The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 25

THE OBSERVER WEEKEND REVIEW. MARCH JT, 196 The Arts 25 Life with the hecklers (Continued from CoJnnsn 71 PERHAPS we've become too entertainment-conscious. After all. this is a General Election, not a merry jaunt of the Pickwick Club to watch Slumkey versus Fizkin at Eatanswill. Even so.

you can't blame the poor viewers for feeling a bit thwarted. Night after night we sit watching those dim party election broadcasts. Only when the late newsreels come on do we get any live telly verity. Inevitably, much of this has been heckiing, which, like all anarchic activities, is apt to make exciting TV. Obviously the new practice of produced.

semi-scripted heckling, with cameras co-operaiing with interrupters, should he discouraged. Still, most heckling as we saw lat week. There was the bomb and the There was even Hogg at l.eylon. keeping, for him, remarkably calm and ben.gn. Will you tell thai gentleman or lack to give me back my thing." I think I heard him boom genially as one of his teenage persecutors was carried out.

His pleasing deportment went some way to counterbalance those rather alarming demonstrations, earlier, with the (tick and Wilson's guts. Of course when a whole audience howls like a hyena-chorus and keeps it up. the effect is to reduce both speaker and party to impotence and for TV to dwell too long on one of these scenes would be unfair. Bui I think the' authorities might have let us see a bit more detail. So far, the party broadcasts haen'l smacked quite so blatantly of advertising agency or documentarv film company as they did in 1959.

But in trie absence of spontaneous dialogues they remained commercials, mostlv devilish dull ones. The to Have been, with that brilliant cast. But Chekhov' playi arc delicate organisms; you never know how they are going to stand the cold climate of die screen. It it sometimes suggested that Ivanov," his first full-length play. written in a fortnight when he waa 27, is more straightforward, more of a dramatic chronicle, than his later work.

I doubt, though, if it is any easier to perform and produce. Ivanov is a most complex case-history of depression and paralysis of 'he will in a middle-aged landowner who must yet be made to seem potentially superior to the other men in bis part of the country. You really need the intimate rapport of the live theatre to get the feel of him in depth, over the years that pass between his witty, neglected Jewish wife's illness and death -and his last-minute rejection of Sasha. the young girl be is about to marry. However, Sir John Gielgud gave such a sensitive yet authoritative performance that was able to accept everything, even that abrupt suicide, his only decisive act.

This, I believe, is prompted by his symbolic conscience, that ghastly doctor, a persecutory super-ego on legs if ever I saw one. Rural Russia We shall see-what BBC-2 makes tonight of The Seagull, the second or its Russian season. This opened last Sunday with a by-no-means-insensitive yet somehow faintly limp production of Tur-genev's A Month in the Country. The strongest feature here was a delightful performance, moody but subtly restrained, never unduly sprightly, by Vivien Merchant as Natalia. Derek Godfrey's Rakitin seemed a bit over-simplified by comparison.

There were some pleasing rural sets. You could sense the production trying to trap that delicate aquatinted wistful atmosphere, with its slight Irish affinity yet for much of the time it eluded them. The overa.lt impression was a iittlo cloudy and muffled, as if one wero looking through stained glass with cotton wool in one's ears. already gone in at several million ears and out at 'several million others. The only party that can get away with righteou indignation are the Liberalj because it's so long since they did anything good or bad.

Oddly enough the Tory star of the week was Selwyn Lloyd, but he had the advantage of appearing in Panorama. He came on (after fascinating if ominous Rbodestan round-up showing dumb whites who obviously really did believe Wilson was a Communist and had visited Moscow 12 times for his instructions) for a little disputation with Michael Stewart, who could only s-tonewall. In 24 Hoars Grossman versus Boyd Carpenter, seemed to be changing his mind in mid-sentence, but Boyd-Carpenter was too busy quibbling and gobbling to take advantage of him. 1 suppose the coverage has been efficient enough. 24 Hours even gave us a day, not, mercifully, quite in full, with George Brown, the hoarsest man in the field with the possible exception of Keith Joseph.

