The Observer from London, Greater London, England • 39

OBSERVER SUNDAY 22 MAY 1986 30 "SESJsT RICHARD MILOEMHALL Weather report between the planks, grass and diary Sir Peter Hall directs late Shakespeare MICHAEL RATCUFFE Aateryene (Ken Stott), Caliban (Tony Haycartn), Arid (Steves Mackintosh) and, indeed, Trin-culo, whom Mr Pigott-Smhh 3 flPamryv Aidant. Greta, Scacchi, Valena Golino.) become chums with the wife of the Ver- None of these films is offensive, however, the way the official West German entry Welcome to Germany is. Directed, by Thomas Brasch (an East German born in Yorkshire Jewish refugee, parents and, now resident in Berlin), this Pir-andfllian exercise stars a white-haired Tony Curtis as a Hollywood director coming to Germany- to make a movie. The unlikely subject of his unlikely movie of an snti-semitic World Wat Two Nazi picture that featured Jewish actors released from death camps with the false promise of a ticket Sialr'Bavisai THE SECOND international film festival in Tel Aviv is noticeably less carefree than the 1986 opener. Some ISO films are on display from over 42 film schools in a score of countries.

But there are drop-outs. The Swedes and the Dutch, hitherto considered friends both of Israel and of this festival, have, held back. Is this boycott or bungle? Is tlx Palestinian Intifada making waves, even here by the sea? Time-keeping apart festival is oy organised, on quasi-rnilitary lines. No surprise really: the cadre of TelAviv University students run the show have seen 'comptiJabry mflitary service, arid are masters of the walkie-talkie. Their own full-time service behind them, they ttow fear what the West Banktnay hold in store for younger and staters KAREL REISZ and the Hungarian director Istvan Ssabo are attendance, star judges, and botkia Israelfpr the flret time.

Reisx is soon off to America to start oa a hew film, scripted by Arthur Miller; Szabo baa )ust completed his week'at Together they face up to a script-writing conference. An 'agemg modernist advances the view that video imagery now points to new: global language; Rein responds that tins, if so, means the beginning of the end of sustained narrative; Sxabo rails against the notion r6f a film 'Hambutger KtureVstandardised, i without national variation. He wants each to answer to his cookbook 'Better teep your own kitchen, and invite me to eat'. (. THE FESTIVAL makes direct reference to present troubles, screening a retrospective of Palestinian-related film.

Most of it is Israeli made. Michele Chlayfi, Palestinian director of 'Wedding in Galilee', sends word that he 'cahnot'find' a-print. Another exampfeof non-ccpmtioh? These days no one can ne sure, Television comes in for some stick. Are cameras answering to the Palestinian whistle? Should they be made to stand aside more often? I am reminded of British practice during i lukliUW? rocs or stcuy, Boaenua, Lwrs Town, Mflford Haven and Prospero's cell replaces the classical and barbaric palaces of Leontes and Cymbaling with a Faustian study from the top of whose salt-bleached doors the magician observes the progress of Ids revenge. Black-winged harpies pounce on.

the tempting fierce curs drive the shipwrecked villains away. The masks are both beautiful and sinister throughout. The Tempest luminous, lucid, and greatly enhanced by Harrison Birtwistte's sensuous and seductive score is' played without a break for fust over two hours. The Winter's Tale' is more pedestrian, a cool and dry account of a moving play. Despite a Herndoae (Salty Dexter) of unusual 'Warmth, a Perdrta (Shirley Henderson) wise beyond her years and an Aatotycus who roams Arcadia like a slippery- gargoyle pallid, and red-eved- the play seems emotionally undernourished, the elements not yet combined.

"Cymbcline is much more successful, its sense of wonder surviving.its story better told.The longest and most preposterous denouement in the canon is played straight and raises no titters of disbelief because the naive king (Tony Church) takes every stage quite seriously without appealing daft. Gcraldlne James plays Innogen (as we are now advised to call her, after a British queen in Holinshed and on the grounds that the name Imogen has no precedent before the First Folio of Shakespeare's play) with an imperious dignity and gentle desolation. The voice is light, fresh and contemporary: it animates the verse: with brisk wit and simple feeling. and 'Ironweed PHILIP FRENCH a change the law. Shot through yellow filters thai give.

