Birmingham's Crescent Theatre is heading for trauma in triplicate, courtesy of Birmingham School of Acting. Three plays - two of them called "disturbing" and one "horrific" in the school's flyer for its season - will be presented in the space of a week. Starting in tandem on Feb 16 are The Art of Success by Nick Dear, and Plasticine by Vassily Sigarev. The Art of Success - "surreal yet realistic and disturbing" - is a not-too-accurate look at the life of the satirist William Hogarth. And in fairness, I suspect that it will not be all that difficult to overlook the angst if it lives up to its further billing as a "raw, bawdily outrageous and raucous comedy that crackles with vibrance". Alongside it comes Plasticine -"-impressive, disturbing and macabre" - which looks at a young man's efforts to escape from what is described as an urban hell-hole in Russia. Then, opening on Feb 23, is Butterfly Kiss by Phyllis Nagy. A little light relief in the form of Half a Sixpence starts 24 hours later. Superb though its stable companions will undoubtedly prove to be, it sounds as if it can't come soon enough. Amateur drama groups have an understandable habit of pouncing on anything from Alan Ayckbourn as soon as it comes within reach. So I suspect that quite a few of them will be sending their scouts to Malvern Festival Theatre in three weeks' time to run the rule over his new comedy, Drowning on Dry Land. It is a wry look at the stupidity of celebrity status, now that it is acquired for little better reason than being famous for being famous. It will be presented by Ayckbourn's own home company from the Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, from Feb 22-26. Lichfield Players have decided to present seven performances - more than they had planned - of Happy Families, the comedy by John Godber that will be seen at the Lichfield Garrick in two weeks' time. The play presents a picture of a family battling with bereavement and the generation gap. It will run from Feb 18-28. ..SUPL: | 
