The Guardian from London, Greater London, England • 3

NEWS 1 3 Tttm Guardian Thursday February 20 1997 Judge backs man who rejected donor twins out in a British clinic contravened European law, which guarantees free access by EC nationals to medical treatment in another member state. Diane Blood successfully mounted a similar argument against the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's ban on using her dead husband's sperm without his written consent. Had the argument succeeded in Ms U's case, part of an Act of Parliament would have been struck down as inconsistent with EC law. The Attorney General. Sir Nicholas Lvell, intervened in the case and briefed lawyers to support Mr W's stance and defend the legislation.

The judge held that the section did restrict free movement abroad because it was likely to deter couples from seeking infertility treatment FjwVBl aaavvaRaaaaaaaatlaaaaaaaaB ff iaLaF '(aaaaaH Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafl mJk aLlBaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaVaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaam aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaV Bf IfiK KB JL aHHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH 111111111111111111111111111111111111 Laaaaaaaaaaaataaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaPBaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaWaaV iJBl HMaaaaaaaaRkaaaaaaaaaaaa! mKsk l. A aaaaaaaaaaaaaaKlBaaaaaaaaaaV Cutting edge Ralph Fiennes sports his new moustache in Chekhov's Ivanov, which runs for six weeks at the Almeida Theatre PHOTOGRAPH H6NRIETTA BUTLER star back to tread London's Michael Billington Ivanov Almeida Theatre boards their heads against walls and tables as they are hijacked by an unstoppable card-bore is as riotous as anything on the London stage. Melodrama and farce are juxtaposed, rather than seamlessly mingling as they do in Chekhov's masterworks. Yet the play has abundant theatrical vitality and touches deep emotional chords lvanov's neglected wife, in particular, arouses our pity and Harriet Walter plays her beautifully as a wan, pale figure who cannot quite relinquish her love for her impossible husband. We see Chekhov's four great plays often enough.

What we have at the Almeida is a joyous resurrection of an earlier work that not only hints at what is to come but explores the absurdity of Russian life and the human condition with fizzing satirical energy. JfciifU S1aaaaB contradiction. He is full of despair and ineffectualness, yet he also implies that Ivanov has an honesty and intellect that has been despoiled by circumstance. Melodrama the play may be in places, but it is also an exuberant social comedy that depicts the pettiness and vulgarity of Russian provincial life with Gogolian fervour. Kent's production releases the play's comic energy through a gallery of memorable performances.

Oliver Ford Davies plays lvanov's uncle as an embittered misanthrope who craves the excitement of abuse. Anthony O'Donnell is equally unforgettable as lvanov's mercenary steward. And Bill Pat-erson makes Lebedev a bulbous soak filled with residual kindness. The scene where the three of them get plastered and are reduced to beating ClarwDyor Legal Correspondent THE unmarried mother of twins conceived abroad with sperm from an anonymous donor lost her High Court battle yesterday to have her former lover declared their legal father. Ms who cannot be named for legal reasons, went to Rome with her lover.

Mr W. for in-vitro fertilisation treatment in 1994. Originally the couple hoped to use Mr W's sperm, but they were of poor quality, and an embryo created from his sperm and Ms U's egg failed to survive. The couple had agreed that eggs from Ms could be fertilised with sperm from an anonymous donor, and six embryos were placed in her womb. Mr who had left Rome earlier, met Ms at Heathrow on her return, but they rowed and split up.

Three of the embryos, created with sperm from an Eastern European donor or donors, were implanted successfully but Ms was advised to have one aborted to save the other two. Since the twin boys were born two years ago, Mr has refused to acknowledge them or pay for their support, and has only occasionally seen them in the street. Ms who is on legal aid. needed the court declaration to pursue Mr for child support. The unprecedented case exposes a loophole in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which would have made him the twins' legal father had the treatment been carried out in Britain.

The act provides that where a couple have infertility treatment together, even if unmarried, the man is deemed to be the father of any resulting children. Lawyers for Ms said the case was likely to go to the Court of Appeal. One said: "Suppose you have two couples and one goes to Edinburgh for treatment and the other to Dublin and both men are killed on the way back. One child would have a father and the other wouldn't." Ms U's lawyers argued that the section of the act which made the man the legal father only if treatment was carried Not to mention even Oscar HE CAN command millions for his film appearances, but it was to his theatrical roots that the Oscar-nominated Ralph Fiennes returned last night, Dan Glaisler. He began a six-week run in Chekhov's Ivanov at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, London, and all for 200 a week.

Fiennes, aged 34, has achieved widespread recognition with his portrayal of the concentration camp commandant Amon Goeth in Schindler's List and the champion contestant in Quiz Show. But he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and served with the Royal Shakespeare Company before concentrating on his film career. He must be a rich man after his successes the latest is his Oscar nomination for The English Patient, directed by Anthony Mingh-ella but 200 a week, his rumoured wage, is only 10 more than the Almeida, as a subsidised repertory theatre, must pay. Equity, the actors' union, will today publish a full-page advertisement in the weekly Stage newspaper calling for a 250 minimum weekly wage for actors and managers working in regional theatres. Should negotiations with the Theatrical Management Association founder.