Warsaw a sickly, lowering look, the film introduces us -to' a disturbed' youth, a middle-aged" taxi-driver and an ide-alistic young lawyer about to be admitted, to the bar. They torn out to be a murderer, ran- nam chargeidf letting; the LeftofiPthep horyhileg-bashi Not tuat uei nest turn compere tation, sofar can be said to do (U1TUUUK UUUV, ma wmu ninca, ujuugu ai aan astating of Joppresnorti and the abuse df.State -1 This is? A world -im antobiomphical pkture itcdiMed bv Shawn Slavo about her rehW-: her Tncher, the political; activist: Ruth ''First (Barbara Hershey) went innoer? giwumi'm 1963; It isia famOy sc meshed into a study-bfa; soctciy woosc mcicasujg7. vuuuc- Violence in Cannes Despite magnificent exceptions, it remains true that, compared tothcoljeagacfjihroad, or directotsTftlleBliofan Warner (see King John' last week) and Tim Albery (ace below), most Fjieflsh actors are not cncour aged to act below the neck with the dramatic intelligence they Bring to the text or a language is alL The rule. tne arcturccrure, argument and imaxcrv of ShatesDcarean The architectnre, argument speech certainly emerge with unusual clarity throughout the trio of late plays directed by Sir Peter Hall at the end of IS historic years naming not to say preserving --the National Theatre. We hear, perhaps for the first time, all the words shouted on deck in the storm at the start of The Tempest they are important, establish-, ing- a hierarchy of arrogance and recrimination, heightened by the imminent prospect of death.

The garrulous and impacted exposition of Cym-beflne is impeccably clear. When the psychotic jealousy of Leontes (Tim Plgott-Smifh) in The- Winter's Tak Is expressed in metaphors of a schoolboy's top, a spider in the cap and wives being sluiced like pon ds, these are isolated with such care that they cannot escape our attention. But do they 1ekmg to the cool young man who is saying them? That a kbjg who thinks like this may also be nervously cracked to the. edge of mimic absurdity point, made in recent performances 'of. the nble.

byJVlichel PiccoO, and: Jeremy Irons gort naaclaiowledged Physical and numk expressiveness is not for members of die court conccakdln Caroline velvets, and stiff but for; eccentrics and in the lower, middle and sByernatarai orders: Paulina (Eileen Atkins), FOR 13 days and Cannes Film Fi what is magnificent rin and. naturally there, is plenty, of yiov lence. You can sit eyeryviday from 9.0 ajn. to. tnidmght in the market section: sampling movies ranging from- Anita Rosenberg's Assault of the KHJer Bimbos (which I have not seen but would love to view the company of our new national watchdog William Rees-Mogg) to Iceland's attempt to get out of the art-house and into; the drive-in; Job Tryggvason's thick-eared pursuit thnfier Foxtrot (I found the desolate north-era setting spectKnilar and the foreground story of nkmey-mov-ersdim).

But the Festival's two -most ferocious movies come -from yi BOXOFRCE: Oi-tiVl 7616 -'I frill at tVa IUKIII8. Estival shows rnonctarv and BWTTWirojrTp "mW I right targets plays at a mm, aisarmmg ana iooae-iolnted harlequin in Lit- tie Titch shoes. His Iachimo is an Italian arriviste with a fancy accent and body which moves with the ingratiating vulgarity of a gigolo still defining his pitch. So why such constriction for Leontes? Few actors today achieve distinction and intensity on language and voice alone. Michael Bryant is one, and plays Prospero in Hall's Tempest as a bitter old man, possessively affectionate, wearied and fearful of playing God.

He asks first for heavenly as a sign, of forgiveness and then for release from confinement within the play itself by the liberation of our applause a surreal and inspired link with the slaveries imposed on Ariel and Caliban by Prospero him sef Haygartlrs naked, bloodstained Caliban, his genitals muzzled like a dog, Is outstanding: fierce, sensual and ecstatic the artist exiled in his own land. Alison Clotty sets the plays on a pale wooden floor, with a circle in the centre, a wall at the back and a golden astrological: disc The, disc tilts Bank for die intervention of Time in The Winter's Tale and splits to allow Ariel; Juno, Iris and a glass rainbow to descend for Pros-pero's The circle Is filled with sand for The Tem-peatY lunges and folds (sometimes dumsily) to transport us with State -violence. The hero of Zsolt Kezdi-Kovacs's Cry and Cry Again is a Budapest slaughterhouse engineer who' has an affair in 1958 with the beautiful mistress of a former secret police chief and himself gets what he gwestp. the cattle. A of admomtory beatings, from Ins jealous rival's mmions concludes with a horrendous assault that leaves him a human vegetable.

