Chelsea News from Kensington and Chelsea, London, England • 16

ae vkvv Multi-cultural move fails to change the spots eyes of the rich fool who lets him into his house Ayub Khan Din is suitably gullible as Orgon handing over daughter and house to Tartuffe before finding his saint in a less than holy position on top of his wife Though the production shows its roots in the National education department -there is too much explanation of the action and too many gimmicks it remains lively colourful and in a strange way quite faithful to the original text Paul Davies with Italian Commedia so here we have a mixture of high and low art with elegant classical dance and musical forms enlivened by devices drawn from the bhavi folk theatre of western India Generally this approach works and like Salman Rushdie Verma revels in the collision of cultures and multilingual puns Much play is made of the fact that Tartuffe is a and a (and something else beside) Nizwar Karanj gives an engaging performance as the faking fakir: dhoti-clad pious-looking the very model of a holy man in the THE Royal National Theatre has quite a good track record at encouraging actors from ethnic minority groups had a black Measure for Measure and now we have an all-Asian version of Tartuffe (Cottesloe South Bank) But here the multi-culturalism extends beyond the casting to the text itself: the play is shifted from a French to an Indian setting with Tartuffe himself transformed from a priest into a fakir The universal themes of religious hypocrisy and rich fools being gulled by tricksters are no less resonant when moved from the court of Louis XIV to that of his contemporary the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb And just as there were aspects of comedy which displeased the Sun King who forced his court playwright to revise it so here the play ends with the Emperor righting wrongs and restoring moral harmony Jatinder Verma takes a liberal view of the role and in place of terse Alexandrines Verma offers a form of rhythmic speech accompanied by music Just as Moliere combined courtly comedy Top 20 singles 1 Vogue Madonna 2 Black Velvet Alannah Myles 3 The Power -Snap 4 Step On -Happy Mondays 5 Kingston Town -UB40 6 Miss The Partyline -BizzNizz 7 Opposites Attract -Paula Abdul 8 All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You Hcnrt 9 Love Shack 10 Ghetto Heaven -Family Stand 11 This Beat Is Technotronic -Technotronic feat MC Eric 12 Strawberry Fields Forever Candy Flip 13 Birdhouse In Your Soul -They Might Be Giants 14 Escapade-Janet Jackson 15 Killer Adamski 16 Lily Was Here -David A StewartCandy Dulfer 17 Hang On To Your Love -Jason Donovan 18 Everything Starts With An EaZ66 POSS66 19 Everybody Needs Somebody To Love Blues Brothers 20 Real Real Real- Jesus Jones Video choice LOOK TALKING (12) Harmless comedy with Bruce Willis as the voice of a six-month old baby Unfortunately the role demands little in the way of character development John Travolta as the baby-sitter and Kirsty Alley as the mother provide a schmaltzy impression of Thirty Something Batman and the Joker fight for Gotham City (sp) worthwhile for the successful use of a swimming pool on set An excellent cast including Peter Bowles and Michael Gambon bring the best out of an ingeniously slowly unravelling plot NEVER THE SINNER (Playhouse) Very interesting piece of theatre from John Logan about the case of a brutal 1920s Chicago pair who murdered for kicksSharp script and interesting narrative structure combined with commendable performances NOEL AND GERTIE (Comedy Theatre) Sheridan depiction of the extraordinary relationship between Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence with Simon Cadell and Patricia Hodge Although somewhat lacking in depth it is a fun evening PERICLES (Pit) Reviewed this week THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (London Palladium) Rollicking Gilbert and Sullivan operetta given the modern day musical treatment making it twice as appealing Well staged with some classic moments of fun Starring Bonnie Langford and Paul Nicholas TARTUFFE (Cottlesloe) Reviewed this week A CLOCKWORK ORANGE -2004 (Royalty) Phil Daniels absolutely stunning as AleX the brainwashed thug in this electrical piece of theatre from the RSC Atmospherically mesmerising with a commendable script BUDDY (Victoria Palace) Raving rock roll production which recaptures the music of Buddy