THEATRE: CURTAIN CALLS

I recently heard tell of a shop in Oxford that sold camping equipment. To avoid confusion I should point out that I refer to canvas and cagoules rather than the complete works of Judy Garland (though maybe Boy Scouts fit both categories). Business was understandably seasonal, so to couterbalance falling sales in the cold months, our intrepid vendor was given to emblazoning a large sign in his window with the legend: NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR DISCOUNT TENTS.

There have been enough productions of Richard III recently to give you the hump, but this Autumn we're going Egyptian. Yes, it's shaping up as the year of Antony and Cleopatra. As I related last week, Alan Rickman has replaced the injured Alan Bates at the National Theatre, but there's now Michael Bogdanov's English Shakespeare Company production to contend with. Starring Tim Woodward and Cathy Tyson it is already playing at Bath Theatre Royal and tours to the Salisbury Playhouse (8 Sep - 3 Oct) in tandem with the same company doing As You Like It. In the latter Woodward plays Jacques and Tyson plays Audrey. Londonders can catch both productions at the Hackney Empire 13 - 24 Oct (0181-985 2424).

Perhaps someone will one day revive the Fifties musical version of the Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra entitled Her First Roman and include the number "I Fell In With Evil Companions". But then again, perhaps not.