The Daily Telegraph from London, Greater London, England • 14

14 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 THE DAILY TELEGRAPH Kidman and Glen blow roof off the Blue Room The Blue Room, Donmar Warehouse WITH Sam Mendes as the director, David Hare as the and above all with the achingly beautiful Hollywood star Nicole Kidman in one of the two leading roles, this was always going an exceptionally hot ticket. to admit, however, that I fought my way through the paparazzi fearing that we might just be in for a real bummer of an evening. Hollywood stars. don't always deliver the goods on the London stage indeed a couple of years ago Raquel Welch was so terrible on tour that she never made it into town at all. More worrying still, The Blue Room is based on Arthur Schnitzler's turn-ofthe-century Viennese play La Ronde, much loved in the Max Ophuls film version, but a piece that almost always fails to live up to its risque reputation on stage.

Schnitzler certainly came up with a neat and daring idea, a daisy chain of sexual encounters in which A sleeps with who sleeps with until we finally work our way back to A. In performance, however, the play usually seems rily mechanical, tritely cynical and about as sexy as cold rice pudding. That is reckoning without the talent on display here. Hare's free adaptation brings the piece bang up to date, set in modern London with the shadow of Aids Picture: ALASTAIR MUIR Who needs Hollywood? Nicole Kidman gives a bravura stage performance in The Blue Room at the Donmar Record numbers give their backing to in independent schools Get the power of digital communications through your existing phone line. There's a new digital highway, that will bring the power of digital communications to your home or office.

It will allow you to fax or phone and use the Internet at the same erf time, and download faster than the fastest modem. Which means you'll spend EP less time waiting. And it does all this simply through your existing phone line. To get on the BT Highway Freefone 0800 800 845 www.highway.bt.com NEWS Education Correspondent Schools Information Service, also found that support for assisted places had grown in the year that the Government abolished them. Asked whether they supported the use of State funding to help children from lower income fam- ON MOST BT EXCHANGES AND GP started affair after sex talk therapy By Caroline Davies First Night by Charles Spencer Theatre Critic looming in the background.

His script is also packed with excellent jokes. Mendes directs with precision and wit all 10 sex scenes take place in a blackout, with a caption drily informing us just how long each coupling lasts though this most humane of directors also finds moments of unexpected, Schnitzler. warmth Mark Thompson contributes a neon-lit set of impeccable minimalist cool, and there is a hip electronic score by Paddy Cuneen. Best of all, there are Nicole Kidman and lain Glen, each of them playing five characters apiece with bravura, skill, real feeling a ual charge that at times threatens to blow the roof off the theatre. Everyone's reaction to this show is going to be conditioned by their own sexual preference.

Even I found time to notice that Iain Glen is a very handsome hunk with fine cheekbones who ranges from London cab driver through awkward student to hilariously affected playwright with superb detail and definition. Most of the time, though, I had eyes only for Nicole Kidman. Eyes on stalks in fact. She's drop-dead gorgeous, bewitchingly adorable and unfortunately she doesn't get her kit off nearly as often as Mr Glen; you are, however, treated to some tantalising, willowy glimpses that are far more erotic than a brazen full-frontal. The vision of her wafting around the stage with a fag in one hand and her knickers in the other as a delicious French au pair will haunt my fantasies for months.

There is a danger of this review turning into something out of the readers' letters column in Penthouse, not to mention the risk of a terrible row with the wife. So I had better add that Kidman is also a terrific actress who brings all five of her roles to instantly distinctive life, whether she's playing a cheap tart, a sophisticated married woman, a coke-sniffing waif of a model or a femme fatale of an actress. The play still strikes me as a cleverly executed, glibly cynical jeu d'esprit, rather than a profound meditation on human relationships. In this production, however, you might just as well lie back and enjoy the sheer style and sexuality on display: it's pure theatrical Viagra. lished, slight yesterday.

majority For the 51 first per cent of people who say they voted Labour would educate their children privately if they could afford to. Last year only 47 per cent said they would and in 1996 it was 43 per cent. The most common reasons for AGP who prescribed the Pill for a married patient and then embarked on an affair with her has been suspended for six months after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council. The brief "ill-fated" relationship between John Davies, 48, and the 43-yearold woman, lasted 10 weeks. But the scandal swept through the small Pennine community of Penistone, near Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

He was forced to resign from his group practice and named in her divorce, the GMC disciplinary hearing was told yesterday. But, when confronted by his colleagues, he described the affair as "a very minor error of The woman, a mother of two teenage children one of whom was born blind, later felt used when he broke off the relationship because of his guilt. The two became close after his marriage collapsed and she consulted him about problems in her own and discussed sex therapy. The doctor had been a family friend since 1981, and had been on holiday with the woman, Mrs and her husband. They shared Christmas dinners and were guests at his wedding in 1987.

They first had sex one month, after although he he failed prescribed to make a note of the prescription in her medical records. Mr A became suspicious of their growing closeness. His fears were confirmed when he noticed his wife's keen interest in the doctor's movements. By then the affair had been over for a month. A confronted the doctor, who did not deny the relationship, and later informed the eight GPs in the practice.

However, when the doctor was named in the As' divorce, he denied the relationship. Yesterday the doctor, who was charged with serious professional misconduct, told the hearing he had denied it on advice but admitted it to the GMC. MORE people say they would choose an independent education for their children, despite the Government's campaign to improve State school standards. The lack of confidence in the State sector has reached record levels even among Labour voters, according to a Mori survey pub By Liz Lightfoot, choosing fee-paying schools were better standards, smaller classes and better discipline. Two thirds saidthere even would if be a their role for standards indewere not higher.

The survey, for the Independent BT HIGHWAY IS AVAILABLE ilies take advantage of independent schooling, 63 per cent said they did, up from 59 per cent. The proportion of Labour voters in favour rose from 58 to per cent. The now defunct scheme won the support overall of 63 per cent. The poll asked a 1,886 representa- IS SUBJECT TO SURVEY tive sample whether they believed educational standards in State schools were higher, lower or about the same as in independents. Overall, per cent thought State school standards were lower, 28 per cent the same and nine per cent believed they were higher.

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