But search me why we weren't allowed organised telly hustings of the type that Granada showed a 1959 snatch of in their grouse programme TV and the General Election, which introduced speakers with a permissible bit of showbiz fanfare in front of a studio audience. I keep feeling all the time that something is being kept from me. What can it be The truth, perhaps. Adaptations of proved stage productions have such obvious advantages. I wish they could manage to give us more of them, Ivanov, as presented by A TV for the last of ils rhree recent cultural gestures, was captivating, much the best specimen of Chekhov yet on TV.

And so, you may say, it ought PAOLO DI PAOLO Director Giorgio De LuUo rehearsing Rossella Falk, the faithless wife in Pirandello's "The Rule of tbe Game'; the Compagnia dei Giovani production which opens the second week of ths World Theatre Season at the Aldwych tomorrow. VISITING INSECTS A ram in wolfs clothing MAY FAIR fEn frcxt-n MV initf at B.4U. luurs. and 5au. ai 6 and 8.40.

BEYOND THE FRINGE 1966 "THE REVISED EDITION IS MAGNIFICENTLY D. Telegraph. MEJLMAID CIT 7656 (Restaurant 28351 From wjroor 00 Mondays only at 6 A s.o BERNARD MILES ON THE WAGON Te to Sat at 6 8.40 PEGGY MOUNT fives a areat comic performance (E. Newj) In THE BEAVER COAT wiib JOHN MOFFATT A Triumph lEv. Sun) NEWi Tera 3818.

Evas. 7.45. Mais. Tuea. and aau ai 4.30.

LIONEL ARTS OLIVER THE LONGEST RUNN1NO MUSICAL IN HISTORY OIJ VIC. THE NATIONAL THEATER. ra. a Wed. 7.30 and Tbur.

2.15 A 7 JO I LOVE FOR LOVE Fri. 7.30 A Sal. 7.30 A FLEA IN HER EAR Now book ins to May. PALACX. Ocr 6834.

7.30. Sal. 2M. inc Hit jviusica THE SOUND OF MUSIC Rodgers Hammersietn. Lindsay A Oou PALLADIUM (Ger 7373).

Dally 3.45. 7. JO. Frank field, SEdncy James. Roy Kinneai, Kenneth Connor and Animr Askey In Maanificcni Ail Comedy Production BABES IN THE WOOD PHOENIX.

(Tern 861 1. Evening at 8.1 DJn. oaiuiuays a. a.u h.i. Mat, wea.

J.u. ALEC GUINNESS ANTHONV O' 1 A.YLB INCIDENT AT VICHY by ARTHUR MILLER. Last 3 weeks. PICCADILLY. Ger 4506.

Eva. 8. Wed. gai, tx o.iia. uanicj Massey Mario inooiaa, Kurt Kasinar, Joan Sierndaie Bennen In BAREFOOT IN THE PARK ONE OF THE FUNNIEST COMEDLEJ IN TOWN," E.

Standard. PRINCE OF WALES. Opening April 15. r.jv. ouro cvgj o.u.

ian j.LP ana s.c BAR BRA STREISAND. FUNNY GDLL, MICHAEL CRAIG. Tickets ava Ratal Box Office (Whi S6SI) and Ajrcncic. HOYAJL COURT (Slo 1745) 7.30 SaL ivionaay uesday SERJEANT MUSGRAVES DANCE Wed. and Thur.

(Lasl Perfa) THE KNACK Fri. Sat. (Last Pert) THE PERFORMING GIANT TRANSCENDING Boofc Monday for New Season. ftT MARTINS. (Tern 1443).

Evenings at mat. wea. na j.vi. at 3.3U ana B. 30, Jill Benneii.

Jessie Evans, Ian McKeUen A LILY in LITTLE INDIA oLmucai, moving onen encrmouarr funny." S. Tel. A rare treat." D. Taj. SAVOY (Tcm 8888).

Evcninu al 8.0. Snt 5.0 and o. Wed. 2.30. Hit Comedr.

ANDREW CRU1CKSHANK HE IS SUPERB Timra in ALIBI FOR A JUDGE Perfect Daily Sketcfa, STRAND (Tern 2660) Evcntnes at 7.30. Saturday .5 0 and 8 JO. Mat Thur 3 0 MICHAEL DEN1SON. DULCIE GRAY. URSULA 5ENS ROGER HVESEY.