Equity will consider instructing its members not to sign new contracts. More is less. Ms wanted a child by MrW and he was 'content that she should do so' in another EC state. But this was justified because the strict requirements of the Act made it certain that the mother's partner could be clearly identified later if required, and that the man knew the expensive financial obligations he was taking on. The judge said Ms now aged 37, was single when she began an affair in March 1990 with Mr now 54, who was married but childless.

Both lived in the West Country. He was a casino manager and she worked as a croupier on ships. He left his wife in November 1990. From an early stage Ms wanted to have a child by him and "he was content that she should do They underwent treatment in Britain before she read about Dr Sever-ino Antinori, the Italian infertility specialist who helped a 59-year-old British woman have twins, and decided to travel to Rome for treatment. Dad's not Um word, Q2 PB4 lower long term costs UK lor us RrfcvHo.

Al. SPP42 nut tart I'hotoyraph -him-I monitor, Souici Mjrltrl ki tran Vi ik UJC IVANOV is often referred to as Chekhov's Hamlet. But, ironically enough, Ralph Fiennes, who plays the title role in Jonathan Kent's breathtaking revival, seems closer to the great Dane than he did in Shakespeare's play.This is a performance packed with just the right emotional intensity, self-loathing and excoriating candour. Written in 1887, Chekhov's first major play is closer to melodrama than to the symphonic realism of the later work. But in Ivanov himself Chekhov creates a memorable hero; a bankrupt landowner who, at 35, is tormented by his own lassitude and by his unhappy marriage to his tubercular wife.

He seeks nightly refuge on the neighbouring Lebedev estate where the daughter of the house, Sasha. falls headily in love with him. But this only intensifies his guilt and anguish. As David Hare's excellent new version insists, Ivanov is not really a Russian Hamlet. He is simply acting Hamlet.

But the key to the role is that under the self-hatred and cruelty and at one shocking moment he calls his wife "a dirty Jew" you should sense what might have been. Fiennes catches precisely this Rifkind 'slip' reopens Tory divisions on single currency continued from page 1 don't think a single currency is very likely. Today he Mr Rifkindl said that the Government was 'hostile' to it. I find that most encouraging." David Heathcoat-Amory. who quit the Government over Europe, said: "I am very glad we are getting over to people that in practice a Conservative government will not join a single Coihcidentally, Labour moved last night to protect its flank against Tory charges of being soft on Europe.

The shadow chancellor, Gordon Brown, warned New York businessmen that the Tories were moving rapidly to outright anti-Europeanism dangerous for investment and the economy. Mr Brown told the new US Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin, that Labour was keeping open the option to join the euro in the first wave in 1999, but "could not ignore current difficulties'' it might inherit. Five killed in storms Goeth in Schindler's List answered by Portland Coastguard in Weymouth, Dorset. Only one word was heard making it difficult to pinpoint the location of the vessel. All persons believed to be on the vessel have been accounted for.

There were three fatalities and one survivor. Bad weather caused flooding in many parts of the country In Co Durham high winds and torrential rains triggered flood warnings along a 20-mile stretch of the River Wear. At Stanhope, Durham, 19 pensioners, some as old as 90, were taken from their residential home as the river hurst its banks Southampton International Airport was closed after two tyres on a plane carrying 30 passengers and three crew burst on impact with the runway as pilots battled against strong winds. Everyone on board clambered to safety. A British Airways shuttle from Heathrow was forced to abort two landing attempts when it was twice blown perilously off course as it approached the runway at Glasgow.

Fiennes as commandant Amon Fiennes in The English Patient have also not yet been identified, and another crew member who was rescued, are believed to have set out from the Hamble in spite of a severe weather warning. Their 35ft yacht was caught in a Force 8 gale and overwhelmed as they struggled to regain the safety of a marina near Southampton. A major rescue operation was launched, involving three lifeboats, all available search vessels and a coastguard helicopter, coordinated by coastguards at Lee-on-Solent. Their efforts were hampered by gusting winds which prevented the immediate launch of India Juliet, the search and rescue helicopter. Inspector Richard Ironmonger, of Hampshire police, said two of the three crew appeared to have been thrown overboard by a large wave off The Gurnard, near Cowes.

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Paramedics and Tire crews fought for almost two hours to free the pair, from nearby Todmorden, but the girl was pronounced dead at the scene and her mother died in hospital. Three more people drowned in mountainous seas off the Isle of Wight. The three, who Initially, of its ol I'C ownership. All this comes Irom the number ne hi. Hid in the Haw niiiii- ru recluc Hulls more, until tin I ol April mean cm will i with a t'onipa 140 ou re a tjrowini; business stretch to Lister processors All Deskpro I'C's up to 4 o.

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