On TV

Extraordinary People: The Girl Who Makes Miracles (five)

'Some, some, some, sometimes I fe, fe, feel like if I didn't stam, stam, stammer, I could do anything". Eleven-year-old Joanne was explaining how she felt about her stammer, which isn't easy with such a speech impediment.

And it really is an impediment to living a full and happy life as this first of two programmes demonstrated. Things the rest of us take for granted, like making a telephone call or simply making new friend, are an uphill struggle for those who can't get their words out.

The cause of stammering is unknown. It may be genetic, triggered by an event in the person's life or just bad luck.

Joanne has stammered since she was three and was bullied at school as a result. She's been on a waiting list to see a specialist speech therapist for nearly a year because there's a lack of such experts in her area and she doesn't qualify as a special case.

Speech therapy doesn't necessarily make the stammer vanish but sufferers can learn techniques to control it.

Sixteen-year-old Nathan, who dreams of being an actor, is facing his stammer head on. Against the odds, he won a place on a performing arts course and a speaking role in the end-of-term show. His obvious delight when he managed to get the words out in front of an audience was touching.

Stammerers could always visit the Massacheusetts home of miracle worker Audrey Santo to find help. They'd join thousands of people from all over the world who visit this ordinary suburban home, lured by stories of miracles, of religious statues weeping oil and paintings bleeding real human blood.

Audrey has been in a coma for 19 years since drowning in the swimming pool in the backyard. Now 21, she has enough bodily functions to keep her alive but doesn't respond to external stimuli and her brain is irreversibly damaged.

During a visit to a religious shrine in Croatia, Audrey "received" a message from the Blessed Mother through a visionary. Five years later, a religious image in her room at home began to leak oil.

The Audrey industry was born. By the 1990s, some 10,000 people a year were visiting her. Her mother Linda and devotees founded a ministry, using donations to buy the house next door for their HQ, converting the front room into a gift shop and the garage into a chapel.

The documentary found the oil was nothing but ordinary olive oil. On the other hand, people told of Audrey curing cancer. The parents of a baby given little chance of surviving a spinal condition were given a rare one-to-one audience with Audrey and now swear his condition is improved.

Wars Of The Roses

Quarry Theatre, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds

It began at 10.30am with the funeral of one king and ended 12 hours later with the death of another English monarch.

In between, Northern Broadside's historical trilogy offered a dozen or so battles, clog-dancing, drumming, more royal family squabbles than the Windsors could imagine - and let's not forget the man responsible for the words, William Shakespeare.

Or should that be, Barrie Rutter. For Broadside's artistic director has edited four plays down to three: Henry VI, Edward IV and Richard III.

Scholars can argue over how good a job he's done at moulding the text. The point for audiences is that this epic works both as a dramatic experience and a history lesson. It is clear, concise and simply, but often brilliantly, staged.

The company's insistence on using Northern voices has the effect of making Shakespeare sound, well, not like Shakespeare but more conversational - a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

Only in the final play, Richard III, does the effect begin to wear off. Perhaps it was Shakespeare fatigue towards the end of a long but unmissable day, but there seemed to be an awful lot of sitting around declaiming.

This isn't to criticise Conrad Nelson's Richard III, a marvellously Machiavellian dirty Dick not averse to killing family, friends and children to gain the crown. Andrew Whitehead's peace-loving, cross-clutching Henry and Richard Standing's confident, cocky Edward offer neat contrasts.

There's no better moment than Rutter's spectacular ending to Edward IV as the king takes up his double bass to lead everyone in a musical number, leaving scheming Richard III minding the pram.

It's Shakespeare but not quite as we know it.

The plays can be seen one at a time or all three on Saturdays.

Until April 22. Tickets 0113 213 7700. Then Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, June 1-10 (tickets 01723 370 541) and Newcastle Theatre Royal, June 13-17 (tickets 0870 905 5060).

Steve Pratt

Northern Sinfonia, Sage Gateshead

If laughter is the best medicine then an audience was well and truly cured after an evening of Charlie Chaplin at the Sage Gateshead. In a programme with a difference, the Northern Sinfonia delivered a rich slice of cinematic and musical history when it presented the soundtrack of Chaplin's last silent move, City Lights. The 1931 film, shown on a giant screen, provided ample confirmation of Chaplin's talents. He not only played the star role, but wrote the screen play, directed the film and composed the music. It was a score that dovetailed perfectly with the shenanigans of his creation, The Tramp.

In one of the most hilarious scenes, Chaplin accidentally swallows a penny whistle and gets noisy hiccoughs as a party show-off prepares to launch into song. As for Chaplin's efforts in the boxing ring - the audience was in fits.

Gavin Engelbrecht