Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 52

a 52 MONDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 1 997 Reviews EVENING STANDARD First steps in a stirring revival The Sleeping Beauty City Ballet of London The Orchard Dartford SOPHIE CONSTANTI Adrift on a sea of hot air An Enemy of the People Olivier National Theatre NICHOLAS DEJONGH 4 FITHIN two months of London ta City closure in the sum-lit mer of 1996 its irrepressible WmWf artistic director Harold King announced plans for a new com-vlr pany City Ballet of London Although likely to inherit some of staple fare CBL promised King would seek to develop a more challenging repertoire With Michael Rolnick's Sleeping Beauty the company has made a first step in that direction The production is one of biggest gambles Many followers of the old LCB appreciated the customary artistic moderation King risked losing their continuing support by presenting a Sleeping Beauty that not only departs from tradition but is danced entirely ofT-pointe As first full-length work it is an impressive debut but not without flaws a too limited vocabulary and a tendency to fritter away long passages of glorious score However the work marks a brave effort to set in place artistic agenda for this new and vibrant company After a brief prologue in which the queen is glimpsed in the throes of labour the dancing gets under way with a brisk quartet for the servants In his variations for the fairies Rolnick observes some of the vivid detail of unmatchable choreography but sensibly attempt to reproduce its fiiU grandeur One of the more unusual features of these and some of the later solos and duets is the blending of floorbound movement with more characteristic defiance of gravity In the Rose Adagio Maria Teresa del Princess Aurora is propelled into a dizzying series of lifts with her four suitors without compromising her defining innocence and delicacy Partnered by Marius dependable Prince del Real seems completely attuned to the pace and shape of choreography Further aspects of determinedly modern approach are visible in the naturalistic gait and in David stage design of mirrored glass panels 9At Wimbledon Theatre 7-11 October Box office 01815400362 REVOR Nunn makes a big bizarre splash of a debut as Director of the National Theatre like a diver hitting the water rather than elegantly gliding into it He directs satire at the expense of corrupt local politics craven journalists and self-serving townsfolk in the style of expensive spectacular Victorian melodrama Between the acts what with Stephen music for a six-strong band a jovial chorus of townsfolk at full bustle or dancing about the revolving Olivier stage Nunn imposes a touch of Lloyd Webber as well The conception fortified by Christopher eloquent new translation seems alarmingly perverse though it held me astonished and agog throughout which explains my lavish one-star rating What on earth though persuaded Nunn to loose domestic drama principally set in the Medical home and a newspaper office upon the infinitely vast spaces with full cast of 40? John Napier sets the misplaced epic tone with a vista of fir trees and a cyclorama of clouds On the stage-revolve beneath a high platform and water-tower is both an ugly open-plan house and newspaper office where Alan bland young editor intrigues The epic look hardly suits this second-rate Ibsen written in a hot flush of indignation after the abuse heaped upon him for Ghosts In An Enemy of the People Ibsen retaliated with polemic suggesting the minority was always right: the masses were swayed by personal interest rather than public good and could do with eugenics to improve them True to the schematic outline when the medical officer reveals that the new health water is polluted at first acclaimed as a hero But when scheming brother the mayor to whom Stephen Moore powerfully lends an air of wily intrigue explains that to purify the baths would necessitate increased taxes local journalists and townsfolk instantly turn against Stockmann Real life though is a more subtle game The public meeting at which the altruistic doctor rounds upon his detractors is played as melodrama with townsfolk in baleful uproar This melodramatising tendency infects Ian peformance perhaps the worst of his brilliant career as the self-righteous Stockmann Sir Ian is full of hot air and as emotionally hollow as a tin whistle He certainly gives the play a driving energy right to the preposterous finale when Stockmann finds strength in standing alone But when hard-edged rage and passion are required never this forte Sir Ian resorts to winsome softness and whimpering histrionics In matching manner Penny Downie plays his wife as a monotonously suffering victim Only a terrific John Woodvine as the Uriah Heep-like printer who preaches moderation and practices hypocrisy catches rare sharp Ibsenite notes of satire and fun 9 Box office: 0171 9282252 0 9 Ratings: adequate good very good outstanding poor Ringing hollow: Ian McKellen in An Enemy of the People ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE LONDON PALLADIUM BOCC 494 5020344 4444 (S I Ikt serv dig)420 0000 Grps 0 1 7 1 494 5450 3128000 This also alllMVTower Records BARRY HUMPHRIES STARS AS FAGIN OLIVER! 3rd IRREPRESSIBLE YEAR 1I0NEL BART'S MASTERPIECE YOU CANT ASK FOR MORE' STimes Eves 7S) Mats WedASal 230 SOME GOOD SEATS AVAILABLE NOW FOR WEEKDAY PERFORMANCES COMEDY 369 1731 Eves 8 Mats Wed3Sal5 TULL OF SUSPENSE Weare kept guessing ridd until theerKTSTd PAULNlCHOLAS SUSAN PENHALIGON Twn terrific performances' DExp THE MYSTERIOUS MR LOVE 'A powerfully dramatic psychulagical thriller wkick keepa yea keeked thraughoit' DTd APOLLO LABATTSHimaenmith 01714165022 4200000344 4444bkgfee) LAST CHANCE TO SEE RIVERDANCE THIS CENTURY UMTIED SEASON 6 NOV-10 JAN ONLY APOLLO VICTORIA cc 0171 416 5058 cc 24hrs 0171344 444401714200000 GroupsftITI 41660750171 4133321 Tkts av HMV Sterei Tawer Records Andrew Lloyd Webber's STARLIGHT EXPRESS THE FASTEST SHOW ON EARTH White knuckle runs 1 945 iknk Sat 3pm Tickets from )2i0 CAMBRIDGE0I71 494 50K04 166060 344 4444 420 Ors'IO(4hfajfccj(4ixips494 5454 416607541333214365588 GREASE NO IN ITS Stk FANTASTIC YEAR! 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Now BoekiaToJia'98 DOMINIONTicketlinesOm 656 18X20990 l)4f)21)(U 7 1 420 OOOOhki? fw) 001714166096017131219970800614903 Leidei has FaHea ia lave with DISNEY'S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST THE NEW HIT MUSICAL 'AN ENCHANTED EVENING GENUINELY DTd FEAST OF GOOD FUN" Mail Mon-Sat 730 Wed Mals230 DOMMAR WAREHOUSE 361 1732 ENTER THE GUARDSMAN THE AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL Ltd Season-I80ct MonSat 730 Mats WedSSal3 LYCEUMccOI7l656 18010990500800 420 IWOO344 4444 (like fee) Grps 4 16 6076 TIM RICE A ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER'S JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR shivers radag dewa Ike spile' DTd Eres 745 Mats WedSSat3 (no bkg fee for personal callers at the lyceum box office IQam-8pm) IS tickets fer stade its aval Ms i-Tki are kaokabieii advance New kaokiag I March 1998 Sume seau avail at daw Mni-Fri LYRIC ccOI7l 494 5054420 0000(4-bkg fee) GrpsOI'l 494 54540800 6 1 4903 MADDIE A Magical New Musical Tke shew we've keea waitiag fer terrific" DTd PtevsfromTunT Opens 29 Sept Eves 8pm 3pm NATIONAL THEATRE BO 0171 928 2252: Grps OI7IG2fl()74l24hrcchkgfeeni71 420 0000 OLIVIER TonT Tumor 715 GUYS AND DOLLS Based on a store-and characters of Damon Runyon music and lyrics by Frank Loesaerbookby Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows LYTTELTON Ton Tornur 730 CHIPS WITH EVERYTHING by Amok) Wesfax.