MAROA-RET LOCK WOOD, RICHARD TODD. In Oscar Wilde's comedy AN IDEAL HUSBAND UNITY THEATRE EUS 5591 Fri Sat Sun, 7.45 p.m. PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD by I. M. Synae.

Directed tar BaUtsbcba Garnctc Ticfccu J6 if- 74, Mems. 76. VANBRUGH Lan 7982 Merns). Thun. Pit.

Sat. 2. JO A 7.30. John Ardcn's Litre Lfk Pies. Prices Eveaioss 46 26.

Madneea 26 1-. VAUDEVILLE. Tcm 4871. Evgi at 8 2.45. Sals.

5 8. SYBIL THORNDIKH, ATHENE SEYLER, RICHARD BRIERS. DESMOND WALTER-ELLIS JULIA LOCKWOOD. LEWIS CASSON In ARSENIC AND OLD LACE VICTORIA PALACE. Vic 1317.

Twice NtlT. 6.15 and 8.45 TV's Fastest Spectacular THE BLACK AND WHITE MINSTREL SHOW Now in 4th Year. Booking until Nov. 19M. WHITEHALL.

Eva. 7.30. Weds 2.30. Sata, 5.15 it 8.15 (Second Year!) BRIAN RIX CHASE ME COMRADE A Storm ot LAUGHTER." Fia. Timea.

WYNDHAJTfi. Tern 3028. Ev? 8 Wed. Sat. 6 8.45.

The In comedy. HOWS THE WORLD TREATING YOU Almost bound to be THE FUNNIEST PLAY OF 1966 D. Eipreaa. TALK OF THE TOWN Opg THURSDAY NEXT Election Nignr with a preview al 0.30 p.m. of the NEW 166 Rerua DANGEROUS CURVES PLUS at 11 p.m.

MAX BYGRAVES followed by ELEC-TION RESULTS REG 5051. PROVINCIAL CITIZENS' THEATRE Glasgow. Tel 041 SOU 0023 TH) Saturday 9th AprQ MISALLIANCE By Bernard Shaw. dose theatre club Till Sunday. 10th April.

TCHIN-TCITIN by Bilietrfomt. PITLOCHRY Festival Theatre (16th Season) April 9 to October 8. The First Mrs Fraser, Jeppe of the Motmtatn, Dear Charles, Tht Fan. Tbe Cherry Orchard. The Way or tha World.

Company includes Sophie Stewart. Ellis Irving. Clement McCallin. Send for Pro A Hotel List. 176.

15-. 126. 10- (Tel -133). Concern. An.

Restaurant. YVONNE ARNAUD THEATRE. Guildford. (Guildford 601012.) Eves. 7.45 Mat.

Thurs. 2.30. Sal. 5.00 8 00. Hearher Sears.

Mantaretta Scott in THE DOOR. Last week. NOTTINGHAM PLAYHOUSE. Tel. 45671.

Evntrs. 7.30. Sot. 3.0 8.0 Mon. no pert.

Tue. Student Preview Fri and April 8. 9. 11. II.

19. 21 WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF Bat. and Aoril 6. 7. 14.

15. 16 tMat). IS, 22 SAINT JOAN April 4. 12. 20.

2J MEASURE FOR MEASURE April 5. 16 (eve.) (roda) THE CARETAKER ACADEMY CINEMA ONE (GER 2981). Jean-Luc Godards ALPHAVILLF. I A) THE PIER IA). Ptobs.

3.35. 5 50. 8 15. ACADEMY CINEMA TWO (GER 5129), Federico Fellini's Greal colour 01m JULIET OF THE SPIRITS IX). Protts.

4.55. 7 50. ACADEMY CLUB (GER Until Mar. It. Shirley Clarke's THE CONNECTION.

From APL. 1 THE BOYARS' PLOT. ARTS Tern 3334. Laurence Olivier HENRY Mems. from 76.

ASTORIA. Charing Rd. Ger 33S5. Tb Greal Race (U). Separate peris, today.

4.0, S.D. Weekdays at 2.30. B.0. AJJ boolrablo. CINEMAS (Cont) ART GALLERIES EXHIBITIONS RESTAURANTS Etc Page 26 in a play that has ambitions to represent the whole of Mankind.

