Sunday Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 14

A Page 14 THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH JULY 10, 1977 THEATRE: Sympathetic Rattigan By FRANK MARCUS THE MASTER OF FLAWS that stant conceived There the is for play interruptions considerable radio, was of with originally evidence flash- conbacks and changes of scene, staged painstakingly by Robin Midgley. Even so, the stage is as cluttered as a warehouse of old furniture, and the sharp focus on individual faces by means of spotlights does not prevent one from noticing redundant characters including the corpse -creeping away into the wings. Some of the scenes are more credible than others. The immediate seduction by Alma of the young man who has called to apply for the job of chauffeur-handyman is like a commercial traveller's fantasy. On the other hand, Alma's brief moments with her son just before the trial, in which a boy called Matthew Ryan gives an astonishing performance, goes straight to the heart- and the tear-ducts.

It is at moments like these that Rattigan reveals his Photograph Morris Newcombe mastery. I was reminded of a Ian McKellan and Francesca Innes in the Royal Shakespear's stint as juror at the Old Bailey, Romeo and Juliet," first seen 16 months ago at Stratford and catching a glance which passed developed for the Aldwych revival. between the prisoner and his now wife just before sentence was private life of the forewoman of behind the scenes of the judici- of passed. She gave him a smile the jury (Helen Lindsay), who ary which gives Kenneth his face was encouragement; then, when has marital troubles and Griffith the chance to enjoy turned, her smile problems with her teenage son himself as the over eager Irish grief. collapsed, revealing a mask of and is, therefore, deeply pre- Defence Counsel, joined in bat- might have come judiced against Alma.

There is tle with the sardonic Croom- straight out of a Rattigan play. also the usual, bemused glimpse Johnson (Bernard Archard). We must hope that he will be able to continue to write; there LONELY HART By PETER CLAYTON TN a new book about two songwriters, the most telling line is a quotation from third, hidden away in a footnote. At the bottom of p.259 in Bewitched, Bothered Be devilled, a double biography of Rodgers and Hart by Samuel Marx and Jan Clayton (W. H.

Allen; you will see Jerome Kern called the score of condescending Apart from being somewhat unexpected, that may not look like much of a dis covery, just a sour comment from a composer whose erstwhile lyric writer, Oscar Hammerstein, had collaborated with Richard Rodgers to create a musical whose box-office takings were far above avarice. But I don't think Kern was being sour. He'd agreed to let Hammerstein join Rodgers, and he wasn't exactly a failure himself. He i had simply noted the change- for the worse- in Rodgers's music after the break-up of the team of Rodgers-and-Hart. For me that has always been of the most exasperating mysteries in the history of popular music.

It was Rodgers's practice to write the music first, yet the whole style and feel of, say 46 Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered (with Hart) is so different from It Might as Well Be Spring' (with Ham- When dialling outside London prefix 01. OPERA AND BALLET SIR TERENCE RATTIGAN can. always be relied upon to extend compassionate sympathy to deeply flawed characters. Fire his imagination with an alcoholic adulteress, a bogus Major, a hated schoolmaster, or a pompous pundit suddenly revealing his knowledge of his wife's imminent death, and you will find him at his best. His mature plays are like social casualty stations, and his expertise as a craftsman helps him to calculate precisely how much pathos a situation will support and how much leavening with humour it will require.

The Rattenbury case in the mid-Thirties has all the ingredients needed. The murder in Bournemouth of a morose, elderly man by his wife's 18- year-old lover was predictably sensationalised in the press and soon had the British public baying for the blood of the Jezebel who was thought to have instigated the foul deed. I was a little surprised that Sir Terence did not make stronger case for the violent teenager, but presumably he had hands full with Alma Rattenbury a drunk, nymphomaniac, self-destructive hysteric. Glynis Johns is required to perform veritable cadenzas of screaming, dancing, bottleswigging and enticing, flaunting herself in pink chiffon. The her expense of energy is actress takes no short and phenomenal.

Cause (Her Majesty's) is a three-tiered In addition to then central story, we also get a about the COLISEUM. 01-836 3161 (credit card 5258). LAST WEEK NUREYEV FESTIVAL 7.30. Sats. 2.30 8.00.

Pierrot Lunaire, The Lesson, etc. Seats available, Nureyev will dance every performance, COVENT GARDEN. 240 1066 (Garden card bkg. 836 6903). THE ROYAL OPERA Tomor.

Thurs. 7.30: The Ice Break. Tues. Fri. 7: Aida.

Sat. 7: Arabella. 65 Amphi' seats for all perfs on sale from 10 a.m. on day of MICHAEL TIPPETT EXHIBITION. Covent Garden Gallery, Russell W.C.2.

(836 10.30 a.m.-5.30 p.m. (July 11, 14, 20, 26, until 10.30 p.m.) THE ROYAL BALLET IN THE BIG TOP BATTERSEA PARK Evgs. 7.30: Mat. Wed. Sat.

2.30. Tomor. Tues. Wed. (Mat, sold out) La Fille mal gardee, Thurs.

Sat. (All seats sold). Les The Four Seasons, Elite Syncopations. Few restricted seats at 50p hour before curtain up at Park. GLYNDEBOURNE FESTIVAL OPERA.

Until. Aug. 7 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Today, Thurs. Sat.

at 5.30. Mozart' Don Giovanni. Tomor. Fri. at 5.30, Verdi's Wed.

at 5.30 R. Strauss' Die schweigsame Frau. These perfs. possible returns only. Tickets still available some perfs.

from 26. Box Office Glyndebourne, Lewes, Sussex, 0273 812411: and Ibbs Tillett, 122 Wigmore Street, W.1. 01-935 1010. ROUND HOUSE, Chalk Farm Road. Tel.

