Evening Standard from London, Greater London, England • 14

EVENING STANDARD 14 TUESDAY 22 APRIL 1997 Director fails to get to centre of chalk circle mSSSMSSm by Nicholas delongh The Caucasian Chalk Circle Olivier National Theatre by RICHARD ALLEN AS THE the South of England faced its worst drought for 200 years Thames Water officially leakiest water company spilt hundreds of thousands of gallons of water into a London park A five-acre area of Hackney Marsh was still flooded to a depth of two feet today despite engineers spending three days pumping water out into a nearby canaL A Thames Water spokesman said it was a leak but a burst a difference you Residents believe the weight of a mountain of rubble from the Mil link of what was once natural marshland to its original state and has attracted at least 10 different types of water bird as well as scores of bird-lovers with binoculars Reginald Thompson who walks his dog on the marsh said: think they should keep it as it is absolutely beautiM Hackney Marsh was genuine marshland until the Second World War when rubble from the Blitz was dumped on it returning it to solid ground The flooded area received less landfill and is therefore lower-lying than the main part or the marsh Figures from road construction burst the giant 42-inch main Laurence Wortley of the nearby Westdown Association said: mains were re-laid about six months ago to avoid the path of the road and may not have not have bedded down enough suppose fresh water is better than sewage but it seems a terrible waste during a Not everyone is unhappy about the flood which has returned a small part Picture: ALASTAIR MUIR Hopelessly wei-bred: iufiet Stevenson as peasant glil Gntsha i K'i HOW quaint to find the National Theatre presenting Bertolt politically motivated fairytale of the Forties which flies a flag for Marxist revolution when our own New Labour Party is severing its last links with socialism It is not however because of the apparently dated political cast of thought that I offer lukewarm enthusiasm for this production performed by the usually terrific Theatre de Complicity company with the Olivier stage spectacularly converted into theatre in the round because Simon production treats the serious political aspects as if they boasted Ratings: No adequate v-i 1 i HU Jfi) industry watchdog Ofwat show that Thames Water loses almost four gallons of water out of 10 through leaky pipes The figures were published amid fears of impending drought following the driest 48 months for more than 200 years A Thames Water spokeswoman said: a leak a burst Sometimes you cannot predict going to happen with ground movement an awfUl lot of construction work going on in the area we will be investigating the pifttwHit larklngt Les Mis shuts for nine days SIR CAMERON MACKINTOSH is to close his London production of the hit musical Les Mis6rables for nine days in September to introduce the changes already made to the Broadway show writes Robin Stringer The London cast were told last night that the alterations to the staging the lyrics and the music would be introduced to coincide with cast changes due in autumn Executive producer Nick Allott stressed that there would be no accompanying cast sackings as there were in New York The London show will shut from 1-9 September inclusive Anyone holding tickets should ring the Palace box office mm i mm i i i i 1 1 a i i' ft HOME SECURITY SYSTEM LES26 avarrmfiBBiiEliliE it good irk very good kirk outstanding Xpoor above which is pitched a dome projecting black and white images of warfare there are mixed results The actors with a huge range of accents from Ulster to France and some of them intermittently unintelligible convey the epic scope withingenuity A crossing of a mountainous chasm is managed by Miss Stevenson with a pole for support in either hand clambering over the bowed backs as they form a human chain Yet staging dissipates theatrical tension rather than increases it The politically violent character its murders and revolutions are dealt with in stylised and inappropriate jauntiness THE actors miss the cutting but controlled Bre-chtian tone Jeffery florid narrator for example Miss Grusha is hopelessly well-bred like a duchess taking the parlour role during stately home theatricals and indulges in unBrechtian pathos Worse Simon McBumey not content with directing has also vainly cast himself as the drunken corrupt judge Azdak who makes an ass of the law He makes this great extrovert scoundrel turned political saviour into a piqued town-hall functionary a symptom of how this major play has been' diminished fairytale significance Yet the politics of The Caucasian Chalk Circle are crucial The play throws down such challenging questions In whose power asks Brecht should natural and manufactured resources be concentrated Should rights be inherited or earned does the selfish cruel mother have superior rights to the devoted foster-parent? Brecht sets his prologue in the ravaged Georgia of 1945 with dispossessed Georgians squabbling over who has the best niaim to a local valley The Caucasian Chalk Circle then becomes a play within a play acted to give the rival Georgians insight into the solving of their dispute: a story of ancient China and a peasant girl Juliet Grusha who saves the life of the infant son of a city governor where civil war has broken out Frank new version is significantly located in ancient Georgia which gives Gerard McBur-ney a fine opportunity to decorate the three-and-a-half-hour production with Georgian mountain music and songs The trials and tribulations of Grusha who runs away with the infant and sets off on an epic Journey for sake involve dangerous bridges an unhelpful brother and a judge interested in Justice not the law Theatre de Complicity are usually at their best when called upon to create whole new worlds Here on Tim bareish stage 1 1 0 1 1 1 f'm -r-sj 1 4v sy i THE NEW EXTRAWATCH 8000 HOME SECURITY PACKAGE INCLUDES! STATE OF THE ART DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY 24 HOUR 365 DAYS A YEAR MONITORING OF YOUR HOME FOR JUST 99 PENCE PER DAY 24 HOUR SERVICE AND EMERGENCY CALL OUT FACILITY QUALIFIES FOR DIRECT POLICE RESPONSE SECURITY SYSTEMS ONE OF UK'S LARGEST SECURITY COMPANIES EXPERT INSTALLATION NO MESS OR HASSLE 1 i 3 it-uj oxuBr onoz -w miF IWHII mil nr TB FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE EXTRAWATCH 0000 MONITORED PHONE OUR ADVICE LINE QUOTINO REF NO i UJuo5UyJMiU Mt.