The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 18

18 The Guardian Wednesday May 17 2000 Miscellany Reviews Opera The remarkable trick that Teshigawara pulls off is to make the moments when next to nothing is happening (and there are many) seem the most significant of all. I le is a mesmerising performer, capable of breathtaking outbreaks of high voltage movement at times it seems the electronic charge of the music is pulsing like a current through his body so you would expect to yearn for more of the fireworks and less of the inscrutable slow motion. But the reverse is the ease. It is as if Teshigawara is expunging all the irrelevant Hash with which we stuff oiuiives to reach a slate of grace where all can be expressed in one small but perfectly formed movement. Absolute Zero reads like a life story, the opening and closing solos cxpressingyouthful innocence and mature serenity, while the middle duet (with Kei Miyala) illustrates how our individuality is circumscribed by the social world.

It is compelling, held together by Teshigawara, the missing link between Iiutoh and hip hop. But there is one major flaw: when a performance is so dependent on the construction of mood and atmosphere, two intervals almost kills it stone dead. That Teshigawara is able to weave his magic anew after each break is impressive but the fractured mood means the zero of his dreams hovers tantalis-ingly just out of reach. Keith Watson At the Playhouse, Nottingham (0115-941 9419) on May 22, then touring. when they are actually worth watching.

There is one imaginative touch: Quint's crinkly hairstyle looks eerily like Britten's. But if Britten is the sinister seducer, he is also the victim the charming, talented golden boy. The production ignores that possibility. So we have a fatally one-sided portrait of Britten's sexuality: damaging, but not damaged. This Turn of the Screw might work well enough on the radio: visually it has little, if anything, to add.

Stephen Johnson The Turn of the Screw will he broadcast on RudioUtm May til. Dance the eternal immobility Saburo Teshigawara Theatre Royal, Brighton It takes a special presence to turn an arch of the back into high drama, but Saburo Teshigawara is one of those rare performers who could scratch his crotch and make it look like choreography. Not that anything so vulgar occurs in Absolute Zero, a performance trilogy consisting of two solos and a duet in which Teshigawara's declared intent is "to attempt to reach unattainable eternal immobility through There's nothing like knowing you're beaten before you start. But Teshigawara gives it his best shot, refining gestures of stealth and grace until they are as shiny and smooth as pebbles at the bottom of a waterfall. I lis charisma draws you in to what is essentially academic and infuses it with an emotional undertow that tugs at the senses.

Pintcrish philippic about corrosive deceit and delusion. If it works it is because Crimp artfully withholds information to generate suspense and because he subtly plays with verbal leitmotifs: the word for instance, constantly recurs implying both a rural byway and the marks left by a mainlining addict. The Pinter parallel is strongly reinforced by the use of language as a mask. When Corinne finally meets Rebecca, the unexpected guest, their encounter is fraught with a semantic nit-picking that conceals mutual hostility: as Rebecca shrewdly remarks, "the more you talk, the less you And the last scene between husband and wife is an elaborate verbal dance in which a truth suddenly spoken comes like a blow in the face. Much as I admired the play's cryptic quality, it is taken a shade too far in that, from the side seats, you can't see the whole of Vieki Mortimer's set.

But Katie Mitchell's production has the fevered intensity she normally reserves for the classics and Juliet Stevenson's excellent Corinne displays the edginess of someone tiptoeing over eggshells, while Owen Tcale as the doctor has the nervous bonhomie of the practised liar and Indira Varma as the mysterious guest radiates a tetchy sensuality. All contribute to a deeply disturbing play that both demolishes Wilde's assertion that "anybody can be good in the country" and adds to the growing catalogue of works charting the bourgeois malaise. Michael Billington Until 24. Do.c office 020 75655000 Theatre Deceit and delusion YheCountry Royal Court, London Martin Crimp's new play is an assault on the pastoral myth: tin: Virgilian idea of the country as a place- of order, harmony, continuity. What Crimp shows, in this fascinatingly cryptic 'M'-miiiutc piece, is Hie fractions disharmony of a deracinated generation less concerned with planting roses than transferring neuroses from the city to the country.

As in Crimp's last play. Attempts on her Life, the audience plays the role of detective: we piece together the plot from scattered clues. We deduce that Kichard. a doctor, and his wife, Corinne. have moved to the country with their two children to start a new life.

