THEATRE REVIEWS

Running the Silk Road

Palace Theatre, Watford

Running the Silk Road mixes a contemporary story with tales from Chinese mythology, and peoples it with a handful of humans who encounter gods, floods and a plague of locusts. Yellow Earth Theatre bites off more than it or we can really chew, but since the play is delivered with such a touching sincerity, it would be mean-spirited not to admire the vision of its creators and performers. Ends tonight; Barbican, London EC2, Tue to 28 Jun Lynne Walker

Romeo and Juliet

Open Air Theatre, London NW1

Timothy Sheader is a gifted director whose work I have enjoyed in the past, but his first production as the artistic director of the Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park is a strained effort that puts music, dance, and design first, Shakespeare last. Not a single player in the colourless cast speaks with purity, passion, or panache. The meat of the play - love, fate, death - is constantly at odds with Sheader's frilly packaging. To 2 Aug Rhoda Koenig

The Six Wives of Timothy Leary

Riverside Studios, London W6

To date, Hollywood scriptwriters seem to have been defeated by the life of Timothy Leary, the acid guru who preached the spiritual benefits of LSD and coined the phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out". However, Philip de Gouveia's wittily accomplished first play achieves a satisfying balance between sceptical comedy and bruised wonder. The diverting production will visit this year's Edinburgh Fringe: drop by, turn on, stay tuned. Ends Thur Paul Taylor

Dickens Unplugged

Comedy Theatre, London W1

Adam Long, one of the founder members of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, returns to the West End with another spoof reduction, this time aiming to do for Dickens what his biggest hit did for Shakespeare. The trouble is that the material is thin and repetitive, a fact that the winning, spirited performances can't disguise. Making no bid for against-the-clock completeness, it rarely rises to the inspired silliness. The form seems to have run out of puff. To 29 Jun PT

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