The roof in itself is simple and beautiful. But what it reflects isn't i stage-cloth like hideous marbled end-papers, for instance, and groups of matronly actresses in cocktail dresses lying down and representing lust in repeated patterns that are exactly like those cborusea of girls in swimsuits who used to form flower shapes in Esther Williams films. And why are the flirting butterflies represented by actresses wearing middle-aged human costume Why not give theni the clothes of young insects 7 I thought that was-the point of tho allegory, to show human beings in the guise of spiders and crickets and militarised ants. Meanings galore The possible interpretations ore many and woolly, which is what usually happens with allegories. The Christian Science Monitor in 1922 found this high-minded play an ugly, cynical and pessimistic drama, in which there is no truth." The Freethinker thought it was about John the Baptist.

The Capek brothers. who self-righteously quoted this confusion in a preface to the second edition as though it weren't their responsibility, originally gave the play what they nn-ceived to be an optimistic the virtuous Tramp who is the link1 ing Everyman figure dies, upon which a woodcutter and his wife remark that there is a birth for every death; there are always people enough." Public opinion distressed the Capek brothers by taking this to bo a statement of desperate cynicism, and the authors therefore rejigged the finale into a real tractor-drama humdinger in which tho tramp awakes from a dream and joyfully allows the woodcutter to put him to work. The Machacek production presents an amiable third alternative in which the cast come downstage and sing the audi-enco out. If only wo could havo seen the renascent Czechs, in something tougher, newer, more characteristic of their present mood something perhaps by Topol or Havel, instead of this sedate generality. They must come again soon with another play and a sharper company.

They have a lot to demonstrate. AS EVERYONE knows and some deplore, the 1965 Grand Prix at Cannes went to 11 The Knack." Patriots planning (o attend this year's Festival in hopes of seeing another coup for Britain should pause before packing their Union Jacks the official British entry is Alfie (Plaza), adapted by Bill Naugh-ton from his Mage success. Filmified," perhaps, would be an aptcr word, considering the autnor's weakness for whimsical coinages like bossified and The play was a wily blend of surface cynicism and underlying lentimeniality. In the film, despite or possibly because of its loyalty the original, sentimentality wins the day, it usually does when 1 echmcolor and the wide screen gic it half a chance. In nnpsis form, the script jounds a one-man La Rnnde.1 Alfie (played with deadpan, i le ri ve by ichac I a pruue young East End wolf who hops from bed to bed in a 'pirit of resolute non-attachment: his mnuo is never to be emotionally dependent.

Girls to him are objects in love, see and he shrugs them off at the first whisper of possessiveness. AjTiong those he pleasures are lane Asher, as a hilch-hiking waif from Lancashire, and Milhcent Martin, as a sporty married woman content to bunk down in the back seat of his car. For the nrsi time British movies. routine of soft-sell, hard-sell, knocking copy, smear and counter-smear becomes monotonous. The trouble with knocking copy is that it nearly always betrays too much aggression.

Politicians, and above all telly politicians, should heed the advice of the Taoist sage Lieh Tzu (not to be confused with Lao Tse) No man will confide in one who shows himself aggressive. And he in whom no man confides will remain solitary and without support." Back from Japan I he only Tory in Thursday night's party broadcast who might have "been taking Taoist tips was the irrepressible Marples, just back with a message of perpetual change from Japan and some mysterious managerial explosion from the United States. Everyone else, including Peggy Fenner, a pretty new-style sub-lopian Tory candidate and housewife whom they shoved forward for a few seconds at the beginning, was far too furious. Even the billykenish Edward Boyle seemed petulant. Maud-ling, who used to be so placid and rational, has developed a denunciatory high-pitched nag.

Tuesday night's Labour broadcast accusing the Conservatives of conspiring to destroy the Welfare State, had been far from convincing, much less compulsive, winding up with some dire foreboding of seven million on the means test. The Tories would have done far better to leave it alone. Most of it had the existence of the curse admitted Hasn't our little friend turned up yet he asks one of his regulars. She "eventually bears his child and later, to his immense relief, gets married to an adorinn bus-cond uctor. Noihing shrivels his priapic zeal, not even the discovery that he has tuberculosis.