But the rustic idyll is shattered when we learn that Kichard has brought home a young woman he claims to have found lying unconscious by the roadside. Corinne's suspicions, like ours, are instantly aroused: Uichard's old drug habit, his failure to visit a dying patient, the needles in the girl's handbag all become vital pieces of evidence in a tale fraught with deception. In the past Crimp's plays have attacked urban consumerism. Here he widens his vision to suggest that country life is now filled with transplanted bourgeois desperation. Richard's unseen doctor-partner constantly ((notes The (icorgics: what we gel from Crimp is a Owen Teale and Juliet Stevenson in The Country at the Royal Court Photograph: Henrietta Butler Weather One-sided portrait The Turn of the Screw New Theatre, Cardiff Judged solely as a musical experience, Welsh National Opera's new Turn of the Screw is impressive.

The 13-strong chamber orchestra plays with feeling for conductor Carlo Rizzi, who shapes and paces Britten's lucid and wonderfully imaginative score with a sure sense of tragic drama. Janice Watson is warmly expressive as the governess, charting her wildly swinging moods with assurance. Mary Lloyd-Davies turns the housekeeper, Mrs Grose, into area flesh-and-blood character, not the blandly maternal figure of other productions. Paul Nilon is surprisingly touching as the ghostly Peter Quint. As the two children, Oliver Carden is a touching Miles, and Yvette Bonner is so persuasive as Flora that it is possible to believe (for once) that Britten is as interested in her fate as in that of her brother.

Unfortunately the musical performances are weighed down by John Crowley's leaden production. Rob Howell's sets have a sombre, claustrophobic quality, but the ghosts themselves are as creepy as a low-budget Christmas panto: with spirits as solid and unthreaten-ing as these, it is hard to sec why the poor governess should find them frightening. The only frisson is provided by the music. The central platform raised, lowered and tilted as the action progresses creaks. One should only see scene-changes 7t7? Moderate Rough 4P Moderator' ytt CD KrrJ Rough TUT fiw CJ Moderate Situation at noon today Ireland: Heavy and frequent showers.

A fresh and cool westerly wind. Max-temp 10-13C (50-55F). Tonight, showers. Min temp 6-8C (43-461'). NW Scotland, Isles: It will be blustery and chilly with heavy showers away from the coasts.

A fresh to strong westerly wind. Max temp 11-12C Tonight, showers. Min temp 5-7C(41-45F). Outlook: There will be further showers tomorrow but it will become drier on Thursday. Sun hrs 12JT 'Tl 4 4 '130" "7 Rain Tomp'C Weather in day 009J2 9Fog 0 01 16 9 Jim 24 J8 Sunny' 'aoT20 14 Loeift Lerwick Leuchars London Lowestoft Manchester 8 4 0 03 18 10 Sunny Margate na Minehead na Morecambe 3 0 0 01 17 12 Ra Newcasdo 9 4 0 20 12 Sunny Newquay 4.6 Norwich 9.8 Oxford" "10 4 008 J4 0 25 15 Sunny 0 20 "12 Sunny 0 13 14 11 Sunny Prostalyn 4J Ross-on-Wye 8 5 Saunton 3 5 0 0U' 12 Cioudy 6 19 11' Sunny" 007' 15 10 Rain Scarborough 14 5 Shrewsbury 6 6 Skegness 10.6 SouUiond na 0 21 13 Sunny 6 17 9 BngM 0J122J5 Swiny SoutHport 29 Southsea 8 4 Stomoway 8 8 Swanago 9.8 0 04 1 10 Ram 0 "1 12 "Sunny 015 4 16 "12 Sunny" Teignmouth 2 4 0 06 16 10 Ham Tenby 3 2 Oil 141J Showers "0 231'4 9 R.Vn" "006" t'4 "i Siiower's" Tlree 9 1 Torquay 2 1 Weslons-M jv.r Weymouth 6 3 24 hoaisto 5nm yesterday Sun and moon Sun risos 0500 Sunsets 2049 Moon sets 0511 Moonriws 19-49 Full Moon Mjy 18 th High tides Ko2fn JT ,1032.

Cold horn Warm front Noon today. Low will merge High will remain stationary Travel destinations for 9.99 plus 99p UK to BeeNOrm, A cot) suiapes.ANPNor OKAY? To order a copy of Bell's Eye, Doonesbury WOK, WITH AU. PUS specr to me milwn MOMS. 7HI5 GUN THING BLOdJN! It will be rather showery everywhere. SE England, Lines, London, Anglia: Fresher than it has been recently with scattered showers.

