The Spectator's Arts Round-up
THEATRE
Opening in London: The Old Boys, William Trevor's adaptation of his novel of the same title about the alumni of a public school, with Michael Redgrave returning to the London stage after a six-year absence, at the Mermaid; Show Boat, a revival of the 1927 musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II (based on the Edna Ferber novel, with Andre Jobin, Cleo Laine and Thomas Carey, at the Adelphi; both on July 29. Closing in London: the National Theatre season at the Old Vic, with The Captain of Kopenick (July 24, 26, 27), The Merchant of Venice (July 28, 29), The Architect and the Emperor (July 30) and A Woman Killed with Kindness (July 31) in repertory, ends on July 31, though the Company continues in residence, with different plays, at the New Theatre; Captain Brassbound's Conversion (Cambridge) and The Chalk Garden (Haymarket) both close on July 31.
Worth seeing: Forget-Me-Not Lane, Peter Nichols's nostalgia-loaded and rueful comedy of a marriage going wrong (Apollo); Kean, with the dashingly flamboyant Alan Badel as the eighteenth-century English actor in Sartre's re-write of a Dumas play (Globe); Vivat! Vivat Regina! with Margaret Tyzack and Judy Parfitt as the rival queens, Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, in Robert Bolt's historical reconstruction (Piccadilly); The Philanthropist, Christopher Hampton's wry comedy about a university don (May Fair); Move Over Mrs Markham, just for fun (Vaudeville); Sleuth, Anthony Shaffer's unconventional murder play (St Martin's). At Stratford-upon-Avon: Special performance of the Theatregoround production of The Hollow Crown (John Barton's entertainment by and about English monarchs), with Tony Church, Lisa Harrow and Emrys James, on Sunday, July 25, only. The present weekday repertory at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre comprises Webster's tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi, and Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice, none of which should arouse too much ire among Shakespearian purists.
CINEMA
Opening next week: a Walt Disney film, Million Dollar Duck; the Rolling Stones in Gimme Shelter; and Barbra Streisand and ves Montand in the musical, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.
Pick of the London runners: Sunday, Bloody Sunday, a triangular affair (man, boy and girl, with, in the fashion of our day, the boy in the middle), starring Glenda Jackson, Peter Finch and Murray Head, screenplay by Penelope Gilliatt, and brilliantly directed by John Schlesinger (Leicester Square Theatre); Claire's Knee, a French film written and directed by Eric Rohmer, with Jean Claude Brialy playing a diplomat involved in flirtatious games on the shores of Lake Geneva and ultimately fixated on a young girl's patella (Curzon); a couple of funny American comedies, Diary of a Mad Housewife (Plaza) and Summer of '42 (Warner West End); and there's a summer repertory season of Buster Keaton comedies at Academy One.
OPERA
In London, Sadler's Wells Opera at the Coliseum has begun a new season lightly with Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate (July 24, 26, 27, 29, 30), but gets down to sterner business next week with The Seraglio (July 28) and The Barber of Seville (July 30). At the Royal Festival Hall, a D'Oyly Carte Season of Gilbert and Sullivan operas opens with The Mikado (July 28-August 4), At Glyndebourne, where the season draws to a close, the repertory features Peter Hall's production of La Calisto, reviewed in this issue (July 24, 26, 28, August 1, 3), Ariadne auf Naxos (July 22, 27, 30) , and Cost Fan Tutte (July 29, 31, August 2).
MUSIC
The last of the season's open-air concerts at Kenwood (this Saturday, July 24) and the first of those in Holland Park (this Sunday, July 25) both feature the Halle under James Loughran, though in different programmes.
Indoors, the Proms will be occupying the Royal Albert Hall for the summer (July 23September 18), and seats are available for all concerts except those on the first and last nights of the seasorf, for which tickets have been allocated by ballot.
ART
Royal Academy: the Summer Exhibition, less cluttered (just over 1,000 pieces) and rather more talented than in recent years, closes this Sunday, July 25.
Tate Gallery: Special Constable exhibition, The Art of Nature, includes his paintings, his letters and even his old palettes, and the Alistair McAlpine Gift exhibition of sculpture is sprawling around for those who can appreciate the young moderns. Queen's Gallery: the seventeenth-century Dutch old masters knew how to mix their colours to survive a facelift 300 years later, and their works — nearly 100 of them -are stunningly displayed.
Hayward Gallery: two new Arts Council exhibitions, Erwin Piscator's theatrical designs and a Bridget Riley retrospective of paintings and drawings. Annely Juda Gallery: worth seeking out (it's in Tottenham Mews, behind Tottenham Court Road) by anyone who wants to be reminded — by such experts as Klee, Miro, Kandinsky and dozens of others — what non-objective art was like in the years between the wars.
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