Holly Paul Hipp as Buddy is truly remarkable in his likeness to the great man For nostalgia excitement and sheer entertainment value this show must be seen BUS STOP (Lyric Shaftesbury) Recommended for star appeal rather than being a vetting piece of theatre Charismatic Jerry Hall comes through her West End debut with flying colours EXCHANGE (Vaudeville) Acerbic and entertaining Russian black comedy by Yuri Trifonov The tale of everyday folk and the ins and outs of the property market stands for a deeper representation of the corrupt means to which people will stoop to be better off MAN OF THE MOMENT (Globe) Strongly recommended black comedy from Alan Ayckbourn Not only DRIVING MISS DAISY (U) Award winning gentle comedy with well aimed clever observation of changing codes and attitudes in the Deep South Jessica Tandy is delightful as an eccentric ageing southern belle ENEMIES A LOVE STORY (15) Hugely entertaining if improbable tale of a Jewish New York Romeo who manages to become involved with three women at once Period setting in New York convincingly photographed and contains an enjoyable heavy dash of Jewish humour THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS (15) Beau and Jeff Bridges team up as two bottom market cocktail bar pianists whose fortunes change when they meet escort girl Michelle Pfeiffer Refreshingly realistic with excellent performances but very low key THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (PG) Sean Connery stars in Boys Own style underwater adventure movie updated and given the full Hollywood touch Based on true story of a Russian submarine captain who tried to defect Iromcally what the film lacks is depth THE KRAYS (18) Reviewed this week MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON (15) Adventures of intrepid Victorian explorers Burton and Speke in Africa No Indiana Jones swashbuckler but it captures perfectly the excitement and colour of unknown lands Beautifully photographed with an intriguing story chronicling the relationship between two very different men SOCIETY (18) Surreal comedy set amongst Los Angeles social climbers Enjoyable if undemanding entertainment kept alive by imaginative performances from a young cast THE WAR OF THE ROSES (15) Tale of marriage break-up and divorce An unrealistic cataloguing of the dangerous excesses possible in love turned sour Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner make superb sparring tale of a poor farmer with a miraculous vision One of the best of INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (CIC) Unmissable follow-up in the intrepid adventurer yarns Spielberg perfectly balances tension comedy and drama Sean Connery delivers the performance of his life as the father A hands down winner THE KILL-OFF (Palace) Reviewed this week LETHAL WEAPON II (Warner Home Video) Mel Gibson returns as detective Martin Riggs crazier funnier and tougher than ever Straight goodies baddies with frenetic pace RUNNING ON EMPTY (Guild Home Video) Touchingly portrayed story of a family of radicals who have been living on the run since dangerous political activities River Phoenix proves he is a megastar of the future as the teenage son WILT (Guild Home Video) Very funny version of Tom novel starring Griff Rhys Jones and Mel Smith The pair repeat their very successful double act to hilarious effect but subtleties are lost BATMAN (Warner Home Video) Adventures of the caped crusader minus side-kick Despite the hype this is a defiantly sophisticated movie A well rounded all-star cast with Jack Nicholson stealing the show as the evil Joker THE COOK THE THIEF HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER (Palace) From the eccentric world of Peter Greenaway an outrageous mixture of sex jealousy revenge and bizarre food Not for those with a weak stomach DEAD POETS SOCIETY (Touchstone) Haunting drama of the highest order Robin Williams stunning as an unconventional English master in an old fashioned school Thought provoking ERIK THE VIKING (Warner Home Video) Epic tale of dragons gods and an invisible cloak which Very funny film written and directed by veteran Monty Python man Terry Jones Clever plot blended with dazzling special effects FIELD OF DREAMS (Guild Home Video) Inspiring film that is anything hut just another movie about baseball Moving and magical Exchange: black comedy at the Vaudeville (sp) Glenn and Bergin in pursuit of source(sp).