THEATRE: CURTAIN CALLS

Marketing and publicity is all well and good, but as anyone in the business will tell you, the secret of success is word of mouth. People raving about a show is the best advert you could get and ever since he photographed this week's production of The Oresteia, at the Barbican (0171- 638 8891) 12-17 Oct, the Independent photographer has been all but foaming at the mouth about how good it is. No suprise there: it's directed by Silviu Purcarete, whose previous productions, Les Danaides and Titus Andronicus, have ignited and stunned audiences around the country.

Now is the time for all good Londoners to rush to their local venues to catch the cream of the Edinburgh crop. For those of you who have been living in isolation tanks, beat a path to the Almeida (0171-359 4404) for Kathryn Hunter's glorious production of the little-known farce Mr Puntila and His Man Matti (above), starring the pranksters extraordinaire, The Right Size (to Nov).