267 2564. July 11 16. BALLET RAMBERT Monday to Friday 7.30. Saturday New works by Norman Morrice, Jaap Flier and Christopher Bruce. Tomorrow (Mon.) performance in the presence of HRE The Princess Margaret.

Audience to be seated by 7.15. New works by Christopher Bruce, Zoltan Imre and Sara Sugihara. merstein) that you can hardly believe it's the same composer at work. While the book is not about that at all- doesn't pursue Rodgers's life in any detail beyond the death of Lorenz Hart in 1943, and it is certainly not concerned with Hammerstein-it reveals enough about Hart which was new (to me, at any rate) to go quite a long way towards explaining it. Once you have accepted that the man who wrote the words to My me Funny Valentine" make smile with my heart and "Mountain Greenery" from life's machinery almost dwarf-like and bitterly was conscious of his smallness, a latent homosexual and in a period unsympathetic to such a condition, gregarious and solitary both at the same time, brilliant, lazy, dissipated, belief plagued with an underlying in his own unworthiness, you begin to realise that Rodgers accomplished an almost heroic task in merely keeping, the partnership productive for 20-odd years.

It also leaves you with the feeling that although it might have been hell for a composer who was rather like Anthony Trollope in that he could write with precision and regularity sitting at a desk, it was actually good for his art to have to cope with a partner who, when he could be persuaded to work SADLER'S WELLS THEATRE. Rosebery. Avenue. 837 1672. Last 2 weeks D'OYLY CARTE OPERA in GILBERT and SULLIVAN 7.30.

Mat. Weds: Sats. 2.30 This week new prodn. of Iolanthe. July 18, 19 20 The Yeomen of the Guard.

July 21, 22 23, The Gondollers. THEATRES ADELPHI THEATRE. 01-856 7611. 7.30. Mats.

Thurs. 3.0. Sate. at 4.0. IRENE BEST NIGHT OUT.

SPECTACLE, CAPTIVATING TUNES. COMEDY. Sunday People IRENE THE SLICK, MUSICAL MUSICAL SUMPTUOUS IRENE HAS Daily Express IRENE CARD INSTANT BOOKING CONFIRMED CREDIT ON 01-836 7611. Mats. ALBERY.

836 3878. Evenings at 8.0. Thurs. 3.0. Sats.

5.30 8.30. DEBORAH KERR DENIS QUILLEY MASTERLY Bernuard Levin, S. Times. CANDIDA by Bernard Shaw. "IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO SUCCUMB TO CANDIDA'S D.

Mall. Directed by Michael Blakemore. ALDWYCH. 836 6404. Info 836 5332.

ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY in repertoire. Tues. 7.30. THE COMEDY OF ERRORS Heaven be praised for high-spirited tun. Sunday Times.

With MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Wed. m. ROMEO JULIET Sat. m. e), Book DOW for WAREHOUSE season 836 6808 (see under W) also at Piccadilly Theatre in WILD OATS.

AMBASSADORS. 836 1171. Evgs. 8.0. Sats.

5.30, 8.30. Tues. 2.45. Broadway's Hilarious Musical Whodunit SOMETHING'S AFOOT Infusing the theatre with unalloyed Joy. High octane hilarity perfect.

family 8. Exp. Enormous gaiety, I loved every. daft minute of It, Daily Mirror. Chock full genuinely comic business.

F. Times. Exuberance News. Dinner Top-price seat £7.50 incl. Condon Artistic Director August 24 September 15 1977 Aug 24 Aug 27 Aug 29 Sept 3 Les Night Sylphides, Shadow, Giselle Crickmay Prince Igor Anthony Sept 5 Sept 10 Terabust 3 The Sanguine Fan, ude Scheherazade Graduation Ball Photog Sept 12 Sept 15 Evgs 7.30 Giselle Mat Sat 3 Ticket prices £1.00 £5.00 Booking opens tomorrow July 11 No telephone bookings before July 18 Box Office telephone 01-928 3191 Royal Festival Hall George Director Mann OBE future: it is the which is unreal--a turns present, into a nightmare.

Keith Baxter gives an amaz ing performance, both physicand vonally impecca-le. think it is the most un-English performance I have witnessed from an indigenous actor (even if he is a Welshman). Mr. Baxter co directs with David Leland, and Bob Ringwood and Kate Owen have designed an effective setting consisting mainly of staincases, with skyscrapers in the distance and shadowy figures looming like the Eumenides. Maybe Tennessee Williams overreached himself: his imagination bursts the seams of theatre.

But what theatre! It is a long play, yet it kept me on the edge of my seat. All too true? Shakespeare? TRAIGHTFORWARD We all pine (in theory) for that. But when we get it we wonder why it doesn't prick the imagination. We got it twice last week. First, at St.

George's, Isling. ton, Alan Dobie raced his and monotonous way through, Hamlet on that converted, stand- church's and platform deliver stuff, very audible this season, but less than compulsive listening. George Murcell's Claudius, Elvi Hale's Gertrude and Lynn Dearth's Ophelia put some passion into their playing; and John David's neat production certainly lacked fuss and furniture in its haste. But it scarcely gave its leading actor a chance to remind us what a thoughtful fellow Hamlet is or to spur the dullness out of his revenge. Then at Chichester Julius Caesar came at us in Jacobean in an revival by Peter Dews.