No sooner is he confined in a sanatorium than he seduces a willing nurse (Shirley Anne Field) no sooner discharged, than he sleeps with Vivien Merchant, the wife of his closest hospital chum. A cheap and bloody abortion ensues. After a final fling with a wealthy lust-box (Shelley Winters), Alfie ends up alone and lonely. Throughout the film, sex is ireated with a practical candour rare in the British cinema. There arc.

however, some ruinous items on the debit side. First: the convention by which Alfie speaks directly lo the audience, often when other characters are present. Effective in the theatre, which does not pretend to be a realistic medium, the device is jarring in a movie devoted in every other respect to the precise simulation of reality. Second, and more damaging: the determination of all concerned to tell a warm-hearted 4 to 6 April 7 and 9 A -i I II to Apr. I I 5 and 16 April mP 1 face, when he wu planning, tha repertory of a new theatre.

And do you know why 7 Because they're to boring." Every country has its rotten classics; an expert in un-revivability is as essential to National Theatres as a subsidy. The Capek brothers' fable, which uses insect greed and regimentation as a metaphor for capitalism and totalitarianism, belongs irredeemably to the twenties not only in its expressionist form but also in its The suffering and shock of the 'time when it was written, four years after the Great War, must have imbued the play with more penetration and feeling than it possesses out of context. The allegory now seems rather fanciful and unintelligent, and the statements about humanity preposterously prissy. All the same, the techniques of the play might have stood up a lot better if it hadn't been so daintily produced. Why Miroslav Machacek should have directed a fable that obviously has the moral stylisation of a medieval mystery play, as though it were a Hollywood ba thing movie- of the 1940s totally defeats me.

iThe most striking 'thing, about the production is Josef SvobodaV gigantic angled of honeycomb I have seen him use his favo.urito device of reflections with more dramatic reason, as he did in a Hamlet" that he designed for ah InterpretaUon that filled Elsinore with mirrored eavesdroppers'; but the multiplying effect of the prisms that he suspends over the actors' heads obviously has a practical use See our weekly guide BRFtTJG on pages 2223 for today's TVSound programmes and more news of arts and entertainments CAMBRIDGE. Tern 6056. Evenings S.0 Sat. 5.0 8.20. Tnurs.

2.45. Antonio Hi ''Spaniih Dance Co. wllh Rosarta. COMEDY. WW 2578.

En. 8.0. Wed. S.4J. Sata.

6.0 fc 8.45. SPIKE MULLIGAN. BILL KERR in tbe HIT comedy Son of OBLOMOV Tbe Funniest Utfua-. London has seen many, many yeara." Bernard Levin. D.

Mail. I toughed till I cried News of Helplessly luzmy Observer. 2ND FANTASTIC YEAR. CRITERION. Whi 3216.

Evenings 8.15. Mat. Thurs. at 3. Sata.

at 6 and 8. 45. DIANA SANDS and ANTON RODOERS THE OWL AND THE PUSSYCAT One of the richest, most uninhibited extro-Teri exhibition I-bave ever ecn B. Levin. Daily Mail.

Extravagantly spiced acx H. Kretzmcf, D. Express. "Tbe moat the most prandns Ingenue. Amerit a has sent us for some time K.

Hobsoa; Times. The Criterion have another hit on their Hteains. Times. DRURY LANE. Tem.S108.

Evenings ,7.30. Sit. 2.30. The Hit Musical MARY MARTIN HELLO DOLLY I An Unquestionably 'Stnasaeroo." F. Tma.

DUCHESS. Tcm; 8243. Ev. 8.O. Wed.

2.45. Sat. S.15 NICHOLAS PARSONS In BOEINGrBOEING FIFTH HILARIOUS YEAR. DUKE OF YORK'S (Tern J122). Evas.

.0. Sat. 5:30. S.30. Wd.

3.0. Over 300 peril. BERYL REID in BEST. PLAY OF YEAR. E.

Stan. Award. THE KILLING OP SISTER GEORGE The Comedy Hit by Frank Marcus, with EILEEN ATKINS BEST ACTRESS OP YEAR. Evelyns' Standard Award. IN THE cinema there is a limit to the insularity that is possiblo even in England.

