THE WEEK IN REVIEW

THE TELEVISION DRAMA

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

OVERVIEW

A pounds 6m, six-part adaptation of Jane Austen's most famous novel by Andrew Davies, adaptor of Middlemarch and Anglo-Saxon Attitudes. CRITICAL VIEW Jim White loved "the pace and energy which at last provides a visual setting to do justice to the wit of the book". "The posh period ball is a classic cliche which makes this one all the more remarkable. I have never seen it done better because it never has been," said the Guardian. "Caught both the acute satirical wit of Jane Austen and the melancholic underside," claimed the Evening Standard. ON VIEW Sundays, BBC1, 9pm. Coming soon, Clueless, a Hollywood movie based on Emma... like Big Macs are based on roast beef. OUR VIEW It is a truth universally acknowledged that the BBC, in possession of a classic serial, must be in want of a hit. They have one. THE PLAY MACBETH OVERVIEW The notoriously jinxed "Scottish play" starring and directed by the gifted actor Mark Rylance, the new artistic director of the Globe Theatre. CRITICAL VIEW Paul Taylor felt "dramatic potential has been left frustratingly untapped". "He makes some shrewd points... but the more it proceeds the more perverse it becomes," said the Guardian. "If the next decade produces a more preposterous or ill-conceived Macbeth, I promise to eat the First Folio," thundered the Times. "By the end your jaw aches because it has sagged so often in disbelief," said the Daily Telegraph. ON VIEW At Greenwich Theatre until 28 Oct (0181-858 7755) and then on tour. Or try one of five other productions to be seen this autumn. OUR VIEW Rylance remains a great actor. Nice theory to set the play amid cult religion and superstition, shame about the practice. THE EXHIBITION CARRINGTON OVERVIEW Long before Bloomsbury biographers busied themselves with Dora Carrington's emotional entanglements, she was an artist, as a new Barbican retrospective shows. CRITICAL VIEW Louisa Buck admired the "compelling, poetic landscapes and penetrating, complex portraits... the best of Carrington's work can transcend biography." "Dora Carrington was an interesting painter and decorator, an imaginative figurative artist and interior designer," thought the Independent on Sunday. "A small triumph. Even if you don't bother with the film, see the exhibition," said the Daily Telegraph. ON VIEW At the Barbican, London EC2 (0171-628 2295) to 10 Dec. Gretchen Gerzina's biography Carrington is published by Pimlico (pounds 10) OUR VIEW Neatly programmed to coincide with Christopher Hampton's film and a must for Bloomsbury groupies. THE MUSICAL A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC OVERVIEW Stephen Sondheim's bittersweet tale of loves lost and won, based on Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, in a new production by Sean Mathias. CRITICAL VIEW Paul Taylor (and everyone else) was enraptured. "Three hours of gloriously barbed bliss and bewitchment." "Ravishing... Sean Mathias's supremely elegant staging leaves no doubt that this is one of the great musicals," said the Daily Telegraph. "Makes every musical... seem lacking in bite or worldly- wisdom or both," thought the Times. ON VIEW In repertoire at the Olivier, National Theatre. (0171-928 2252). If sold out, queue for returns. OUR VIEW A triumphant vindication of Richard Eyre's policy of reviving musicals at the National. A moving and intelligent night at the theatre.