witty by the occasionsw hen the play- connection with his work: it DAVID HARE's painful, wright puts it on hold and listens does, however, bear out the and moving new play The to file pretty patterns he makes ancient principle that successful Secret Rapture (NT, Lyttelton) which place sound before sense. jazz is written not for instru- is a morality of modern behav- Passion in public 'Why is the sun bleedin'?' 'In a ments but for players . iour in which the people who f ace way, we all died.' McGuinness "Mt The three-part suite by the have all the answers , buy can do better than that. He does tnRudue Kid. Wshicheveir it cis, I out and destroy the people who JOHN PEEL at the West Indian composer Herman so elsewhere in the Dublin The- hope the oaf ish name will not Wilson did not work on thought there were no questions atre Festival, in a marvellously discourage readers from seeing Wednesday night at the Queen to ask. The elements are tradi- good version of 'Peer Gynt' at Mean Fiddler this extraordinary band. Elizabeth Hall because it had tional but neglected: a represen- the Gate (to which I shall return was suppor ted by clearly not been conceived with tative of earthly government , an artis t of , next week) and be does so in FOR OVER a year now I have New York's Band of Susans, this band in mind: they were so , an artisan, a man God *P.nrtha gminn«' with a plain Ut- had to endure the horr id busy concentrating on being a witch. Hare also brings off a fron ted by a male, Rober t of any of the dead 13, their ages, taun ts of acquaintances who Poss, and with but one of orchestral musicians that they portrait absolute goodness on and the banaDy named streets did not, as I did, miss the f inal three original Susans remain- had no time to be themselves. stage, while a conf lict between from which they came (Garden tour of 's f ormer ing. I suspect the Band of On the other hand, the two sisters transforms a fatal attrac- Place, Westway, Central Drive) band , . 'Rewed-u p pieces written by Harry Beckett , tion into a crime passiomel, rare of Susans would agree that they En lish and with at least two the youths on a thrill rampage ,' did not really hit their stride who plays trumpet in the band , in any g play. watchers f o r the dead: Paul, a they said. until two or three songs f rom came off beautifully. The best Marion (Penelope Wilton), ferocious ex-teacher building a t 's reputa- the end of their set. With three moment of the night came in his Junior Minister for the Environ- pyramid out of garbage (Des Since hen Albini ', tion has grown so much that I guitars establishing an unre- piece 'Something Like That ment, and her fatuous evangelist McAker) and Maeh, a bereaved with Orphey Robinson's vibra- husband Tom (Paul Shelley) mother (Rosaleen Lutetian). can only suppose that the lenting, even oppressive back- phone solo. The rhythm sud- modest crowd at the Mean meet Marion's sister Isobel (JiU ' drop for largely inaudible denly perked up in response to Baker) at the deathbed of then- Am I mad?' Paul asks Maela Fiddler in Harlesden on vocals, the Susans were poorly his flowing lines, and f or a f e w f a brightly. 'You're definitely not ther. Robert was a country t ,' replies Miss Thursday to see his new band served by sound engineers who minutes the whole perf ormance ' bookseller of such liberal other- well aU he time in part at least, T iiwhan gravely, with the dark can, be should have cranked up the became airborne. worldlines s that he took a brittle explained by the American's volume and put some of the In their present form, the Jazz voice of a droll sybil and the alcoholic drop-out half his age to sanity of Breughel's miserable choice of name for bite they later found for Steve Warriors are much improved. be his second wife. When Kath- grim-jawed the trio: Rapeman. Albini Albini into the gukar noise. Even their biggest f an would not erine (Clare Higgins) maliciously spectre stridin g the religious approaches his work with a At the same venue the pre- describe them as masters of wars, Dulle Griet. Miss Linehan announces after the funeral that ' liveliness that would send Carl vious night, I saw Boston's ensemble accuracy, but they s small stu- is a one-off, and I can t wait to she is joining Isobel' gain. Lewis into torments of circum- The Pixies. They provided a have a spirit and mutual under- dio, Marion , the Tory advocate see her a locution; he also seems to have third strand of contemporary standing that is far more impor- of individual initiative, f orcest he Kathy Stracban designs Jon a lively sense of humour. American music: articulate, tant than the odd dropped stitch. gentle Isobel to accept by declar- Pope's studio production of The ' ' tour continues Richard III (Citizens', Glasgow) 'We 're the Sweet Smellin' frus trated and complex, and around England and Wales until 23 ing that resistance would be self- Daff odils ,' he announced. 