Dirty foreign muck washes up on our tight little shores willy-nilly, if only because film economics demand it. But the theatre is another story, partly because suoh a large body of English-languago drama exists that there is no practical necessity for managers to be internationalists, and partly because there has never been in this country any tradition of systematic, decently written and properly paid translation of the theatrical resources of other countries. Universities with drama departments might think seriously about setting up a link with their language departments and encouraging writers with ears at the moment most linguists know nothing about the theatre, most playwrights- only speak English and most of the familiar translators write like boots. Spring imports Since the formation of the Royal Shakespeare, the National and the Royal Court, -the parochialism of. the- available' repertory in London has grown a lot less stifling; But each spring for the last three years Peter Daubeny's World Theatre Season at tbe Aldwych has been doing something else more practically daunting.

Instead "6f mounting a play in translation with a local cast, he has imported entire foreign productions intact and provided audiences with the equivalent of -film subtitles by hiring out little wand-shaped transistor radios that pick up a simultaneous translation. The London stage suddenly has its own. National Film Theatre. With the opening production this time the Czech National Theatre in Karel and Capek's The Insect Play the privilege of going through other people's archives has unfortunately producec1. a stinker.

There arc so many famous that are never George Devine once said with a saintly ADELPHI. Tem 7611). Evenius Ml 7.30. Saturdays 5 30 8.30. Mau.

Tbur. 3.0. JOE BROWN. ANNA NEAGLE and HY-HAZEXL In CHARLIE GIRL ITS KLIPPIN1 WELL MARVELLOUS." Sunday Exurcss. ALDWYCH WORLD THEATRE SEASON Now Dtayios Compannla Dei Giovani in Pirandello THE RULES OF THE GAME Mon 7 P.m.

Tu Ap 7 7.30 WAp9 2,30 7.30) Piranrjclto'i SIX CHARACTERS Th7 7J0 Sal i An 2.30 7.30) Nen Company National Theatre o( Greece Eurinldej HECUBA tAp 12 13 15 19 22 Eva Ap 16 mat) Sophocle. OEDIPUS REX (Ad 14. 16 20 Evi Ap 23 mat) Sopbocles OEDIPUS AT COLONUS (Ap IS. 21 4 23 Et) Tcm 6404. AMBASSADORS.

Eva 8. Tuei 2.45. SauSi S. AGATHA CHRISTIE'S THE MOUSETRAP FOURTEENTH AWE-INSPIRING YEAR I APOLLO. Get 2663.

EvenlDM at 8.0. Thurs Saturdays at 6.0 ALFRED MARKS. RUTH DUNNING In SPRING PORT WINE by BILL NAUGHTON. Uproariously Pnrtni. STRATFORD-UPON-AVON ROYAL SHAKESPEARE THEATRE Over 1 30.000 tickets already sold for new season opening 6 April IMMEDIATE APPLICATION ADVISED FOR SEATS STILL AVAILABLE FIRST THREE PLAYS: HENRY TV PART ONE HENRY IV PART TWO HAMLET 5 Write Box Office for performance details enclosing s.a.e.

or telephone Stratford-upon-Avon 2271 cautionary tale wfth a thickly underlined moral. Note the sequence in which Alfie recites Abou Ben Adhem to his bastard infant, thus establishing himself as a decent family man at heart, like most chaps in plays by Bill Naughton. See how he creeps unobserved into church to watch the child's christening, from which he returns to the scene of Miss Merchant's abortion and bursts into tears. (The intensity of emotion is reminiscent of Victorian melodrama, except that in the latter case we would have been expected to lament if Miss Merchant's unwanted child had actually been born.) Listen, if you unwincingly can, to a line Alfie utters after Miss Winters has thrown bim over It's how the heart hungers for something that makes it beautiful." And don't forget the pathetic stray dog with which the picture begins and ends. Sonny's score The score, predictably enough, consists of cool jazz.