If that sounds less than straightforward, the effect (as at Islington) was still sturdily prosaic and in need of a dose of hot blood. Portia's "I grant I am a woman" got a predictable giggle. is the point of draining the pathos out of Calpurnia and Portia by making men play them? Not much pathos elsewhere, though we were bound to grieve the departure of that good actor Nigel Stock, whose Caesar had proved refreshingly sinister and worthy of the chop and Charles Kay (Cassius) and Gary, Bond (Brutus) discovered sentimentality in the tent scene. when is Shakespeare's verse to be rediscovered Forsaking the fashion for platform, thrust or otherwise stages, the new Churchill Theatre, Bromley, might have been built 40 years ago, and looks at first glance like a cinema. The opening production is Mr.

Polly, a musical comedy confected Ted Willis from a novel by H. G. Wells, and might have been written 40 years ago, too. Roy Castle plays the misfit-hero with a certain diffident cockney charm and one is bound wish this attractive theatre well. But one also can't help wishing that it had started with more oomph than the fact of Wells's being born in Bromley gives this mildly amusing little show.

ERIC SHORTER PALLADIUM. 01-437 7373. Evas. 8.0. Mats.

Wed Sat. 3.9. WORLD CLASS ENTERTAINMENT JOHN CURRY THEATRE OF SKATING I THAT NEW RAZZLE-DAZZLE A MISSED JOY TO BEHOLD--NOT TO BE AT ANY COST D. Mail. SENSATIONAL EXQUISITE BREATHTAKING SUBLIME HEAVEN SENT Daily Mail.

A SPECTACULAR SHOW D. Mir. THIS SHOW IS INDEED A PLEASURE The Guardian. Instant Credit Cards. 01-734 8961.

PALACE. 6834. Mon. to Thur 8.0. Sat.

6.0 8.40. JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR PICCADILLY. 437 4506. (Credit cards.) Sat. 5.15, 8.30.

Wed. 3. ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY in raucously funny In RAUCOUSLY FUNNY WILD OATS Pure gold, champagne, moonbeams S.Tm PRINCE OF WALES. 01-930 8681. REJOICE.

REJOICE GODSPELL is S. Times. Evgs. at 8.15. Fri.

Sat. 5.30 8.30. Seats from £1. QUEEN'S. 01-734 166.

Evenings 8.15. Mat. Wed. 3.0. Sat.

6.0 8.40. COLIN BLAKELY MICHAEL ROSEMARY GAMBON LEACH in ALAN AYCKBOURN'S NEW PLAY JUST BETWEEN OURSELVES NEW J. Barber, Tel. REGENT. 323 2707.

Evenings at 8.30. Friday Saturday at 7.0 9.15. LAST WEEKS MUST END JULY 30. LET MY PEOPLE COME An ADULT MUSICAL ROYAL COURT. 730.

1745. Last Week. Evenings 8. Saturdays 8.30. Max Wall John Thaw in FAIR SLAUGHTER by Howard Barker A bitterly funny piece of what we were what we Times.

From July 18 FESTIVAL See also Theatre Upstairs. SAVOY. 836 8888. Evenings at 8. Sats.

3.0 8.0. Mats. Wed. 2.30. ROBERT MORLEY, JULIAN ORCHARD in BEN TRAVERS' BANANA RIDGE Hilarious success." Daily Telegraph.

Must End August 13. SHAFTESBURY. 836 6596. Ev. 8.

Sat. 8. LIBBY MORRIS. PETER REEVES MAUREEN SCOTT, CLIFTON TODD in EDITH PIAF, JE VOUS AIME A Musical Tribute Tms. English lyrics first Ex.

LAST WEEK. Must End Sat. SHAW. 01-388 1362 ('phone erratic). Eves.

8.0. Sat. 5.15 830. Mat. Wed.

2.30. Air Easy Parking. JAMES AUBREY, MAXINE AUDLEY, CONNIE BOOTH, ANGUS MacINNES THE GLASS MENAGERIE by TENNESSEE WILLIAMS The finest production of this play I have ever Tennessee Williams. STRAND. 836 2660.

Evenings at 8.0: Thurs. 3.0. Sat. 5.30 8.30. NO SEX PLEASE -WE'RE BRITISH Directed by ALLAN DAVIS THE WORLD'S GREATEST LAUGHTER MAKER Hilarious See it! Tom STOPPARD'S DIRTY LINEN ARTS THEATRE (01)836 FILMS: Bond's hardware By TOM HUTCHINSON Soul of the machine JAMES BOND film is an A event 90 regular as to.

have become an institution. The Spy Who Loved Me (A: Odeon, Leicester Square) is the tenth and one of the best, brilliantly maintaining- even expanding the self-parodying ritual of violence and sex. This it achieves by following through what its predecessors attempted, but never did quite so rigorously- obliterating characterisation to the point of no return. Hardware rules, O.K. Hitherto there has always been a gesture, however token, to the development of some personality in the creatures involved in charades which would be thuggish they weren't so flippant.

But in this episode it is the action pushed to the limits of humorous outrage by director Lewis Gilbert, and the vast 68 Metropolis "style sets by Ken Adam, which excite applause and bludgeon incredulity into acceptance. It is significant that the man who is most like a machine--a professional killer Kiel) called Jaws because of the steel teeth with which he bites his victims death- the most memorable of all the plot's inhabitants. He outlives the story to fight, presumably, another day. Roger Moore's look of wry perplexity, as Bond just isn't enough to combat such a mechanism. The story to trigger off all the gadgetry involves the kidnapping of British and Soviet nuclear submarines by Stromberg (Curt Jurgens), an aquanut who is out to destroy the upper world and found an underwater Utopia.

