The Independent du lieu suivant : London, Greater London, England • 179

THEATRE With David Benedict It's a Shaw thing Most Thrilling Night Out of the year was Deborah Warnert staging of Brittent The Turn of the Screw for the Royal Opera House. Now she has a new show to thrill us in a venue which hasn't seen a public performance since 1880 Only two weeks to go before the eagerly anticipated announcement of the hotly contested, highly coveted David Benedict Awards for Theatrical Excellence (not to mention the Golden Kennel prizes for those benighted shows that merited the description "Dog of Dog As a sneak preview, I shad tell you that this year's Most Thrilling Night Out Award goes to Deborah Warner for her astonishingly scary, highly charged production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw, a production that proved that not everything the Royal Opera House touches turns to lead. It's been quite a year for Warner. In the summer, she revived her Brighton Festival staging of Hon agger's extraordinary Joan of Arc for one night only, one of the most successful stagings ever seen at the Proms. Dressed in white, Fiona Shaw stood in the centre of the arena caught in a powerful shaft of light and surrounded by the Prommers who became the crowds at her trial.

A truly memorable night. We were to have seen the pair of them doing Noel Coward's greatest play, Private Lives, at the National this autumn, but despite Shaw's presence as Amanda, a suitable Elyot could not be found and the project collapsed. Faced with a sudden gap in their normally action-packed diaries, the two women set about finding a suitably potent London site for their production of TS Eliot's The Waste Land, which has already been seen in New York, Toronto, Montreal, Brussels, Paris and Cork. Their chosen location for this 37-minute marvel is a space almost no-one knows about: Wilton's Music Hall, built in 1859 and the oldest of its kind still standing. As the last public performance there was in 1880, however, barely anyone knows about this neglected gem, with its decorated "papier-mache balconies and barley sugar cast-iron pillars under a vaulted A recent poll voted Rudyard Kipling's "if" as the nation's favourite poem, which tells us little except that a large chunk of Fiona Shaw outside Wilton's Music Hall, venue for The Waste Land' the older end of the age spectrum voted.

The Waste Land certainly doesn't have Kipling's yearning, stirring sentiment, but there are few poems with anything like its claim to be the most influential poem of the 20th century. (In the right hands, it's also a good deal funnier.) Even if the idea of Fiona Shaw performing it is not enough to entice you to Tower Hilt, curiosity about this rediscovered gem of a theatre should guarantee your attendance. Wilton's Music Hall, Grace's Alley, off Ensign Street and Cable Street. London El from tomorrow, 4.30pm. 16.

17, 18 Dec at 7.30pm. Thereafter, performance times vary. Call 0171-928 2252 for times and precise location WEST END taateW Dominion Stand' TbttCtRd AHwychWC2 Xe-Thu 8pm, Fri 530pm W1 (0171-656 1888) "fott Ct Rd. Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Wed Sat 2.30pm, 17.50-32.50. 150 mint.

Oaring Cross Road WC2 (0171-369 1736) LeicSq. Tue-Sat8pm, mats Wad 3pm, Sat Sun 5pm, C9 50-E25. 90 Richard Briers and Gerakfine McCwan star in this tragic Royal Court Theatre (at the Duke Of brtrs) St Marlin Lane WC2 (0171-666 5000) Laic SrVCharing Cross. Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mat 13 Dec. 330pm, ends 20 Dec, benches 10p, cones E5-E9, Mon aH seats 5.

120 mine. 830pm, Sat 5pm 830pm, mats Sun 4pm, E6.75-E28.50. TheTSfarySuth Music Theatre present Ms stage version. Quean's Theasa Shaftesbury Avenue W1 (0171-4045590) Pioc Ore. 13 Dec.

2 then Mon-Sat 7.30pm, mats Tub, Wed Sat 230pm, booking to 10 Jan. ET5M23.S0. Phoenix Theatre Charing Cross Road WC2 (0171-369 1733) Laic SolottCtBd. Mon-Sat 7.45pm, mats Thu 3pm, Sat 4pm. 10.50-29.50.

165mins. Ties Bain) In The tand The frank portrayal of homo-aexuaWy in1960s New Mark, AMwych Theatre AkJwych WC2 (0171-416 6003) Hobom. Mon-Sat 8pm, mats Thu Sat 3pm, ends 3 Jan, C7.50-E25. 130 mins. An examination of racism in Spain from the Moroccan point of view.

Royal Court Theaf wast Street WC2 (0171-565 5000) Leicester Square. 13, 16 19 Dec 6pm, 10, standby cones ES, standing lOp. Ruthie Hanshal stars in this hit Btpadwavmusical. Adeiphi Theatre Maiden Lane WC2 (01 71-344 0055) Char- a Cross. Mon-Sat 8pm, mats 1 Set 230pm, 130 mins.

Now London Thootrv Parity Street WC2 (0171-405 0072) Hotxm MorvSat 745pm, mats Tub Sat 3pm, 12.50-32.50. 165 mins. THE INDEPENDENT 13 IV I.