Gone With the Wind

It was always going to be a tall order translating Margaret Mitchell's epic 1936 Civil War novel to the stage, and doing so in this London production ultimately proves too much for director Trevor Nunn, despite his previous sterling distillations of Les Misérables and Nicholas Nickleby. Musical neophyte Margaret Martin, a Californian doctor in public health, has written the over-long book, plodding lyrics, and tepid score, but it needs a show doctor to fix it; Nunn leaves in lots of detail but gives no shape to Scarlett O'Hara's 12-year-odyssey of love and war. Jill Paice's Scarlett is hobbled by the rapid pace from establishing a sense of character and there's little chemistry between her and Darius Danesh's wooden Rhett Butler. Even the burning of Atlanta barely ignites in a show that's as lame as it is long. (Tickets: 011-44-870-890-0141) F