).

First Prize and the Milligan Cup was awarded to NEd Campbell (E Social), for his rendition of 'I'm Martin Guerre' from the Musical, 'Martin Guerre'. Second came Henry McPherson, who performed 'In Whatever Time We Have' from 'Children of Eden'. Third equal were Jamie Robinson, with his performance of 'The Confrontation' from 'Jekyll and Hyde', and Freddie Light, who sang 'Finishing the Hat' from 'Sunday in the Park with George'.

Corin Buckeridge praised all twelve finalists, declaring the overall standard to be "extraordinary".

The songs were accompanied by a six-piece band, led by SDJC and including members of the Music Department. The Theatre department also helped with Production, Lighting and Costumes.

Click here to view more photos from the festivites.

X FACTOR Musical I CAN'T SING! Will Open at the London Palladium in March 2014

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:02:18 PST

Stage Entertainment UK and Syco Entertainment's X FACTOR musical, now titled I CAN'T SING!, will make its official debut at the Palladium on March 26, 2014, with previews beginning February 27.

"We'd been umm-ing and ahh-ing about the title for a while," the show's bookwriter and lyricist, Harry Hill, said in a statement. "Then it hit us - there's never been a musical called I Can't Sing! It also happens to be the title of one of the funniest songs in the show, and we hope hints at the direction we're taking this production...We're pretty certain that you won't have seen anything like it before and it's great that Simon [Cowell] is backing it 4,500 per cent."

I CAN'T SING! "goes behind the microphone and under the judges' desk to reveal the (not necessarily accurate) story of heartache and laughter that keeps millions tuning in every week."

The show, which had been announced under the Working Title X FACTOR - IT'S TIME TO FACE THE MUSICAL!, features 19 new songs with music and lyrics from Steve Brown (Evening Standard and Critics Circle Best Musical award winner), with book and lyrics by Harry Hill (Three BAFTAs, seven British Comedy Awards and a Golden Rose of Montreux) and is directed by double Olivier Award winner Sean Foley (Co-founder of The Right Size; Do You Come Here Often?, The Play What I Wrote and Ducktastic. West End includes The Ladykillers and What The Butler Saw).

The creative team is completed by Choreographer Kate Prince (Founder of Zoonation; Into The Hoods and Some Like It Hip Hop, London Handover Ceremony at Bejing 2008 Olympics), Designer Es Devlin (Multiple West End and Broadway credits. Creative Director for Take That, Kanye West and Pet Shop Boys stadium tours. Designer for London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony), Sound Designer Gareth Owen (Tony Award nominee. Credits include A Little Night Music, End of the Rainbow, Saturday Night Fever), Lighting DesignerHugh Vanstone (Three time Olivier Award winner. Credits include Spamalot, Shrek, Bombay Dreams, God of Carnage) and Musical Supervisor Phillip Bateman (Billy Elliot, Our House, Vernon God Little).

The X Factor launched in 2004 in the UK airing on ITV1. The X Factor's 2010 finale achieving a peak of 21.2 million viewers. The 2011 finale, held at Wembley Arena in front of a live audience of 12,000, was the most watched entertainment TV show of the year. The winner of 2012's X Factor, James Arthur, has sold more than a million copies of his debut single 'Impossible', making it the fastest selling single of last year. Other artists to emerge from The X Factor include the world's biggest pop group One Direction and Leona Lewis, who has sold more than 20 million records to date.

X Factor launched in the US in the fall of 2011 on Fox, immediately becoming the No 1 unscripted show of the season. Season 2 of The X Factor was the #1 most social TV show of 2012, with the season premiere having 1.4MM social comments, making it the most talked about premiere for a TV series ever (Source: Bluefin Labs). The US version of The X Factor airs in 166 countries. Local versions of The X Factor are now produced in more than 42 territories and artists discovered by The X Factor format have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 110 No 1's, 270 Top 10 records, and 500 Top 50 releases.

www.icantsingthemusical.com

BWW Reviews: LIMBO, London Wonderground, May 20 2013

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:49:35 PST

In this latest piece commissioned by the Southbank Centre after the success of Cantina's season last year, music, dance and incredibly highly-skilled traditional circus acts (performed with streetwise panache) are integrated into an awe-inspiring spectacle.

