Theatre: Quartet

The new season at Bingley Little Theatre got off to a flying start on Monday with Ronald Harwood's comedy.

His writing is a gem, with laughs in almost every line, but director Jay Robinson and a four-strong cast captured the characters' lines perfectly.

Tony Cross as the quiet, sedate Reginald, made the audience jump with his sudden outbursts so typical of a resident in an old folks home.

June Driver was suitably haughty as the faded star Jean Horton.

Freda Denbigh was delightful as the dotty Cecily, but for me Stuart Farrell was the star of the show as the apparently randy old goat Wilfred. But then he did get the best of the comic lines!

The closing scene of the four performing the operatic quartet of their youth was wonderful.

As usual the set was well produced, particularly in the opening scene where the clever use of a door and window frame showed the audience both indoors and outdoors at the same time. All credit to set foreman Graham Walker and his building team.

*Bingley Arts Centre, tonight/tomorrow, 7.30pm.

Sylvia Thompson

ALBUMS: Avril Lavigne - Let Go

Following on from 20-year-old Ben Kweller, we now have 17-year-old Avril Lavigne. Going for a skater chick/ Alanis Morrisette hybrid, Avril has pursued 'the dream' from an early age.

She was talent spotted in New York and has quite the corporate machine behind her. So basically she's being pointed in the right direction - musically and lyrically. The music is inoffensive enough - Pink comes to mind on the soon to be released single 'Complicated'.

Bubblegum punk rock is prevalent on the irritatingly titled 'Sk8er Boi' , a song about a punk and a ballet girl. She rejects him because of the way he looks and how he spends his time - he has the last laugh and becomes famous! Strange to think that the nu-metal listening, black wearing, corporate consuming American teen is now the mainstream and there seems little point in rebelling.

Good luck to Avril in the future, there's a lot to admire her for, but drop the Skater chick stuff as it's not fooling anyone. Get yourself a nice dress and an acoustic guitar. We've all had enough of clothes that are three sizes too big and trousers dragging on the ground.

Antony Silson

DVD: Saint Etienne - Smash the System

Despite this compilation only telling part of the Saint Etienne story, featuring the videos while they resided on Heavenly Records, this is still a glorious trip through some of pop's finest moments.

From the ageless innovative early singles of "Kiss and make up" and "Only love can break your heart", to their last sessions for the label in late 97, "Sylvie" and "The Bad Photographer", it's a journey through kitchen sink chronicles, cat walk glamour and urban street life.

Famous directors such as Hiro Nakano and Paul Kelly have all had a hand in bringing the visual magic to Saint Etienne. As well as this, the DVD contains step-by-step commentary from the band and 17 extra audio songs taken from the many albums and projects they've been involved with over the last 12 years.

There's a cool retrospective charm to these songs, and even though the sentiments and visual ideas can be a little naive it's a sure example of what British pop music is capable of.

James Heward