Cloudy later. A fresh westerly wind. Max temp 15-1RC Tonight, showers. Min temp 7-10C (45-50F). SW England, Channel Is, Wales, Midlands, CentS: It will be a breezy and fresh day with scattered morning showers becoming more widespread and heavier later on.

A fresh westerly wind. Max temp 13-15C (55-59F). Tonight, showers. Min temp 7-10C (45-50F). NW England, SW Scotland: Blustery and showery away from the coasts.

Elsewhere, a few heavy showers. Colder. A fresh westerly wind. Max temp 13-15C (55-59F). Tonight, showers.

Min temp 7-9C(45-48F). Cent Blustery with heavy showers, especially on the hills. Cold in the fresh westerly wind. Max temp 13-15C Tonight, showers. Min temp fi-8C (43-46F).

NE England Yorks, SE NE Scotland, Isles: Early rain will turn showery- Fresh westerly winds. Max temp 14-15F (57- 59F). Tonight, cloudy. Min temp i-8C (43-46F). Around Britain Sun Its Aberdeen 7:1 Anglesey 2 3 Aspatria 3 9 Aviemore 3 2 Rain Temp'C Weather in "001 14 "8 "614 13 Tl 0 0 "10" "Wo" 13 "10 lf'.

Ran Rain Rain Rdin Belfast 2 9 Today Tomorrow i Today Tomorrow Today Tomorrow -F JCJF I JCJf CJf 'C Am'dam Showers Showers Crete Sunr Nico f-J'r Ugh 19 66 15 59 High 21 70 23 73 Hg'i 23 73 23 73 low 9 48 10 50 lo. 15 50 61 lev 15 5" 16 Athens Surin Sunty Geneva Showers SlKuers Oslo Cloutf, Sho.ers Ugh 79 27 81 Hgh 22 72 18 6-1 Hgl 22 72 14 57 Low WjJ 163 9 52 Low iJULJL- Berlin Ij Stumers Madrid F.vi Fj Paris svowmi 30 3-j 20 68 lf- 7'' l' 39 Low 9 -IS 3 I J5V Uf. I -W Brussels Sho.vrrs Showers Milan f.ir Rome l-i' Ugh 19 66 15 SS 29S4 267 H-j'i 2t 79 low 9 4S 10 50 15 tM C'hagen ThundiT 5hcwets Moscow fjr Fjt S'holm mh 23 73 16 01 Hlh 12 54 20 '38 Ugh 25" 2170 Low 8 46 9 45 Low 10 60 3 37 Low 15 69 11 52 CapoTn Fair Sunny NewYorkFair Cloud) Tunis Fa.r High 19 66 19 66 li'ah 20 63 25 77 Hiqh 21' S4 27 81 low 9 48 9 48 i-w 15 59 15 69 Lew 16 61 1 o3 OR A QUICKU6HT5-OUjr Around the world Unmissable Recommended Enjoyable Mediocre Terrible with Low and move away. and maintain central pressure. outwards into space.

As a result, satellites lower than perhaps 800km are facing increased atmospheric resistance, or causing Ihein to spiral downwards more and more quickly. If a satellite falls below 100 km, the drag and resultant heat become critical and it can disintegrate in a re-entry fireball. We now stand close to the peak of the sun's 11-year solar cycle and the thin atmosphere at the current height of the ISS, km, is 5-10 times more dense than it was at sunspot minimum just four years ago. The ISS has already dropped 45km this year, its fall accelerating as it plumbs deeper into the friny.es of the atmosphere. Atlantis should arrest the decline, but sunspot maximum is already bringing a premature end to many less favoured satellites.