'And much more to do with the real October. ish. Arguments are stood on Paul Alder and James Durrell in 'Lorca's surrealist experiment in homoerotic theatre *. so that we are seated under the 's a track f rom our LP, world than the apparently end- their head throughout and Iso- crossing of a great English medi- here eval church , with a gothk clere- 'Two Nuns and A Packmule.' less strain of sentimental drivel bel, too good f or this world, is among others, they f ind a chatty about a mythic past that seems marked out for destruction. floor and great tree — provide a story round the four walls of the With that he lashed the band stark, reductive setting f or these and delightful Juliet who is not stage tower above and beyond into 45 minutes of the most to bedevil an America deter- JON SAVAGE She loves Irwin (Mick Ford), English lives rather than the interested in discussing theories mined to avoid coming to an artist in the studio, and Irwin the lighting-rig a gilded angel exciting music I have heard. !KEITH RICHARDS: 'Talk Is clutter they sometimes suggest: Hare, McGuinness, of love or the theatre at all, but terms with the present The adores her. When Tom and hovering in the air. In the clere- With a drummer and a bassist Cheap' (Virgin V 2554) the perf ormances within them simply wants to be in love. story stand draped stone f igures drafted from the Texan band Pixies were unhappy with RICHARDS' first solo album Is a Marion beef up her small busi- are very precisely balanced , led When the director returns to his success: eleven songs In various ness with much-needed capital , Lorca, Shakespeare in various states of ruin and dis- giving him thun- their perf ormance , but I was by Baker, all resignation , sim- off ice he meets his match in a hugely impressed. 'Ou tstand- roots styles — R&B, , turning it into a company with a humming rna girian repair. Among these figures, derous support, Albini's per- rock—given coherence by the plicity and stillness as the Sinister, invisible to a quarter of the audi- ing,' bellowed a Scot standing ! board , they first buy Irwin's MICHAEL RATCLIFFE (Roddy Maude-Roxby) and the formance — words flung at the relaxed swing of the band/The woman whose feeUngs are ence, Richard (Garan Hinds) microphone as his head hurtles in front of me. 'Outstanding ' is pleasure Is in the playing, but acceptance, an act of betrayal play draws to an incisive, icy, defined for her by others, and by Lorca obscures the worship of poses mockingly for his planned past it, guitar playing fired by not an easy word to bellow, suspicions of slightness are Isobel never forgives. Wilton as the Thatcherite sister close. Worth catching. confirmed by the strength of his Pan with a cool and argumenta- acceptance of die crown. The his apparen t determination to but he was right. Both sisters give themselves who knows she is better brief ed There's a far perkier queen in kiss-off to Mick Jagger . 'You away in transparent disingenu- tive intellectualism worthy of clothes are f a m i l i a rt:he new make the machinery reproduce Don't Move Me'. than her opponents and there- Pirandello, posing questions and Frank McGuinnes's new play Shakespearean heraldry of t if t ousness. 'I t isn't a question of f ore always, but always, in the rflttimginiatia (Peacock, Dub- he noises in his head even i DAVE GELLY on ' says Isobel when paradoxes about the' nature of mud-spattered greatcoats and can't—is so intense that to principles, right. It is the irony of this dis- lin) provoking the soldiers of taking Katherine on, 'I'd just theatre and identity in a her- double-breas ted suits for die greet it with mere applause the Jazz Warriors f r e e b i e s turbing and passionate play that metic . manner ' that gives no Derry in pink suit, blue boots or men: the women trapped in tai- like to be sure we do the right where her own sister is con- in full drag as a mini-skir ted seems f aintly insulting. thing.' Exactly. 