The other movie, one oT the most impressive in ennrptetition, is Krzysztof Kieslowski's A Short Film About Killing, the most unconmvannshu attack on capital pumumient have ever seen and a rare case of a movie CREOmCAROS Ot-261 i82t; The GrailL.tmffll 1 Retez -Miter script IN CLOSED-DOWN East Jerusalem I come-apon Michael Ignatieffand Chrttoplsveg Cipw tvt fioric for BBu2, tryiss to nail doWB PffOgFaUssUttG pstftlCqMlltS 'How goes it?" Like Northern Ireland in the early Caproa tells nte.Ltoldifrlcaity in getting centrists to" speak up, but extreme are none to keen to sit together. 'Question of ulster, again! YcvridMt the full range of yon risk jptcatating too malleable a pictare, risk being wnmg. (So see this conung Bank Holiday weekend how they made out). I LFARN that the newscaster who announced the death of Abu! Jihad hamened to be' wearing a fashionable black tie over her yQow blouse. 'There you protested viewers.

'Knew ou supported the PlaUatorInthis atmosphere, even student film-rrukers, who lone to express an Attenl tnist.in.peaceand through pictures, begin to whether enough. THE CUMING ceremonies Include an -'homage to Robert Wise who is to do the final hononrsi In return he gets feted with a medley from fWest: Side Story and Sound of Mode. Tlie West Side Story bits eoaaev off beat. Wise has been going front Jury room to jury room, Nc4enoaghraenseof pace; -need to learn a sense7 of pace9'' AFTER argument; top prizes go yet again to an Israeli school, iis time Beit-Zvi who startle everyone with a confident, atypical drama about a girl lodger in a gay commune hiTel Aviv. There are muttermgawTAre judges expressing solidarity with the host country? Have East Europeans particular, had a raw; deal? In short, the stuff of festivals everywhere, student or professkmaL But there is no mystery Reisz, Szabo and the rest simply liked the Israeli work best, i' WENHAM ava i mm tTa'A Tim Piggottmith as son as the kidnapped heiress, but only the half-hour or so covering her period at blind-fold brainwashing by her SLA abductors is truly Robert Redfbrd'a the Mlla-gro Beanfield War (shown out-of-competitkm)" is a sentimental Capm-esque tribute to some poor' Hispanic fanners fighting back against properry-deveTopers in New Mexico.

It proved a real crowd-pleaser with a susceptible Festival audience and Redford's Press conference generated more, excitement than any' event tins past week, attracting as many as a. UuBet MikFtoMfbmW'a I ui unwnuuu IU VUU1UKUUU, SWUMi-i -ir. IW 'KeeptittiBOUti it IS oyer'. Another model? I r. DAILY TELEGRAPH i "ThB not eesttiiUg spectacle London nbtiu jsitort of thrilling.

GQ SEE FOR THEA-TBE, Battle DIRECTORS, designers and actors, in -Glasgow, Rdinburgh, Sheffield, Salisbury, Manchester and Hanunersnuth are no longer afraid of German theatre like' the National and the, RSC They set: aside expectations, cut 1 thrbugbj tiie wordage and dramatised the theatre' of metaphor and debate. The territory is losing its reputation for fearsomeness. Tim Albery'8 ptoductibn' of Schiller's Mary Stuart at Greenwich, translated by Robert takes an icUy-clearviewofithe-f! shiftinSsceiirtittawK romantirM witii ata mycncTsexuai supremacy, between a "sovereign armrcachins the ridiciu The pageant vm always Iaok rJkmlsotti beth in scarlet; Ingheeled shoes and -a tight white satin dress to just below the virgin as Idtten and tart. Mary (Fiona Shaw) matches her with a strength of lyrical anger and eroticism; loneliness, gratitude tarid self-chastisement, triumphs over zabeth at Fotheringay and sends' the Queen of Scotland: Tadiant and atumng '8 -f i- ly.Vivis and British prenuere at, house 'sympathetic production bylAruife Gastyldine, anticipates Edgars Hemiaasao theTlmnl Reich mwhichfas spinster lylllWIMIIIf tar and terrible; the subtle, cooh naive, i treacherous sand yfantasticaly 'pubhcfsplll resourceful and aliusnoVscorevby; Adrian Johnston the long narrative. regional theatres will attmpt anything so moving or so bokl aU year: Riec-ommeruled.

