16 JANUARY 1999, page 40

Theatre 1

Perfect Days (Hampstead) The Memory of Water (Vaudeville) Merchant of Venice; The Tempest (Barbican) Mothers from hell Sheridan Morley I f 1999 carries on the way it has......

Theatre 2

The Winter's Tale (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford) Crucial timing Patrick Carnegy N o play better bears out Dr Johnson's view that Shakespeare's 'tragedy seems to be his......