'I' ve nothing on answers and requires none. "The lored formal suitings of 30 to 40 BLACK British jazz musicians !THIS week's freeble Is for cerned Marion has never been French tart. The gaudy Dido years ago. With songs announced as those who puzzle over music In my conscience,' says Marion as Public' is not really about physi- take a keen interest in their pre- properly briefed from the start. (David Herlihy) supplies f ood; Hinds looks what he is, a Citi- 'Trouser Minnow' and TV commercials: 10 CDs and 10 Irwin drifts into despair, 'I feel 1 cal passion or pleasure at all. ' decessors. I t was this which records of "The Classic Ultz's production , of The Only once in the entire 95 min- drink and cigarettes on commis- zens actor in short pigtail and 'Coition I gnition Mission nothing. ' But she does, and her sion to six Catholic survivors of (named after what one hopes is prompted the Jazz Warriors, Experience', a double album of . aggressive public composure Public at the Theatre Royal, utes is love between men shown gleaming slicked hair, a hand- the 19-piece band founded by themes of famillar 'ads such as . of Stratf ord East, opens with an to be positive, uncomplicated, Bloody Sunday camped out in some cross between a Sicilian an imaginary plan for astro- saxophonis t Courtney Pine, to Hamlet (Bach' s 'Air on a Q breaks down into the anger one of the cemeteries awaiting nauts to breed in space), string'), go to the first 20 readers exasperation and then the rage explosive drumbea t . and ends spontaneous and full of joy. Not bandit and a Byzantine Christ , dedicate their current tour, on t t of ice age. much promotion going on here. the resurrection of the town's the axe-face pierced with fanatic, Albini' s lyric invention seldom t t s Contemporary. to answer: Which set of concerts of grief as her tantalising, sen- wi h the onse a new. he Ar s Council' end with the'Pomp and t conf irms t p dead. Blessed are the gender- fundamentalist eyes. He sustains strays far from the safety of his Musk Network, to the memory sual and mysterious sister I he im ression made Stratford' s bold and coura- we seem to be hearing, Circums tance March No. V? remains ever beyond her reach. by Lorca's surrealis t experiment geous production moves briskly benders, & lightweight, . clever perfor- under pants. It is impossible to of the late . Postcards to 'The Classic for they dwell cheerfully and in hbmoerotic theatre in its Paris and elegantly from one episode mance on a harsh voice of nar- decide whether he has some Harrio tt came to Britain from . Experience', c/o Marketing Dept.,' When read (Faber, £3.95), the high above the extension of die The Observer, Chelsea Bridge play's resonance seems political production, on which I reported to the next as the narcisstic row , range, but, except for ambition to remind us of the in the 1950s and soon virile imperative into civil war. smiling desecrations and despoliations became.one of this country' House, Queenstown Road, and its tensions absolutely .sharp. earlier in the year: It is a pagan director (Gerard Murphy) takes Stephen MacDonald's s SW8 4NN. , How Lorca would have that boil within us all, or ! In Howard Davie'ss production piece, celebrating the pre-Chris- his former lovers and craven : Buckingham, the rest of the act- most admired jazz figures. Last weak we-gava awayUve approved. ing in die small company of nine whether he just likes rude ' The Warriors ' tribute, con- copies of tha opara 'Nixon In China'to they are more elusive; John tian • universality of all love and public beneath the mask of illu- those who knew Mao Tse-Tung was the coexistence of the earthly sion into what he calls 'The the- The play is flawed by its tends * to die monotonous and words — the musical equiva- sisting of some specially written leader when Nixon vIsKed China. Gunter's handsome designs— lent of Viz Comics' splendid pieces, has little musical oak panelling, office walls, bare and the sublime. atre beneath the sand* where, unfocused comic interludes and coarse. A guilty occupation TO APPRECIATE the immense ground from which Jean came, emotional gulf between the Brit- pt^famui !dwiiiidisHMiii ^M the destination to which he was ish and the Continental experi- being sent, and the historical dr- ence of World War II you only?^/ and! curastantes that madej&u&M' have to compare two recast?jtlju Revoir Les Enfants' •^^jr^j^^.