(Ends Saturday). michael'ra courageous.aiia uuiut. day5iChSMl lsted.byAhttidi HHOWJUCDIIAyiSUPRB-j3 "prwiicciiaiinajul MA" HMiyiUHMMrj. dhalf i the life fiWaus Barbie. inovie I rnost itender.

itidinu exonsitekiol 'shown the ontam' feaatd1 -aeetktn and hawvl nn a cetehrated, AiiiWUMp nme-L Denmark, unfolds 3nf a single -flashback from tlie herdne's funeral in a cmintry crorrchvard. 'Kaimka is plrtected1 of the neatest Jiymg actors, Maxvon syoow, dnemattrapher is another niemberK- of Tngrnar Bergman'scompany, SvenNykr HectOrffl Js sset aroundstheimdst: iamous Hall thijgrtedUteswitil his radio eversKrapiw rae fUmhas-been i -William Kennedy from't least successtui novel in; ms At. j- ua auwi), oui icuuvw fic from the paxe, and its taosttton MUZSK WfhnejBo nopean heavy4iandeddnitA servants porten rrefiise acteciedge.v 'hast-a' 5 THR1XLING K-l 's Steppehwolf Ttie Towav fanrr-bovs Anderson) become local heroes mitte of James, Brothere when thev burn down their farm as a protest'against rriortgage fbreclor, sure, andji take, to the road as outlaws. yCfnostof Mi. 'ebver the same conoutstailorial Eauuu unouB own ucuuw "Maiveltotuly theatrical" in an aumontabve teature-tum briUiant' cinemarograT pher Chris Menges proves a fine director of actors, getting a performance of depth and subtlety from the 12-year-old Jodhi Afay as the Drownlnn'bv James Dearden's Pi Isund-- snare the ironic, under- i derives from haimuFibe LyWMtuviuajs' ana-.

ISigMySPECTflCTILJUlset IDallyTeligrtph "Roll on. raU lmta iwwievwvugBiWQnig; fulfy titought outtattiScrlSijpdoes Stf In ART BOOKS CABARET CRAFTS DANCE MY iiir' i of Time Out rat-arid-mouse I iBBS6fSmiimsfcso mm Opens May 27 at Z30 then June 10 25 Cast includes Kathryn Harrlas, Graama MaMosii-Briie RIcriardAnoaa NailHowlatt SuaanBulloek.AMnWoodrow VotinlrarttorAnthony Mae Mafltmeliardaon Conductor kaos Paltals Original production JoaeMm Harz ProducticirestagedbyDavMVValah ishH nan uiuwumg nyniaqpers is another, elegantly, worJdng.of'the basic tbmulifoldecaydeath mic patter-makrng; tt is of symmetry by the sea, set in East AngUaj where I'tt: rnother Jean Ptowrighty and her two! (Joely1 Richardson, Juhet' Stevenson) drown their husbands and rersuade the local coroner to brrng in verdicts of accidental The three actresses are scintillating. A'fourtii- British fum of distinction is Terence Davies's Distant Voices, Still lives, an elliptical, stylised portrait of a Liverpool workirig-class family during the 1950s. This deeply moving, emotionally raw picture has the same, bleak, stoical qualities of Davies's 'trilogy', women figure more centrally and in the pub sing-songs through whicn the characters express themselves there are enough pop numbers to qualify the film as a musical. It has proved the most admired of the directors' fortnight.

The US entries in the official programme' have been disappointing. Paul Schroder's Patty Hearst has an outstanding performance from Natasha Richard- ueaigiwrRaliihartZlmmarinann CostumMEIocHioreKlalbor Original lighting Ralnhart Zlmmarmann and Roger Frith English National Opera london Collseuni St Martin's lane London WC2 Box Office 01-836 3161 Credit Cards 01-240 5258 London first lifestyle exhibition. I fo-book ad save Llo branch, MUSIC NIGHTLIFE OFFERS POUTtCS RADIO I fifl.