THE WEEK IN REVIEW
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Your support makes all the difference.THE BALLET
ANASTASIA
A reworked revival of Kenneth MacMillan's 1971 flop three-act ballet (an extension of his one-act work for Lynn Seymour) with designs by Bob Crowley and danced by Viviana Durante.
Louise Levene was unamused. "They said it couldn't be done and I'm afraid they were right." "Narratively thin and choreographically padded," agreed the Times. "Triumphant ... a major work of art," heralded the FT. "Shattering ... left the audience applauding and refusing to leave," gasped the Independent on Sunday. "The whole evening was a triumph," announced the Sunday Telegraph.
Further performances at the Royal Opera House, London WC2 (0171-304 4000) on 13, 14, 15 (matinee), 17 May.
MacMillan devotees should attend the matinee to see Sarah Wildor in the title role.
After the success of An Absolute Turkey, Sir Peter Hall translates (with Nicki Frei) and directs another Feydeau farce with Felicity Kendal, Neil Pearson and Nicholas le Prevost with designs by Gerald Scarfe.
"Felicity Kendal so determinedly bubbles with mischief, it's a wonder she doesn't do herself one," observed Paul Taylor. "Never quite achieves that blissful lift-off," concluded the Telegraph. "No real anguish and no truly desperate comedy," asserted the FT. "Funny, sometimes very funny, occasionally hilarious," admired the Times. "A thoroughly pleasant evening," smiled the Guardian.
At the Haymarket Theatre Royal, London SW1 (0171-930 8800).
Kendal runs the gamut from pert to winsome... but her fans won't mind. Be warned. This is not one of Feydeau's finest.
AS Byatt's first novel since the Booker prize-winning Possession mixes a straightforward tale of Frederica and her friends in the Sixties with a pastiche novel that ends up on trial a la Lady Chatterley's Lover.
Hugo Barnacle felt that "Byatt really lays it on with a trowel ... adds cumbersome pretention to what is otherwise a simple, readable novel." "Impressive, powerful and cumbersome," declared the Sunday Telegraph. "Byatt's imagination does, just, keep pace with her analytical intelligence," decided the Sunday Times. "Exceptional gravity and serious charm ... grippingly dramatic," enthused the Spectator.
Chatto & Windus, pounds 16.99
Six hundred and seventeen pages of art, language, mathematics, pornography and the DNA of snails, Byatt cannot be accused of lack of ambition...
A fictional account of the Stonewall riots, the birth of the modern lesbian and gay movement.The last film by Nigel Finch, the man behind BBC2's Arena and director of The Lost Language of Cranes.
Adam Mars-Jones found its energy "positively blithe ... the strengths of the film far outweigh its weaknesses." "Lacking that vital spark," said Time Out. "Ninety minutes of strutting, flouncing and agit-prop attitudinising," grumbled the FT. "Skating too fast over powerful material ... I wish this had been a better memorial," admitted the Times. "Its heart is very definitely in the right place," said the Guardian.
98 mins, cert. 15. At Clapham Picture House (0171-498 3323) and on limited release in Brighton, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
At last, a drag film from a genuinely gay perspective. Winner of the London Film British Cinema Festival Audience award.
THE PLAY
MIND MILLIE FOR ME
THE BOOK
BABEL TOWER
THE FILM
STONEWALL
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