First Call, Last Call

First Call

IT'S A FAIRLY safe bet that Irish playwright Dion Boucicault is the only bigamist with his portrait in Windsor Castle. The toast of 19th-century theatre, he wrote 200 plays, campaigned for copyright protection while championing both fireproof scenery and matinee performances. Small wonder that Boucicault suggested that his tombstone should read: "His first holiday". His atmospheric work The Colleen Bawn is based on the murder of an Irish girl by a British soldier and is directed by Conall Morrison.

Lyttelton Theatre, Royal National Theatre, South Bank, London SE1 (0171- 452 3000) opens 18 Mar

Last Call

WHO COULD have predicted that four years after sleeping in vans and performing in coffee houses, Jewel (right) would have an album debuting in the US charts ahead of Mariah Carey, Alanis Morissette and Whitney Houston? To accompany this new-found fame, she is also the subject of a $10 million lawsuit as various parties vie for a share of her career interests. Trumpeted as an authentic folk act, dates like this could help break Jewel's musical anonymity in Britain.

Manchester Academy (0161-275 2930) 9 May