TV review

Ancient Egyptians: The Twins (C4)

TWENTY years ago, it was announced the virus that was the probable cause of Aids had been identified. A cure seemed just around the corner. It was stated publicly that a vaccine would be ready for testing in two years.

Ten million people have died of Aids since then. The facts and figures make gloomy reading. Every day, 15,000 people get infected with HIV and 8,000 die of Aids. To bring it to a more personal level, a young man in Botswana has an 80 per cent chance of getting Aids in his lifetime.

Despite the best efforts of doctors and scientists, an end to the deadly disease appears no nearer, with between 42 and 45 million people in the world with Aids or HIV.

The sense of frustration was all too evident and understandable in the Horizon documentary charting the efforts of six scientists to find a vaccine. It seemed so simple when they set out on their mission. They'd done it with smallpox, polio and other illnesses, so the idea of failure wasn't contemplated. Now they admit that there's little chance of success until they find out more about how the virus works.

If they can't prevent infection, how can they prevent disease?, they reason. As the HIV virus replicates and mutates so fast - as much as ten billion times in one person in one day - the importance of stopping it spreading was underlined.

A succession of doctors and professors tried to explain what they were trying to do with the aid of graphics and drawings, but there was little offered in the way of hope.

Back in the Ancient Egyptians, a history series that's more lavish and intelligent than many, it was the usual tale of betrayal, greed and murder. With a gory depiction of how to embalm a bull thrown in for good measure.

The Twins told the story of Tages and Taous. After their mother abandoned them and their father was murdered, the girls were plucked from poverty to be virgin priestesses. Not quite the same as being top of the charts, but not a bad living for a couple of young women.

As well as filling us in on ancient Egyptian history, the story provided a couple of spells for getting rid of unwanted husbands.

The instructions are simple enough. Take a mouse and drown it in some water, then make the man drink it. It will make him blind in both eyes.

Or, grind up the mouse's body with food and make him eat it. He will swell up and die.

But, please don't try them at home.

Cymbeline, Newcastle Theatre Royal

KIDNAPPED children, a girl disguised as a boy and a draught of poison that isn't all it seems. It just has to be Shakespeare.

Cymbeline is rarely performed but on the strength of the RSC's latest production, I find myself asking why.

The plot is outlandish, even ludicrous towards the end, but director Dominic Cook handles it with such aplomb it works brilliantly. Even when Jove descends from the ceiling, a deus ex machina with enormous feathered wings, the audience never questions it.

Set in Roman Britain, the play tells three interwoven stories. Cymbeline, an ageing king driven on by his ambitious wife, opposes Roman rule; his two sons, kidnapped as children, are raised in the wild, while their sister is parted from her husband, first through his banishment and then the lies of a villain.

The performances are all excellent. It's difficult to single anyone out but special mention must go to Emma Fielding as the wronged heroine Imogen and Paul Chahidi as the doltish, petulant Cloten. Anton Lesser, superb as usual, is a charismatic villain.

The production looks stunning, too. The Britons, dressed in waistcoats and hats trimmed with fur and feathers, are like a group of colourful, badly dressed Morris dancers. The theatre vibrates with energy as they smear mud all over themselves and perform a haka before going into battle.

The actors are clearly enjoying themselves and the audience does too. Cymbeline is a triumph.

Christen Pears

* Runs until Saturday. Box office 0870 905 5060