Alan Pickup 'C Weather i accloJnf') F'oronce KJ bW'Qy Naples Siij-n 1 Afgiors 2A 7b Ctotidy NewDelhi 38 lUCitn-ry Alicante 23 73 Funahal 18 G'l f.i.r New Orleans 7 Amsndam 82 Geneva '2'8Ji New York 17 u' Athens 2 "a I riV Gihrattar 20 68 Oau Nice Auckland 10 61 Stioers Harare Oporto jnsm BAIres lfi 5( wi Helsinki" "14" i-nriy Oslo fj' Bahrain 39 loSnnny Hong Kong SI Paris -sl CtoutJy Innsbruck hi iou.J,' Perth i Barcelona" 2170 jir Istanbul 22 72 Sunny Prague 2 Syx, i Beijing 24 7-V Sumy Jerusalem bl Re-ykjayik 2 'A nVi i Belgrade 27 81 Sunny Jo'burg U. 61 Sinir Rhodes 21 7i fj-i Oeriin "288? K.Lumpur 3 1 Cloml, Rio de Jan. 'i33jJiL i Karachi" Far Rome 21 s-j--, Biarritz Katmandu 2-i" cUil Santiago H'" r'. Bombay lJO faii Kingston ih Sarajevo Kn- i Bordeaux 23 7J Kit Larnaca 21" 1 jr Smgaporo 2' 1 i.r Boston" 10b! tlmidy Lima 222 StP'burg I Brussels "27 81 fjir UsboV 7: Stockholm Budapest 27Si Sufin'y London Jtii.n, Strasbourg 1 Ca'lro Jl 88 Fair LosAngelas 18 b4 Coml Sydney 1 Calcutta' 3595 Oqlidy Luxembourg 2i 79 l)r TelAviv 2r CapeTown Sunny Madrid -AS-l 1 Caracas 29 84 CiotKly Majorca ltvi fokyo 24 UfuJ. I Casablanca' 2 57 Sunny Malaga 24 Toronto CJoudy Chicago 19 66'Clo'iiiy Malta 73 Sunn, Tunis 81 Snnr.y Ct-fotch-jrchu 43 Cbuily Melbourno lt -t7l yancouver if, 6-'.

Sunn, Copenhagen 23 71 Sunny" MexIcoCity 23 far Venice 23 73 Smny Corfu" Miami" 29 84 Vienna 281 bjnny 1 Dakar "2'i Milan Warsaw 2f 7" f.vr Dallas" 27 81 Fair" i Mombasa" 24 7f Washington 19 6hJiJ)y 3f' 'Uatij' Montreal 1 1 OotK Wellington i'ui F.i-f Dhaka 33 91 'Fair" Moscow 4 uom! Zurich 21 77 hjtf Dublin 12 54 Ran Munich 25 77 rtuf I Faro 73'cioudyJ Nairobi" 2b 7'j Birmingham 6 8 0 18 11 Sunny BognorRegis 88 0 17J2 Sunny Bj3Umemoirtn 10.5 17 Bristol 6 0 18" 12 Sunny" Buxton 11 5 0 18 9 Sunny Cardiff 25 0 17 Clacton nj Cleethorpes 10 60 2.V 1 4 Sunny ColwynBay 2.8 15 11 Cloudy Cromer M. p.qTjb 16 Eastbourne 9 1 0 17 12 Sunny Edinburgh 16 jC SJiowcrS Eskdalomulr" 2 5 0 20 12 9 "Ram Exmouth 26 005 14 Jj" BnqM Falmouth "26 004 i 4 Jl Showers Fishguard 2.3" 007 12 10 Rain Folkestone 8 0 01 18 13 Thunder Glasgow 13 11 Ram Guernsey 8.4 0 i9 l2unny Hastings Hayllnpl. 8 4 18 12 Sunny HorheBay 84" 0 09" 24 16 ihundcr Hove 004 16 13 BmijIi!" Hunstanton '2 0 22 15 Sunny i llfracombo Ji6i 6 Isleof Wight i'uVt" jersey "8 8 0 20 12 Sunny Klnloss" 1 2 0 01 16 8noudy 0800 31 66 1 02 by garry trudeau stink IlLUilkATlW. garlic is supposed to ward off werewolves; so far the theory works. Like the best of bluebell displays, ramsons can form dense unbroken stands.

Like the bluebell, it is also a plant which provides a spectacularly evocative sight and smell, synonymous with the resurgence of spring woodlands. Both bluebells and ramsons are magically ephemeral, bursting onto the senses then vanishing underground. But what is really interesting are the differences between these two plants. Unlike bluebells, the dense stands of ramsons are exclusive. Only a few ferns poke up above the white canopy.

In the thickest ram-son carpets in Edge Wood, when the leaves die down the soil will be bare. Kamsons seem to secrete chemicals which deter other plants. Strangely, the smell of bluebells seems to match their colour: bluebells smell of a soft, mystic blue. Ramsons don't smell white. They are hut, tangy, sexy.

Bluebells and ramsons are as different as hippies and punks, trance and speed garage. Today's the day for kicking up a stink. Paul Evans lawse?) C0MPA5-J IzjZZJ freephone Culture Shop on HOFAN, MJHBPB GUNSAF IIU6AL, PEOPLE KILL WITH MICH IWUW IWPAThSRHAVE A SLOW, PAIWVL- PEATH THROUGH PIS8IX(WmNT, Kicking up a WenlockEdge It's ramsons time. From the roots of an old beech at the top of the hanging woods, the view down is a foamy white-oul. It's as if a wave has hurled itself across the plain from the west and crashed against the Edge without touching the trees.