British Bond and Russian agent Barbara Bach join forces to defy such foul fiendishness. very muted one, Curt Jurgen's villian. 'Sass Bach's dramatic talents cannot yet match her stunning good looks. While Roger Moore can handle the Bondian bad jokesputting an 66 Out of Order' Berlin spotlight THIS year's Berlin Film Festival, refurbished under a new director, offered almost as many films per day as Cannes, resulting in an equally awkward overlapping of programmes. Even so, the German industry seized the opportunity to spotlight itself with over 50 new films screened in the various sections.

which, in terms of and subject, confirmed the enlightened policy of prizes and subsidies now current in West Germany (if only the British industry could put on an equivalent show Some have already been noted from Cannes; of the newer films, the nicest surprise was Erwin ST. MARTIN'S. 836 1443. Evge. Mats.

Tues. 2.45. Sat. 5 AGATHA CHRISTIE'S THE MOUSETRAP 25TH YEAR! ST. GEORGE'S ELIZABETHAN Theatre.

Tufnell Pk. Evgs. 7.30. Mat. Sat.

2.30 Wed. Brings Shakespeare's most immediately effective play to A Fin. Times. HAMLET Sat. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 1198.

THEATRE UPSTAIRS. 730 2554. Ev. 7.30. THE WINTER DANCERS by David Lan.

LAST WEEK. VAUDEVILLE. 836 9988. Eves. 8.

Sat. Tues. 2.45. KENNETH MORE PATRICIA ROUTLEDGE Moray WATSON, Carolyn SEYMOUR in Frederick ON APPROVAL Undeniably funny, Felix Barker, Evening News. The glitter is Times.

WAREHOUSE. 01-836 6808. Royal Shakespeare Company small auditorium season begins 18 July. Donmar Theatre, Earlham Street, Covent Garden. New plays by HOWARD BARKER and C.

P. TAYLOR. Brecht's SCHWEYK, MACBETH, Bond's BINGO. All seats Sats. 5.30 8.15.

Mats. Wed. WESTMINSTER: 834 0283. Eves. 8.

Barbara Mullen Joyce Heron, Julian Holloway ARSENIC OLD LACE The Classic Comedy Thriller. Sat. 3.15 8.30. Mats. Wed.

at WYNDHAM'S. 836 3028. 8. Maggie Fitzgibbon, Gay Soper, David Frith Robin Ray in BRILLIANT MUSICAL ENTERTAINMENT. People SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM GO TWICE." S.

Morley, Punch. GO 3 C. Barnes, N.Y.T. YOUNG VIC (by Old Vic). 928 6363.

Eves. 7.45. Fri. Romeo Juliet. Sat.

Stoppard's Rosencrantz Guildenstern Are Dead. TALK OF THE TOWN. 734 5051. From 8.15 9.30 Super Review RAZZLE DAZZLE and at 11 p.m. PETER GORDENO PROVINCIAL THEATRES CHICHESTER.

0243 86333. Tomorrow July 14 at 7.0% July 16 at 2.0 JULIUS CAESAR. July 12, 13. 15, 16 at 7.0. July 14 at 2.0 ORDER OF APPEARANCE.

STRATFORD UPON AVON Roval Shakespeare Theatre (0789 2271). Tickets immedtately available for HENRY VI PART 1 Jul. 16 23 26. HENRY VI PART 4 (Jul 21 27, 30 (mat.) HENRY VI PART 3 Jul 18,.21, 25. HENRY Jul 26 Aug.

11 18. (mat.) Recorded booking info (0789 69191). CINEMAS ACADEMY 437 2981. Volker Schlondorfs, COUP DE GRACE (AA). 4.10, 6.20, 8.35.

ACADEMLY 2. 437 5129. Phillippe Noiret in THE WATCHMAKER OF SAINT-PAUL (AA). Progs. 4.30, 6.35, 8.40.

ACADEMY 3. 437 8819. Jean Cocteau' BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (A). Progs. 6.35, 8.50.

Ex. show Sats. 4.20. SON ET LUMIERE DOVER CASTLE ROY DOTRICE BARBARA JEFFORD NIGHTLY to SEPT 24 th DOVER 203224 OPEN AIR THEATRE Regent's Park N.W.1. Tel: 01-486 2431 In Repertoire until the end of August LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST "even better than last summer" J.C.Trewin HENRY "Awarmth of enjoyment about the production" Guardian Jubilee show" S.

Telegraph TONIGHT'S CONCERT at 8.00 00 pm MICHAEL CHAPMAN JO-ANNE KELLY sign on a dead body- with more ease than previously, he still seems more like Action Man than Purposeful Agent. No, it is the machines, the movement and the "locations that matter most. There is an astonishing pre-title sequence, involving a ski-jump, which has the classic power to switch a gasp of alarm roar of laughter at its flagrant impudence. Perhaps the next Bond movie will accede to this concept completely and exclude people altogether, so that all 'we see are gimmicks, each striving to top the previous one. It is back to people with The Late Show (A.A: Warner West End)-and what a delightfully kooky, yet credible, bunch they are in this elegy for the Chandler Hammett kind of private eye, who is now ageing of Art Carney as Ira Wells he in used to be one of the battling with a perforating ulcer and a contemporary world which has outstripped his own gallant cynicism with its own uncaring amorality.