LIMBO is ideally suited to the pavilion space - the 1920s-style Spiegeltent - of the pop-up LonDon Wonderground, where its truly international cast of acrobats bring a taste of the exotic to the banks of the Thames.

Its six-strong ensemble includes multi-talented aerialists, fire-eaters, hand-dancers and contortionists - and they also all contribute to the music, too. Between them they add singing, a guitar, tap sequences and a piano accordion solo to to New York Musical Director Sxip Shirey's score. His live band of three musicians provides an eccentric soundtrack throughout, playing an assortment (the programme boasts) of over fifty instruments, among them toys and household objects. The suzaphone has terrific stage presence.

LIMBO touches on some of the quirks and fetishes of contemporary cabaret performance, but it does so with the lightness of touch and good humour of traditional family circus entertainment, and this unusual blend is its charm. Bowler hat and cane dance routines sit happily alongside hair-raising balancing acts featuring clinking bondage chains. And just as you are starting to wonder whether the two scantily-clad women are just there for totty, one of them swallows a couple of swords and breathes fire so hot it could be felt it in the fourth row.

The show is genuinely frightening (I clocked my nearest emergency exit early on). But it is also very funny and not just because of the bald recklessness of the performers; there is also some humorous choreography - winks, slapstick, petty jealousies enacted through dance - and some startling illusions, which I won't spoil.

This thrill-seeker's pattern of suspense and relief drives LIMBO, but plenty of its momentum comes from its theatricality too: Director Scott Maidment plays intelligently with circus archetypes, creating well-developed, sympathetic characters out of stock figures. The same goes for routines which, while comprising all the essential ingredients of circus, are tirelessly inventive.

Circus might seem full of familiar motifs, but in the hands of the LIMBO cast and creatives these have been given a new lease of life, and make for an entertaining show with plenty in it to get your heart racing.

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Begins Tonight

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:30:00 PST

CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, the highly anticipated West End musical starring Olivier and Tony Award winner Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka, begins tonight, May 22, 2013. Opening night is set for June 25.

Directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes, the story is brought to life with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman (Grammy winners for Hairspray; Smash), with a book by award-winning playwright and adaptor David Greig (The Bacchae; Tintin In Tibet).

Alongside Hodge as Willy Wonka, the cast will include Nigel Planer as Grandpa Joe, Clive Carter as Mr Salt, Jasna Ivir as Mrs Gloop, Paul J Medford as Mr Beauregarde, Iris Roberts as Mrs Teavee and Myra Sands as Grandma Georgina.

Other cast will include Joe Allen, David Birch, Michelle Bishop, Mireia Mambo Bokele, Matthew Clark, Alex Clatworthy, Jennifer Davison, Luke Fetherston, Nia Fisher, Kate Graham, Clare Halse, Mark Iles, Daniel Ioannou, Kieran Jae, Jane McMurtrie, Natalie Moore-Williams, Sherrie Pennington, Damien Poole, Paul Saunders, Jack Shalloo and Jay Webb.

When Charlie wins a golden ticket to the weird and wonderful Wonka Chocolate Factory, it's the chance of a lifetime to feast on the sweets he's always dreamed of. But beyond the gates astonishment awaits, as down the sugary corridors, and amongst the incredible edible delights, the five lucky winners discover not everything is as sweet as it seems. Roald Dahl's deliciously dark tale of young Charlie Bucket and the mysterious confectioner Willy Wonka comes to life in this brand new West End musical.