Less predictably, it is composed and blown by Sonny Rollins. The director is Lewis Gilbert, hitherto famous for films with curt, imperative titles like Reach for the Sky," Cast a Dark Shadow." Carve her Name with Pride," Light up the Sky and Sink the Bismarck." His major contribution to "Alfie" is a saloon-bar brawl, irrelevant and unmotivated, that recalls the worst excesses of Dodge City in its Hollywood heyday. The bestiality cycle continues. In Born Free it was lions; in The COVENT OARUEN. THE ROYAL BALLET Mon.

1 .10 Swan Lake wilh Sibley. MacLcery Sal. 7.50 SceDc. dc Ballet. Lcs Let Noces.

SciiLj available. Cav 1066. MERMAID Puddle Dock, Btackfriars, E.C.4. Box Office CITy 7656. Back again from tomorrow Mondays only 6 8.40 BERNARD MILES ON THE WAGON Directed by JULIUS GELLNER 11 you're coopeJ up in London and want a breath of country air you can get il ai the Merrhaid." W.

A. Darlington, D. Telegraph. "Attains an almost sublime kind of H. Krelzmer, D.

Express. Brings back the warmth of forgotten summers." H. Hobson, S. Times, Until 16 Api il Tuesdays Saturdays 6 8.40 PEGGY MOUNT THE BEAVER COAT A comedy hy Cerhart Hauptmann Translated by William Rowlimon JOHN MOFFATT Directed ROBERT CHETWYN Designed by Adrian Vaux A comic performance by Peggy Mount." Evening fcews. "A triumph." Ev ens fig Stan dard "A great success' Financial Times.

"Mr. Robert Chetwyn has directed the play into extreme bilariry." The Times. Opens 20 April DUNCAN MACRAE THE MISER BERNARD MILES THE IMAGINARY INVALID A dmi'nle bill of in comedies hy Mohcic. Directed bv JLTJUS GELLNER Ugly Dachshund (Prince Charles) it is dogs. This Walt Disney production, based on a book by G.

B. Stern, shows what marital havoc can be wrought when a wife goes for dachshunds and her husband prefers Great Danes. They live in that sunlit, low-slung, archetypal Californian house, where they occupy twin beds and ii is clearly implied that he (Dean Jones) has stopped sleeping with her (Suzanne Pleshette) ever since she turned against the breed he loves. In the end they learn that being proud of one another's dogs is. the secret of an adult relationship.

The supporting cartoon is mora reassuring to Disney admirers half an hour of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, directed by Wolfgang Reitherman with splendid fidelity to both A. A. Milne's words and Ernest Shepard's drawings. The sedate foolishness of Pooh is prettily captured, and there ire very few offensive additions. Purists, however, will rightly baulk at such innovations as the stammering gopher and the songs, in one of which Pooh is made to sing: Speaking poundage-wise I improve my appetite when 1 exercise." According to the titles, six men worked on the story This is a real On Cowboy (Carlton) la British innuendo in Eastman Colour, with Sidney James as the villainous Rumpo Kid, Kenneth as Judge Burkie of the Wright-Burkes and Charles Hawtrey as a dainty Indian chief named Big Heap.

Fun for punsters, glum for others. COVENT GARDEN OPERA. Wed. at 7.30. IPHIGENIE EN TAURIDE with Veasey, Bonhomme.

Ifassard, Albcrtf. ind Pritchard. Thur. 730 THE TALES OF HOFFMANN. Fri, 7.30 ELEKTHA.

Sea li vaJlab3c. Now booking 10 June 1, SADLER'S WELLS. Ter 1672. OPERA lo Enzlisb. Evenings 7.30.

Tue. and Fri. DIE FLEDERMAUS Wed. Faust. Th.

ClnderdU. Sat. BobemaP 3 diMlliViliMJU Mailorders fi tilled. Prim 2B-: I5M0.B: TO tas. ante two ulernna dain LYRIC THEATRE SHAFTESBURY AVENUE.