You're a little late -about 40 years," is the comment to which he responds with a weary grin. Seeking to find who killed his ex-partner (Howard Duff) he encounters Margo, portrayed by the marvellous Lily Tomlin as an eccentric girl, whose equinity of features is redeemed by the beauty of her eyes. Her alienation from reality is a selfdefensive attitude from a hostile crowd; fads such as yoga are her escape hatches. The search for her lost cat leads to a fabled stolen stamp collection and, via a maze of criminal of coincidences, to an affection between Ira and Margo which makes no promises about their future relationship, but which tells no lies, either, about the loyalties needed between human beings. Director Robert 'Benton keeps the atmosphere of honour trying to survive in today's world plausible; although there are times when it threatens to break out into a sweat of sentimentality it generally keeps its cool.

Keusch's The Baker's Bread, a gently played, wonderfully obstudy of a young apprentice's move from small bakery to the world of automated kitchens and big combines, and memorable for the documentary sequences alone. The Golden Bear winner in the main festival, The Ascent, by the talented Soviet director Larissa Shepitko, started off as a partisan picture and then moved into strange allegorical territory as its main soldier took on the pain and aspect of Christ and his cowardly partner the persona of Judas Unhappily, these Passion Play references are forced a little too hard in the playing, yet it has amazing moments like the scene when the Christ figure, waiting to be hanged by the Germans, wills his spirit into the little boy watching nearby. ABC 2, Shaftesbury Ave. 836 8861. Sep.

Perfs. ALL SEATS BKBLE. 1: A STAR IS BORN (AA) Sun. Wk. 2.00.

5.10, 8.10. 2: NASTY HABITS (A) Sun. Wk. 1.50, 5.20. 8.20.

CARLTON, Haymarket. 930 3711. THE PRINCE THE PAUPER (A). Comp. progs.

at 3.35, 6.00, 8.25. CURZON, Curzon W.1, 499 3737. ALAIN DELON in LE GANG (AA). English Sub-titles. Progs.

2.0 (not Sun.) 4.05, 6.15, 8.30. Last 2 Weeks. DOMINION, Tott. Crt. Rd.

(580 9562). ROCKY (A). Cont. progs. Today 2.20, 5.10, 8.00.

JACEY, Leicester Sq. 437 2001. THE EROTIC WOMAN (X) Col. PASSIONATE DESIRES (X) Col. Progs.

3.00. 4.30. 7.30. LEICESTER SQUARE THEATRE (930 progs. Today 3.00, 7.45.

All seats 5252). A BRIDGE 00.00 FAR (A). Sep. Bkble in Advance by post or at Box Office. Fully air conditioned.

LONDON PAVILION, Pice. Circus (437 2982). ROLLERBALL (AA), Cont. progs. 4.15, 8.30.

JUGGERNAUT (A), Cont. 2.10, 5.25. Last week. ODEON, Marble Arch. (723 A BRIDGE TOO FAR (A).

Sep. progs. Today 3.00, 7.45. ALL SEATS BKBLE IN ADVANCE. ODEON, ST.

MARTIN'S LANEHOME OF DISNEY MOVIES, CINDERELLA (U). For info. 240 0071. Box Office 836 1811. Sep.

progs. 2.45, 5.45. 8.30. All seats bkble. ODEON, Leicester Square (930 6111).

THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (A). Sep, perfs. Today, 1.40, 4.50, 8.05. All seats bkble. ODEON, Haymarket (930 FUN WITH DICK AND JANE (A).

Sep. progs. Today 5.30, 8.30. All seats bkble. PRINCE CHARLES, Leic.

Sq. 437 8181. Royal Passions that rocked a Crown. PRIVATE VICES PUBLIC VIRTUES (X). Sep.

Perfs. Dly. (Inc. Sun.) 2.45, 6.15. 9.00.

Lte. Show Fri. Sat. 11.45. Seats Bkble.

Lic'd Bar. REGENT, Upper Regent St. 580. 1744. (Oxford Circus Tube.) Sunday Cinema: Dirk Bogarde DEATH IN VENICE (AA) 4.20, 8.20.

Peter Fonda, OPEN SEASON (X) 2.30, 6.30. RIALTO, Leicester Sq. 437 3488. SQUIRM (X). 5.40, 9.10.

BLOOD AND LACE (X). 3.45, 7.20. SCENE 1 4, Leic Sq. (Wardour 439 4470. SCENE 1, THE STREETWALKER (X) Progs.

1.20, 3.25, 5.25, 7.30. 9.30. Lte. Show Fri. Sat.

11.35. SCENE 4. The Original EMHANUELLE (X) Progs. 1.05, 3.40, 6.15, 8.50. Lte.

Show Fri. Sat. 11.25. WARNER WEST END, Leicester Sq. Tel.

439 0791. Fully air conditioned. 1. THE DEVILS PLAYGROUND (AA). Sep, peris.

Today 2.40, 4.40, 6.40, 8.40. 2. BARBRA STREISAND, KRIS KRISTOFFERSON, A STAR IS BORN (AA). Sep. perfs.

Today 2.30, 5.30, 8.30. 3. DAY OF THE ANIMALS (AA). Cont. progs.

Today 2.10, 5.30, 8.55. THE CAR (AA). Cont. progs. Today 3.55, 7.15.

4. THE LATE SHOW (AA). Cont progs. Today 2.10, 4.15, 6.20, 8.30. The Zulu musical version of Macbeth July The Vic Old 11-23 928 7616 The Return of the Roger Moore in The Spy Who Loved me." ing.