Photo Credit: Helen Maybanks

OLIVER REED: WILD THING Receives London Premiere at St. James, July 30

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:05:11 PST

Arrow Media, Skullduggery and Seabright Productions present Oliver Reed: Wild Thing by Mike Davis and Rob Crouch, performed by Rob Crouch, and directed by Kate Bannister. It will receive its London premiere at the St. James Theatre Studio with performances beginning July 30, prior to an official opening Aug. 1, for a run through Aug. 18.

In this blistering solo show, join legendary hell-raiser Oliver Reed as he knocks back a few drinks and shares his incredible life story. From the boyhood excitement of learning he was a descendant of
Peter the Great, through the success of Oliver!, boozy adventures with Keith Moon and disastrous chat show appearances - this was a life well lived. But though Ollie may appear an unstoppable force of nature, this is Malta in 1999, and time is fast running out for the 'Wild Thing'. Rob Crouch brings Reed back to vivid life in this swaggering, brilliant evening of entertainment.

Running Time: 70 minutes
Age Guidance: 14+
No Interval

For tickets or more information, contact the box office on 0844 264 2140 or visit www.stjamestheatre.co.uk for more details.

Review Roundup: Lindsay Posner's Revival of RELATIVELY SPEAKING

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:50:01 PST

Lindsay Posner's revival of Alan Ayckbourn's Relatively Speaking opened at the Wyndham's Theatre last night (20 May 2013). It runs through 31 August 2013.

The play was Ayckbourn's first major success in 1965, and follows Ginny and Greg over a summer's weekend, revealing the twists and secrets that accompany spontaneous relationships, resulting in a quintessentially English comedy.

The cast includes Felicity Kendal, Jonathan Coy, Kara Tointon and Max Bennett.

Tickets: £19 - £52.50. Box Office: 0844 482 5120/ www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk.

Let's see what the critics had to say:

Mark Valencia of whatsonstage.com writes: Like his contemporary Tom Stoppard, the young Ayckbourn was in starry-eyed love with language and as early as Relatively Speaking his ear for the absurd in mundane conversation was attuned. Felicity Kendal's name is synonymous with both playwrights so it comes as a surprise to learn that this is her first appearance in an Ayckbourn play since The Norman Conquests in 1973. Our loss, for her performance as Sheila, the supposed mother, is a masterclass in pace, timing and killer moments.

Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph says: The result is that the comedy - which now so evocatively captures the mood and morals of the swinging Sixties - is blessed, at least as far as the play's construction is concerned, with something of the formal elegance of the 18th century. Just as the plot of Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer was based on the hero mistaking his future father-in-law for an innkeeper, so Ayckbourn's play derives its momentum from the fact that his young hero mistakes his dolly-bird girlfriend's older lover for her father.

Michael Billington of the Guardian says: This is the play that in 1967 gave Alan Ayckbourn his first West End hit. Seeing it again after all these years, in Lindsay Posner's witty production, I was reminded of the play's brilliance as a theatrical construct. Although lighter in texture than many of the 70 or so plays Ayckbourn has written since, it contains fascinating intimations of the middle-class marital angst that was to become his speciality.

LIbby Purves of the Times says: ...utterly British romp deftly directed by Lindsay Posner and led by two beloved TV players... verbal farce of social misunderstanding is intriguing as well as enduringly funny... Thus with elegant Ayckbournian cunning, hysteria rises from beneath the wisteria... The nuances are well taken: Max Bennett as young Greg deploys just enough of an Estuary twang... Felicity Kendal as the rural hausfrau is perfect, a woman conditioned to smoothing male feathers... But when, in the final moments, the worm turns she deploys a fine wounded wifely steeliness. Meanwhile Coy gives good bluster, and Kara Tointon is a credible secretary-bird on the cusp of liberation.

Henry Hitchings of the Evening Standard writes: A slick revival of a cleverly constructed play that offers an unsettling picture of marital distress and tight-lippEd Englishness, at times ripely amusing. Yet for all Alan Ayckbourn's craft it strains credibility, and too many of the jokes are predictable.