The Spectator's Arts Round-up
THEATRE
Opening next week: Look — No Hands!, the Lesley Storm comedy that so amused the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Gardiner, that he was persuaded to become one of its "angels," opens at the Fortune, with Janet Munro, Gerald Flood and Harry Towb, July 19; Boesman and Lena, by the African writer Athol Fugard, in the Royal Court's Theatre Upstairs, July 19; Tyger, National Theatre production of Adrian Mitchell's " celebration of the life and works of William Blake," with Bill Fraser, Gerald James, Denis Quilley, at the New, July 20; Enemies, the first production in Britain of Maxim Gorky's play, presented by the Royal Shakespeare Company, with Brenda Bruce, Helen Mirren, Alan Howard and David Waller, at the Aldwych, July 22. Out of Town: Antigone, English premiere of a new translation from Sophocles by Theodore Howard Banks, at the Nottingham Playhouse, July 20; Reunion in Vienna, a revival of Robert E. Sherwood's play with Margaret Leighton and Nigel Patrick in the roles played in the 'thirties by the Lunts, at Chichester Festival Theatre, July 21. Coming off in London: Only another two and a half months left for Fiddler on the Roof, which will be succeeded at Her Majesty's in early October by The Ambassador, the first musical to be based on a Henry James novel, starring Howard Keel and Danielle Darrieux.
Worth seeing: Kean, a fictionalized treatment of the eighteenth-century actor, originally by Dumas but given fresh philosophical overtones in this adaptation by Jean-Paul Sartre, with a dazzling performance by Alan Badel (Globe); Forget-Me-Not Lane, a Peter Nichols comedy about a crumbling marriage, touching and true and as funny as you would expect from a man whose sense of humour has previously been able to cope with both spastic and geriatric problems (Apollo); Move Over, Mrs Markham, a farce of which Feydeau would not have been ashamed (Vaudeville); Sleuth, a thriller by Anthony Shaffer that boldly parodies its own genre (St Martin's); Vivat! Vivat Regina!, Robert Bolt's version of the mirror-image rivalry of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, who are now being played by Margaret Tyzack and Judy Parfitt (Piccadilly).
CINEMA
Opening next week: King Lear, screen version of the RSC's stage production, directed by Peter Brook, with Paul Scofield as the tragic monarch (Prince Charles); The Horsemen, with Omar Sharif and Jack Palance (Astoria); Blue Water, White Death (Studio One); and Ken Russell's The Devils (Warner Rendezvous); all July 22. Pick of the London runners: Death in Venice, which could be a masterpiece and s certainly a compellingly beautiful screen treatment of Thomas Mann's story, made by Luchino Visconti and starring Dirk Bogarde (Warner Rendezvous and Times, Baker Street); Sunday, Bloody Sunday, a contemporary man-boy-woman triangle, which is John Schlesinger's brilliant follow-up to Midnight Cowboy, with Peter Finch, Murray Head and Glenda Jackson as the trio under stress (Leicester Square Theatre); Claire's Knee, another of writer-director Eric Rohmer's intellectually stimulating "moral tales" (Curzon); and two bright and efficient American comedies, Summer of '42 (Warner West End) and Diary of a Mad Housewife(Plaza).
DANCE
Hurry note : the New York dance theatre of Alwin Nikolais, an inventive fellow who often turns up something pretty striking, concludes its season at Sadler's Wells this Saturday, July 17. The Hungarian Gipsy Company (Rajko) from Budapest begins a two-week season at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, July 19. At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Royal Ballet premiere Anastasia, with Seymour, Beriosova and Sibley in the company, July 22 and 23.
ART
Tate Gallery: as well as the McAlpine Gift (see previous page), there is also a special Constable exhibition, The Art of Nature, an impressive rediscovery. Royal Academy: the annual summer show is more rewarding than usual; it has a week to go, closing on July 25. Openings to note: up-and-corners Peter Neuner, Antony Mileham, Anna Burke Harris, Ilse Kleinman, Shirley King and Carole Lane, a mixed show of paintings and sculpture, at the Ansdell, Monmouth Street, July 20; old hands, Bridget Riley and Piscator at the Hayward, July 21; off-beat, Space, an " Inside/Outside" exhibition of modern paintings and sculpture, at Marble Hill, House, Twickenham, July 20.
FESTIVALS
Battle: features " Merrie England," a pot-pourri of music and poetry from the twelfth to twentieth centuries, complete with country wines; July 16-25. Haslemere: devoted to early music, and under the Dolmetsch aegis, reaches C.P.E. Bach and Vivaldi by way of such lightly-trod paths as Clerambault, Graun, Legrenzi and Boismortier; July 16-24. King's Lynn: opens with Lord Eccles and closes with fireworks, and in between come the Halle, Julian Bream, duets by Gerald Moore and Ruth Fermoy, and a concert by the ECO that includes three new works (by Lennox Berkeley, Elizabeth Maconchy and Nicholas Maw), plus an exhibition of Pre-Raphaelites from private collections, drama and films; July 23-31. Nottingham: as well as the drama premieres at the Playhouse, and the Arts Council's inflatable sculpture show, Blow Up '71, there's a mixed and distinguished bag of musicians including Daniel Barenboim, Jacqueline de Pre, and Kempe conducting the RPO; until July 25.
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