Nasty Habits (A: A.B.C., Shaftesbury Avenue) is a It's Ernest Hemingway's type of humanity at large in Islands in the Stream (A: Plaza 2), all that grace-under-pressure stuff: you can't be a real hero until machismo gone thing of through hooking the big nish of lite, while guiping back a bottle or three of whisky. The novel, though patchily episodic, is moving because of its semi-autobiographical cal affiliations. The film the ethic, but not the spirit, which results despite George C. the central figure--in confused breast-beat- at all, scribbled his creations on envelopes, menus, toilet paper, napkins, and the margins of newspapers and magazines. Hart be seduced into work by a good tune, so Rodgers developed the ability to write an endless supply of them.

Hammerstein was another methodical desk-man, and it is my contention that it made Rodgers's life too easy for him; two deskmen produced commercially I successful but bland music. In the purely factual sense the book does good work in describing the differing family backgrounds of the two men; Rodgers the son of an eminent and respected doctor, Hart the issue a coarse, fat, jovial, lovable German-born rogue and his patient wife (in so doing, it also disposes of the much story that the family was descended from the German poet Heine). It is bound to be more interesting on Hart than on Rodgers, because Hart was the more complex, tortured, ultimately tragic character; the impossible to live with are always the more rewarding to read about. It is competently if not strikingly well written, and it contains some good quotes. My favourite is a line from songwriter Howard Dietz, voicing his opinion of the older, Viennese style of Sigmund Romberg: "He writes the kind of music you whistle going into the theatre." ALMOST FREE THEATRE.

485 0881. Marvellous (Times). HANCOCK'S. LAST HALF HOUR by Heathcote Williams. Monday-Saturday 8.30 p.m.

APOLLO. 01-437 2663. Evenings 8.0€ Mats. Thurs. 3.0.

Sat. 5.0 8.30. JOHN MILLS, JILL BENNETT, MARGARET COURTENAY, ROSE HILL. RAYMOND HUNTLEY AMBROSINE PHILLPOTTS ZENA WALKER in TERENCE RATTIGAN'S SEPARATE TABLES Dir. by MICHAEL BLAKEMORE THEATRICAL MAGIC." S.

Exp. CAMBRIDGE. 836 6056. Mon. -Thur.

8. Fri. Sat. 5.45, 8.30. IPI TOMBI PULSATING MUSICAL." E.

News. 2nd GREAT YEAR Seat prices to seat inclusive. COMEDY. 930 2578. Evenings 8.0.

Mat. Thur. 3.0. Sat. 5.30 8.30.

Winner of all 1975 awards. BEST PLAY OF THE YEAR Hywel BENNETT in Simon GRAY'S OTHERWISE ENGAGED Directed by HAROLD PINTER. CRITERION. 930 3216. (Credit Cards.

Evgs. 8. Sate. 5.30, 8.30. Tnurs.

3. LESLIE PHILLIPS in SEXTET aboard for S. Mir. N.o.W. DRURY LANE.

01-836 8108. Evgs. 8.0 SHARP. Mat. Sat.

3. A CHORUS LINE VOTED BEST MUSICAL OF 1976. DUCHESS THEATRE. 01-836 8243. Evenings at 8.0.

Sat. 6.15 9.0. OH! CALCUTTA! The nudity is D. Tel. 7th SENSATIONAL YEAR.

DUKE OF YORK'S. 01-836 5122. Evgs. 8.0. Sate.

5.0, 8.15. Wed. 3.0. JANET SUZMAN is News of World. IAN CANNEN in A production of rare, raw John Barber, Daily Telegraph.

HEDDA GABLER I have seen Janet Suzman do nothing Bernard Levin, Sunday Times. Limited Jubilee Season. Dinner Top price seat inclusive. FORTUNE. 836.2238.

Mon. to Fri. 8.0. Sats. 5.0 8.0.

Mat. Taurs. at 3.0. Muriel Pavlow as Miss Marple in AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MURDER AT THE VICARAGE Third Great Year! GARRICK THEATRE. 01-836 4601.

Evenings 8.0. Sat. 6.0 8.40. RICHARD BECKINSALE is sidesplittingly Daily Mail, In FUNNY PECULIAR LAST WEEKS, MUST END JULY 23. From July 27, John Mortimer's new comedy THE BELLS OF HELL.

GLOBE. 01-437 1592. Evenings 8.15. Mat. Wed.

3.0. Sat. 6.0 8.40. THE BEST COMEDY OF THE YEAR. ANNA MASSEY, PAUL EDDINGTON DONKEYS' YEARS Michael FRAYN'S delightful comedy.

Ev. Standard, Two hours of bubbling Daily Mirror: GREENWICH, Crooms Hill, SE10, 858 7755. Evgs. 7.30. Sat.

Mat. 2.30. SINGLES. A new by John Bowen, starring Frances De La Tour, Ray Brooks, Gwen Watford. HAMPSTEAD.

722 9501. Prevs. from Thu. to Sun. incl.

at 8. Opens July 718, at 7. Subs. 8. Sat.

5, 8. The Triumphant Return of ABIGAIL'S PARTY Devised Directed by Mike Leigh. 66 HILARIOUS." F. Tms. is no substitute for his special brand of humanity.

Make voyages! Attempt I was reminded of that exhortathere's nothing else tion of Byron's in "Camino Real when seeing The Red Devil Battery Sign, now transferred from the Round House to the Phoenix Theatre. Tennessee Williams has never been afraid to attempt voyages. In the process he has discovered a his own and, inevitably, familiarcountry which is unmistakably ity has brought denigration. Yet I have never ceased to watch his plays with awe and gratitude. Here is a major poetic visionary who makes all but a handful of our native dramatists look puny in comparison.

