On TV

Bruce Lee: Martial Arts Superstar (five)

IT was the world's most devastating industrial disaster, but how much do you really know about the poisonous gas leak 20 years ago in the Indian city of Bhopal that killed 8,000 and left over 200,000 injured?

I suspect most people's knowledge extends no further than those basic facts already outlined. This documentary was valuable in filling in the gaps of what appeared to have been an accident waiting to happen, by using archive footage, reconstructions and survivors' testimonies to tell the complete story.

The tragedy happened two decades ago but the effects are still being felt. Since then, thousands of people have died of gas-related illnesses. Currently, one person dies every day from the effects of the gas.

Union Carbide, the American corporation that ran the plant, has never accepted responsibility for the disaster. The company did, however, fund a hospital in the Indian city. Some might consider they owe the people of Bhopal rather more.

The US multi-national, which had hundreds of factories in 40 countries, opened the Bhopal plant to produce insecticide, or "medicine for plants" as the Hindi translation put it.

It was made with "liquid dynamite", a chemical called M.I.C., which was fine when cool but not when hot or exposed to water.

Most alarming was the complete lack of emergency procedures for the thousands of Indians living in the shanty towns close to the plant. A medical officer who raised fears about safety measures had her concerns ignored.

The problem was compounded when the company introduced cost-cutting measures to combat poor sales of the insecticide. A third of the workers were fired, production scaled down and safety checks made less frequently.

That night in 1984, four of the key safety systems failed and clouds of poisonous gas were sent over the sleeping city. The result was chaos and panic. Nobody knew whether to shelter indoors or run for their lives. Whole families were wiped out, babies crushed to death and many bodies never identified. Victims of the gas continue to suffer from poor co-ordination, memory loss, paralysis, partial blindness and impaired immune systems.

The programme also revealed that a few months before the Bhopal tragedy, an internal safety report for the American M.I.C. plant warned of just such a calamity.

Like Bhopal, Bruce Lee is a name that people recognise without actually knowing much about him. We know him as the Asian martial arts star who had a international hit with Enter The Dragon but died young.

Bruce Lee: Martial Arts Superstar traced the rise to fame of "the little dragon", who'd made 20 Chinese films before he was 18. It also told, surprisingly, that he was the Hong Kong cha-cha champion of 1958.

He fought against tradition by revealing martial arts secrets to outsiders and changing the face of action movies. The tragedy was that he collapsed and died before the film that would make his name in Hollywood, Enter The Dragon, opened in cinemas.

Mother Goose, Harrogate Theatre

NO egg joke is left uncracked in writer Nicolas Pegg's egg-cellent (sorry, it's catching) pantomime. In fact, there's rather too much of a good thing. The production could - indeed, should - lose 20 minutes or so to take it closer to two rather than three hours. A little trimming here and there would make it easier on the bum and less taxing for actors doing it twice daily.

Already, director Lennox Greaves' production, boasting glittering designs and inventive choreography, has much to commend it. Once musical director Nick Lacey gets the sound balance right so that the actors aren't overwhelmed by the band, the musical content will be just right too.

Not that I'm complaining too loudly. This Mother of all pantos will appeal to all lovers of traditional shows. Mother Goose lacks a strong narrative but Pegg uses the story of the goose that lays golden eggs as the springboard for a series of the set pieces that audiences have come to know and love, whether it's slapstick or singalong.

Tim Stedman, in his fifth Harrogate panto, has perfected the art of being silly. "What I lack in intelligence, I more than make up for in sheer stupidity," says his Muddles. Adam Stafford, making his Harrogate debut as the Dame, soon gains the audience's attention and affection as schoolteacher Mother Goose. The villainous Demon Nightshade is a lot of fun too. As usual, the climactic chase is a marathon session of running and jumping around the entire auditorium.

l Until January 8. Tickets (01423) 502116.

Steve Pratt

The Io Passion, Gala Theatre, Durham

CONTEMPORARY composer Harrison Birtwistle has a notoriously uncompromising approach to his music, which some find impenetrable. So it was all the more encouraging to see the Gala Theatre filled to capacity for a performance of his Io Passion by the Aldeburgh Almeida Opera.

Though characteristically multi-layered, the opera, dealing with the end of an affair, is surprisingly accessible. Packed with symmetries, the libretto by Stephen Plaice takes the audience through a series of circles, with two protagonists portrayed in triplicate by four singers and two actors. The set itself is cleverly divided into quarters, representing the interior and exterior of a house. To add to the surreal effect, singer Claire Booth had a sore throat and had to mime her words, with her part sung brilliantly from the floor by Sarah Leonard.

We know something dark happened on a holiday in Greece and the characters only communicate by letter. The story switches backwards and forwards to ancient Greece, with the narrative interwoven with the rape of Io by Zeus. There is some fearsome copulating on a table; a display drawing inevitable snickers from the younger audience members. The action was supported with superb playing by the Quatuor Diotima, directed by Alan Hacker on bassett clarinet.

There are many open patches left in the fabric, leaving it to individuals to fill in the fractured picture in their own way. A disturbing and yet pleasing spectacle - certainly a musical experience with a difference.

Gavin Engelbrecht