March Theatre Preview

The earliest theatre-going opportunity this month is Calcutta Kosher which is set in the Indian-Jewish community. Two women who spent their childhoods in Calcutta return from Britain and experience a clash of East-West and traditional-modern cultures. Kali Theatre Company specialise in producing work from Asian women writers and this play looks interesting. If do you miss that, however, there is plenty more....

The highlight for theatre goers this month will probably be 'Pugilist Specialist' created by the San Francisco-based Riot Group. The four actors play American marines whose job it is to eliminate a Middle Eastern dictator. Sound familiar? That's why they call it 'topical'. They performed this piece at the Edinburgh Fringe last year and won several awards and many rave reviews. They are currently touring Britain but if you blink you'll miss them - they are in Nottingham for one night only.

The Nottingham Arts Theatre is staging an amateur production of Kes. You probably know the story, either from reading the book at school or from the Ken Loach film with the famous scene where Brian Glover plays a childish games teacher. A neglected and bullied boy secretly keeps a pet kestrel who provides him with an escape from his grim life. The swooping flight of the kestrel (quite difficult to do in a theatre I'd have thought) followed by its blindfolded incarceration in a garden shed could probably be worked up into some kind of metaphor if you tried hard.

Meanwhile, the Lace Market Theatre's will be staging Arthur Miller's 'View From The Bridge' which tells of the experience of new immigrants in America and their pursuit of the American dream.Eddie is an Italian dock worker who lives in a poky apartment under Brooklyn Bridge with his wife and niece, Catherine, whom he cherishes. They take in two illegal immigrants intending to hide them until they can qualify for a green card. However, Eddie's jealousy boils over when one of them falls in love with Catherine. This play was banned in this country in 1956 because it contains a homosexual kiss, so prepare to be shocked.

Also, later in the month, the Lace Market's youth theatre group will be staging 'Sweet Bird of Youth' by Tennessee Williams. Chance Wayne wants to be a Hollywood star and reckons the best way to get noticed is through a relationship with an aging, addicted actress but things go awry when he goes back to his home town and meets up with his true love. The end result is more gruesome than Pop Idol or Fame Academy.

You probably know the name Kenneth Alan Taylor as the creator of the annual Playhouse pantomime. So what does he do for the rest of the year? This month he is appearing in two comedies running concurrently at the Lakeside Arts Centre. Alan Bennett's skilful observations of everyday nuances are aired in 'A Visit From Miss Prothero' where a retired office worker is shocked to learn that his carefully crafted paperwork system is to be discarded as computers take over. 'A Different Way Home' is a family comedy focusing on the inability of a brother and sister to communicate. A good chance to see K.A.T. out of drag.

Over in Derby, Noel Coward's witty comedy Private Lives tells of a divorced couple who both remarry and are appalled to find themselves spending their honeymoons in the same hotel. Derby Playhouse productions are consistently excellent and they camp up their comedies to squeeze every laugh out of a script.

Nottingham Playhouse are producing James M. Cain's Double Indemnity which was made into a classic film noir with a screen play by Raymond Chandler (left).

An insurance agent is seduced by a woman who just wants him for two things: a big insurance policy on her husband and a convenient accident death for that husband. A very dark tale that trawls the murky underside of life. This could be a very gripping production and if you are under 26 and go on one of the opening nights, you can see it all for just three quid.

Check out the full Nottingham theatre listings here