The play under review is a mood piece. It is set in a Dallas hotel, but you can hear the howls of wolves from the marauding gangs outside and see the threateming reflections of the display signs, while inside the strumming guitarists with their flamenco rhythms provide an uneasy reassurance. Upstairs, on an opulent, baroque bed, a Mexican musician (Keith Baxter) and a senator's daughter married to a powerful gang boss (Estelle Kohler) act out a tempestuous love affair. They are matureand doomed. Both have known corruption, and Mr.

Williams implies once again that purity and innocence are only to be found in degradation. This is not the same as saying that you have to degradation. Mr. Williams's protagonists have a past and a predictably violent HAYMARKET 950 9832. Evenings 7.45.

Mat. Wed. 2.30. Sat. 5 8.15.

John McCALLUM. Bill FRASER, Christopher GABLE. Jenny QUAYLE THE CIRCLE Somerset Maugham's famous Comedy. Faultlessly acted worth going miles to Herbert Kretzmer, Dly. Exp.

HER MAJESTY'S. 01-930 6606. Monday 8.0. Mats. Wed.

3.0. Sats. 4.30 8.15. GLYNIS JOHNS Heartbreakingly good." E. News.

KENNETH HELEN GRIFFITH LINDSAY in TERENCE RATTIGAN'S powerful E. News CAUSE CELEBRE No one alive writes with such understanding of sexual love. The Glynis Johns plays brilliantly." D. Tel. is enthralling played." F.T.

Maximum suspense extremely moving. Times. KING'S ROAD THEATRE 01-352 7488 Mon. to Th. 9.0.

Sat. 7.30, 9.30 THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Now in its 5th Rocking Year. LYRIC. 01-437 3686. Evenings 8.0.

Mat. Thur. 3.0. Sat. 5.30 8.30.

CELIA RALPH JOHNSON GREAT PERFORMANCES S. Tel. in WILLIAM HOME'S THE KINGFISHER Directed by LINDSAY ANDERSON. A DELIGHT." Daily Telegraph. MAY FAIR.

629 3036. 493 2031. Evenings 8.15. Sats. 6.0 8.40.

BRIGIT FORSYTH, ALISON FISKE. DIANE FLETCHER, MARY MADDOX in PAM GEM'S DUSA, FISH, STAS VI A funny, sparkling vivacious play. E. Stand. Brilliant.

D. Tel, MERMAID. 248 7656. Food 248 2835. Nightly 8.0.

Mats. Sat. 5.0. A tuneful torrent of COLE PORTER People, in OH, MB. PORTER Written by Benny Green It should soar happily to the D.

Tel. £5:95. NATIONAL THEATRE. 928 2252. OLIVIER (open stage): Tomor.

7.30 Julius Caesar: Tue. 7.30,: Wed. 2.30 7.30 Tales from the Vienna Woods: Fri. 7:30. Sat.

2.30 7.30 Volpone. LYTTELTON (proscenium stage): Tomor, Wed. 7.45. Thur. 2.45 7.45 Bedroom Farce: Fri.

7.45. Sat. 2.45 7.45 State of Revolution. COTTESLOE (studio space): Tomor. 7.

Fri. 8. Sat. 3 8. Kemp's Jig: Tue.

8. Wed. 3 8 Bow Down: Thu. 8 Old Movies: Fri. Late Night 11 p.m.

The Camilla Ringbinder Shew. Many excellent cheap seats all NI' 3 Air Restaurant conditioning. Car performance: Park. 2033. OLD VIC.

928 7616. From tomorrow until July 23. The Zulu Theatre Company in UMABATHA. The production which won enormous acclaim at the 1972 '73 World Theatre Seasons. Eves.

7.30, Wed. Sats. 2.30. Tue. 12 July at 7 p.m.

OPEN AIR, REGENT'S PARK. 486 2431. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST. Mon. 7.45.

Wed. 2.30 7.45. HENRY V. Tues. 7.45.

200 seats held until 1 hr. before perf. Today 8 p.m., MICHAEL CHAPMAN, JO-ANNE KELLY. PHOENIX THEATRE. 01-836 8611.

Evgs. 8.0. Sats. 5.0 8.30. KEITH 'BAXTER, ESTELLE KOHLER The Red Devil Battery Sign New play by TENNESSEE WILLIAMS.

His most powerful play in Dally Express. The Queen's Silver Jubilee Celebrations Victor Hochhauser presents Nureyev Festival at the London Coliseum Last week Nureyev will dance at every performance London Coliseum, St. Martin's Lane, London WC2 Box Office 01-836 3161 (Credit cards 01-240 5258) Nureyev and Makarova appear by Arrangement with A Gorlinsky coarsened version of Muriel Spark's very funny, very sharp The Abbess of Crewe," which imposes the Watergate plot on the ambitious convent plotting of Glenda Jackson as the nun who uses bugging and wiretappings to fulfil her ambitions. Technological, religious surveillance aspira- in tion has its humours Sandy Dennis ignites a lot of laughs as the ham-fisted, fumble-footed Gerald Ford-like novice. But, despite some splendid performances such as Melina Mercouri Anne Jackson, Susan Penhaligon and Geraldine Page it never quite gets itself all together.

By JOHN GILLETT greatest single sequence I saw on the Berlin screens. ART ABERFACH FINE ART, LONDON. 01-439 6686. MARGARITA LOZANO. Pastel Works.

Until 12 August. Mon.Fri. Sats. AGNEW GALLERY, 43 Old Bond St. W.1.

01-629 6176. A DAVID DRIDAN -Australiap Landscapes. Until 22 July. Monday-Fri. 9.30-5.30.