W.I. GEFUaid 36B8 JANE FYFFE WILL JOIN DONALD KEVIN WDLFIT COLSON in the highly successful A Now in its 2nd YEAR WHE JUNE BRONHILL LEAVES TO STAR IM THE er AUSTRALIAN PRODUCTION ot "Robert anil on SATURDAY APRIL 2nd EXTRA MAT. EASTER MON. AT 2 30 Hi CTllliT.IIIJSm.ISj BOOKING PERIOD 4 for performances 5 April to 14 May Advance Booking already open General Booking opens tomorrow 28 March (post and personal application only) Box Office open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Telephone Bookings-suspended until Tuesday 29 March Queue tickets will not be issued on this occasion. The following seats or? stilt available ot the time of going to press MISS JULIE and BLACK COMEDY 6 only ior manrices on 14 and 21 Aprrl Ljsc performance of Mm Julie 29 April TRELAWNY OF THE "WELLS" AN pneej tor matinees on 9 and 16 April 27 6. 20 for It 23 Apr-I, 7 (mat. nd eE. May 27 6 onlv far 7.

9 ie-l. 15 (vjj.) April, 13 May JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK A'i rr.r.e-i lor miin( IB 6 only for rnar.ir.ee 30 April Th? following productions which wit! also be repertoire during the period ore now completely sold out except for those seats sold to personal applicants or fhe box office on the day of performance A FLEA IN HER EAR OTHELLO ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN For fuif repertory leaflet please apply to: Box Office, National Theatre, Old Vic. Waterloo Road, S.E.I. GARRICK. Tern M01.

7.43. a. 3, 7.45. ALAN BADEL SIAN PHILLIPS ZENA WALKER JOHN ROBINSON MARIE LOHR PATRICK McALlNNEY in Bernard comedy MAN AND SUPERMAN GLOBE (Ger 1592). Mon to Tbur Evgj.8.0 Friday and Saturday 6.0 8.45.

THE MATCHGIRLS Muieai "Blooming marvellous Daily Sketch The score Is a triumph Sunday Times, Expertly handled, so full of life and spirit It should have a loss life at the Globe D. Telegraph. HAYMARKCT THEATRE. CWhi 9S32X Es. 7.45 5 8.15.

Wed. 2.30 Ralph Richardson Jack Owlllirn. ludy CampbeLt. Kejth Baxter. Mom Watson.

Cyril Luckham YOU NEVER CAN TELL "SARDONIC SHAW, SUPER CAST IT SOARS" Daily Express. HER MAJESTY'S. Haymarket fWH( Evas, at B.1S. Fri and Sat 6 and 8.45. IAN CAR MICHAEL, DILYS LA YE.

JAN HOLDEN. PATRICK CARGILL in SAY WHO YOU ARE The New Comedy Success, by Keith Waterhoine and Wlllij HaO THE FUNNIEST PLAY IN LONDON Harold Hobson Sunday Times LAME A. THEATRE CLUB FR.E 7017. AnfiBone by Sophocles, Boundary Theatre Company Director Peter Bridjzmom; Monday 28th March until Saturday 9th April. At 7.45 p.m.

No: Good Friday, Matinee Saturday 2nd AprQ at 3,00 p.m Sunday Performance on 3rd April at 7.45 LYRIC. (Ger 3686). Evenings 7 JO Matinee Thurs and Sat, 2.30. DONALD WOLF1T JUNE BRONHILL, KEVIN COLSON In ROBERT ELIZABETH MOST OUTSTANDING MUSICAL IN LONDON D. Sfc.

NOW IN 2ND YEAR, LYRIC WSMIXHi BJV 85S7. Ln 'Wk. Ev 8 Th 230; 8. Sat, 5 8 UNDER MILK WOOD D. Mail.

There could hardly more moving Tel. 120 OF APRIL RELEASE CLASSICAL FOLK I Mil 1 Si JAZZ The National Theatre on Tour OXFORD New Theatre Bor Orfice Tc Oxlorc teats for aM performance! MISS JULIE and BLACK COMEDY 28 to 31 March TRELAWNY OF THE "WELLS" I and 2 April BIRMINGHAM Alexandra Theatre Bo, Oh.lc Te Midland H3I JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK A FLEA IN HER EAR SHEFFIELD Lyceum Theatre JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK A FLEA I HER EAR Fi.rthpr ttptarl tram theatre enncetned. auditf fair preview number apnjJ3s-. 124 PAGE GUIDE TO BETTER LISTENING mOW SALE-' From newsagents or records and recording 18 Buckingham Palace Road London SW1.