The dazzling white is made up of thousands and thousands of flowers above a thick green carpet of leaves and it has the most amazing reek. The name ramsons comes from the Old English word hrmsa and has roots in the Scandinavian and Germanic It gives Britain many place names. Although this plant covers most of the country, it really comes into its own in the west and north. Wcnlock Kdge is perfect for it a steep, damp, clayey bank with shade over limestone. Ramsons, or wild garlic, is also called devil's posy.

I don't know if it got this local name because the stink was thought to belong to the devil, or whether it was to repel the devil and protect us from evil. In the mythology of 20th-century horror films, We're dedicated to getting you there Breakdowns are common occurrences, at the AA we A are committed to getting our members safely and quickly on their way again, saving them both time and money. In fact we fix more cars at the A roadside than anyone else. And we are so confident in our service, that if we cannot fix your car when we attend your breakdown, we will give you a free hire car for 24 Air Quality Today SO, NO, Tomorrow SO, NO, London GdGd SEng Gd (Til London Gd Mod SEng Go" Wales" (Id Gd CEnglandGd (ia" NEngland Gd" Gd" Scodand Gd Gd Ireland Gd Gd Wales Gd Gd England Gd Gd Scotland Gil Gd Ireland Gd Gd Lighting up 2127 to 0513 hours, so you can continue your journey. But hurry, this offer is only available for a limited period when you join with our Options 200 and 300 and pay by M.

I London Bfjo 0206 6.9m 143? 2rn Doyor 6 3m Jb Sn Uvorpo'ol 1141 0000 9.2m Greenock 1254 3 3m Hull 064J 8 2m 1850 8 4m Avonnioirth J6p2J2SjiJ 953 T2. Trri DuaL'halre 1210 3 9m iXlYi Jiim LeiUi 0252 b.2m 1510 5.3m" Glaioow 0122.4 5m 1320 4 6m Aberdeen' 013' Ji3t9 AOm BellartJ 1129 3.5m" 2356 3.3m Harwich 1213 3.8m Spacewatch Thr' linttlp Atlnntis is due lo be launched at liST tomorrow on its delayed mission to the international space station, the ISS. With its large external fuel tank flying alongside, Atlantis passes eastwards over Devon 20 minutes later, but is unlikely to be seen in the bright sky. The mission aims to carry out repairs and refurbishment of the ISS, and to boost its altitude. The current high level of solar activity, sunspots and solar flares, is taking its toll on satellites.

On the one hand, energetic particles from the sun can damage vulnerable electrical systems on satellites, just as they trigger geomagnetic storms that can disrupt communications and electrical power distribution on earth. Knhanced solar activity also heats the earth's outer atmosphere causing it to swell Birmingham 2jO0 to 0506 B'istoV Giasgqwl" 2127" to London "2049 to 0504 Manchester 2107 lo 0503 Newcastle 2112 to 0453 Nottingham 2j6o lo 050i continuous payment. The hee hirt? rif r. available on one occasion only ami sublet to the hire company's teims and conditions Weathercall 0901 471 00 area number Cailliness. Oiknevs 8, Stiel 26 Northern keland 27 World Weathercall 28 10 DAY NATIONAL FAX F0RECAS109065 200535 0901cascost60pm, 09065 calls cost 1.50.'m IMar 19991.

Weathercall is a product olTIS Lid. 7Guartflan National 00 lines Hmnberstde 13 Greater Lonrlun .0.1 Dylcd A Powys 14 Kenl, Surrey Sussex 02 Gwynedd Clwyd 15 Dorset. Hants, low 03 North West England 16 Oeon. Cornwall 04 West A South Yorks. Dales 17 Wilts.

Gtoucs. Avon. Som 05 North East tngland 18 leiks. Bucks, Orton 06 Cumlrria 8 Lake District 19 Beds, Herts, Essen 0 Soutn West Scotland 20 Norlolk. Sultolk, Cambs 08 West Central Scotland 21 Glamortian, Gwenl J9 Edin, filc.lolliian.

Borders 22 Stops. lierrdiWorcsllO East Central Scotland 23 CenlrafMnilands 1.1 Grampians Hirihiarids East Midlands 12 North West Scotland 26.