- . . autobiographical ' films by direcs f tors now in their mid-50s— teWfronsMpi however, contains 'Au Revoir Les Enfante*iaot John Boorman's 'Hope and hints of Alain Fournier's 'Le get along with the Krauts,' one only the best movie on the sub- Glory ' and Louis Malle's Au Grand Meaulnes'. says; 'Better Krauts than Jews or j t of ' ec the Occupation since Revoir Les Enfants (Curzon- When a new boy called Jean Reds, says another. Malle's own 'Lacpmbe Luden': Mayf air, PG). Bonnet is introduced into a class The occupying power appar- it is also one of the best pictures Boorman looks back truthf ully of 12-year-olds, he is made the ently represents little threat to ever made about childhood , and and with guiltless affection to a object of practical jokes and bul- the schoolboys. A young German the f inest French f i l mf o rs everal time when British communities lying despite a special request soldier asks one of the teachers years. The performances that were united by the Blitz and from the priests that he be to hear his confession. Lost in Malle has drawn from Gaspard shared hardshi p, when no one treated with kindness. Initially the forest on a boy-scout expedi- Manesse and Raphael Fejto as got up to anything more wicked the brightest lad in the class, tion, Jean and Julien are brought Julien and Jean are not to be than a little dabbling in the black Julien Quentin, joins in, to safely home by a German patrol. faulted. marke t and adultery with glam- ingratiate himself with his fel- When a pair of vicious, anti- lows and because he recognises You can get too much of a orous allied servicemen, and Semitic French militiamen good thing, and at 126£ minutes when children willed friendly in the clever, scholarly Jean an demand to see identity cards in a academic rival. Martin Brest's highly entertain- bombs to f all on their schools. smart restaurant (one of the ing comedy-thriller Midni ght There is much that is universally But gradually the two become most brilliantly orchestrated Run (Empire , 15) is about 20 human in Boorman's nostalgic friends, sharing art interest in sequences in the film), a minutes too long. This combina- drunken German officer orders f i l m, but there is also a general music (in a lovely scene the pair tion of the Odd Couple film them to leave, largely to impress , the absence of 'Le Chagrin et la play a boogie-woogie piano duet) buddy movie, and the prisoner- Pi tie'. He did not have , to pon- and literature. And Julien dis- the middle-class French diners. and-escor t picture , brings der exemplary careers ranging covers that this anxious outsider, Eventually, of course, the together two gifted comic per- from the craven collaboration of posing as a protestant, is in f act Gestapo come, tipped off by an of formers—Charles Grodin, a Pierre Laval to the courageous Jean Kippelstein, one three informer. But even here the dead-pan, put-on artis t behind resistance of Jean Moulin, that Jewish boys being hidden by the most violent act by their leader whose fleshy, placid exterior Euro peans and Scandinavians fathers —though precisely what is to snatch offensive allied flags there lurks a cheerful insincerity , must confront when reviewing a Jew is he cannot understand. from a war-map on the class- and the Method act t the war years. or Rober De For much of the way; Malle room wall, and he gives the Niro, whose bony, tortured , Malle 's subtly detailed movie appears merely to be creating a assembled boys a lecture on Ger- endlessly expressive face; covets takes place in occupied France vivid portrait of an enclosed man discipline. The ending is a desperate sincerity. Grodin is durin g January 1944, less than community, its essential auster- quiet, understated and shatter- noted for his disda inful sneer, six months before D-Day, at a ity simply intensified by war ing. Denying us the easy comfort De Niro for his disarming f of of smile. school or the sons wealthy conditions. The occupation is tears, Malle makes us share a ' De Niro plays an ex-co Catholics outside Fontainebleau. resented certainly, and this is p , memory that has haunted him driven ' off the Chicag o police You can afford to do all kinds of The crowded dormitories, poor expressed through a superior f or over 40 years, a memory that force by a mobster who f o had cor- od, freezing classrooms and distaste for the Boche. Yet must have become intensif ied rupted all his colleagues. Now a stern discipline suggest the unthinkin gl schoolboys can y over the years, as Julien increas- bounty hunter, he pur sues an things With a Studen t Coach Card. ' world of Dickens. The central echo their parents prejudices ingly understands the back- idealistic accountan t, played by Grodin, who has stolen $15 mil- lion from this same hoodlum , given most of it to the poor, (It gets you 33% off National Express jumped bail in Los _ -vk !!BHMBllMiaaBlMBBBMMBBMBaSMai ^BlMMBMmBiBM»JSBMB ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ HMM |H^^^^^^^ H|^^Bi^^ |||^^^^^ %a^

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