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Fiona Mountford's rating
Reader rating
Description: Hollywood's golden era gloriously returns to life, as the famous film costume designer gossips about ambition and glamour.
Trains: Tube: Leicester Square, Embankment 
Phone: 0844847 2475
Website: www.leicestersquaretheatre.com
Ready to talk: Susan Claassen as Edith Head
If you're really keen on the "golden age" of Hollywood and are prepared to swelter in a subterranean studio space, A Conversation with Edith Head will be the one-woman show for you. You'll know that Head was a legendary costume designer who worked on more than 1,100 films and won eight Oscars in a career spanning six decades. You might even be able to forgive the irritating device of audience stooges asking "Ms Head" questions.
It's 1981, just weeks before Head's death, and the grande dame who dressed even grander dames such as Dietrich, Davis and West is in a backward-looking mood.
Susan Claassen potters gamely about, anecdoting harmlessly away with her irritating hand gestures. The script, by Claassen and Paddy Calistro, is cannily arranged and sensibly isn't chronological. Yet the whole project does permanently threaten to run out of steam.
Edith Head, until 31 August (0844 847 2375)
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Coming to the show cold Miss Head charmed me, giving a talk, rather than a lecture, about her life and those she worked with. Her steely determination was revealed, as was her tactic to get on with those that mattered, and during the performance that included the audience. In such a small venue everyone present was a member of the show, as the French say they assisted the performance. In exchanges with her 'assistants', ok, including one stooge and one 'MC', she ran through her experience working on costumes for films including Sunset Boulevard and Dead men don't wear plaid, evoking a time gone by. For those unfamiliar with the films the character in the Incredibles is clearly a pastiche of Miss Head, and her character was enough to engage even the younger members of the audience for the 90 min tour de force.
- Sally Long, London UK