Thurs. until 7. AGNEW GALLERY, 43 Old Bond W.1. 01-629 6176. MASTER PAINTINGS.

Until July 22. 9.30• 5.30. Thurs. until 7. ALWIN GALLERY New Sculpture by SEAN CRAMPTON Just 9-10 Grafton Bond W.1.

10-6, Sat. 10-1. Street entrance. A AMERICAN ART AT AMERICAN EMBASSY, Upper Brook HOME BRITAIN-the last four 9-8 Sat. Sun.

12-5. Adm. free. decades. Mon 9-6 Thur.

Fri. ANNELY JUDA FINE ART, 11 Totten- THE ham Mews, W.1. 01-637 5517. LINESUPREMATIST STRAIGHT Malevich, etc. BRITISH MUSEUM.

WEALTH OF THE ROMAN WORLD. Until Oct. Except 1. Wkdys. 10-5.

Suns. 2.30-6. Mons. from April 25-July 25. and Sept.

12-26, 2-5. Last adm. 45 min. before closing. Adm.

50p. ROYAL JUBILEE EXHIBITION. A joint British Library Exhibition. Until July 24. Wkdys.

10-5. Suns. 2.30-6. Adm. free.

CENTAUR GALLERY, 82 Highgate High Street, 340 0087 (Open 11-6 weekdays). Continuous exhibition ot modern paintings. also antiques. Special Exhibition: Paintings by MARY FOX, MINNE FRY. KATHLEEN GUTHRIE, until 30th July.

CLARGES GALLERY Trevor Chamberlain, R.O.I. Oils and Watercolours. Till 16th July. Sat. 10-1.

158. Walton S.W.3. CRANE KALMAN GALLERY 178 selection of British, European and Brompton Road, London, s.W.3. A American Paintings. Daily 10-6.

Sats. 10-4. 584 7566. SEAGO, oils. watercolours drawings at Century Galleries, HenleyEDWARD on Oxon.

until July 10. FINE ART SOCIETY 148 New Bond W.1. 01-629 5116. JUBILEE SUMMER EXHIBITION Also Seurat, Turner, Vlaminck, presented Rouault, Modigliani. Houthuesen, by EXTENDED TO JULY 15th.

RICHARD NATHANSON. FURNEAUX GALLERY, 23, S.W.19. Church Wimbledon Village, Founded 1962. Constantly changing BRITISH exhibition ARTISTS incl. Blake, Bratby, of associated LIVING Dawson, Hagger, Newcombe, Stamp, Wilding Rowland Hilder.

Fri. Sat. 10-6. 4114. 493 GIMPEL 2488.

FILS, LARRY 30 RIVERS, Works of Davies W.1. the '70s. MARLBOROUGH, 6, Albemarle W.1. GRAHAM. SUTHERLAND THE BEES." A new suite of aquatints with related cirs.

Until July 30. Sat, MAAS. A Summer Exhibition of Englis drawings, water-colours and printi Daily 10-5, Sats 10-12, at 15a Cliffor Street, New Bond Street, W.1. OPEN: TOMORROW. MUSEUM OF MANKIND, Burlington W.1.

The world's greatest collection of art and material culture from the tribal societies of five continents. Free film shows, except Mondays. Wkdys. 10-5. Suns.

2.30-6. Adm. free. NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY. 01-930 8511.

HAPPY AND 130 years of royal photographs. Martin's Place. Adm. 30p. PORTRAITS BY GRAHAM SUTHERLAND.

At 15 Carlton House Terrace, S.W.1. Adm. 40p. Wkdys. 10-5.

Sats. 10-6. Suns. 2-6. NEW ART CENTRE, 41 Slaane Painting S.W.1.

20th Century' British Sculpture. Henry Inlander. NEW GRAFTON GALLERY, 42 Old Bond W.1. 499 1800. ARTISTS OF TODAY AND TOMORROW.

OMELL GALLERIES, 40, Albemarle Street, Piccadilly, W.1. Fine 20th Century British and European Paintings and large selection of MARITIME PAINTINGS. ROLAND, BROWSE DELBANCO, 19 Cork St. 01-734 7984. Our Thirty Years in Retrospect.

SOCIETY OF WILDLIFE 14th Ann. The Mall Galleries, The Mall, S.W.1. 10-5 Sat. 10-1. Until 21 July.

Adm. 20p. SOMERSET HOUSE, Strand, W.C.2. 01-240 LONDON AND THE THAMES. Three -centuries of painting.

Until 9 Oct. 10-7: Sat. Sun. Last Adm. 1' hr.

before closing. Adm. £1 and 60p. TATE GALLERY, Millbank, S.W.1. BRITISH ARTISTS OF THE '60s.

Wkdys. 10-6. Suns. 2-6. Adm.

free. VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM. S. Kensington. FABERGE: goldsmith to the Imperial Court of Russia.

Until 25 Sept. Wkdys. Suns. 2.30-5.30. Closed Fridays.

Adm. 50p. Two films towered above the rest in their austerity and absolute directorial mastery: Diary of a Lover by Shahid Saless, the Iranian working in Germany (shown in the valuable Young Forum section) and Bresson's Silver Bear winner, Le Diable probablement. Both express a desperate vision-Saless's hero wanders around his Hat alone after murdering his mistress, Bresson's teenager rejects the pressures of contemporary society and plans a theatrical suicide--yet the films' rich textures and compassion for their protagonists somehow alleviate the pessimism. Both are incredibly precise in their use of camera set-up and sound and the closing scene of the Bresson, with the young boy cut off in as he dies in the dark, enclosing night, was the ANd.