... STRANGE that the only two theatrical enterprises launched in Central London since it became a mighty uncomfortable and dangerous place should have been Shake spearean. And yet, perhaps, not so strange. It was wisely pointed out the other day that times of stress have invariably seen a revival of interest in the classics although I have not the space here to furnish the reasons for this, I am ...

... BUMPED into Reggie Forsythe the other afternoon. Doing anything much I enquired. Not much, he replied. I rehearse with Arthur Young at five-thirty broadcast at seven-thirty do two shows at Hatchett's broadcast again (this time to America) at one- thirty then start my day's work at the Embassy. But I '11 be free about five a.m. Come round, and I '11 play you my latest composition, Serenade to ...

... DAPHNE BARKER came of age last week, and came clean with a party (champagne and everything) at Quag's-- sorry, Le Meurice. It broke up about one, and I prepared for my habitual club-crawl. Do you know, said Dorothy Ward, I ve never been to a bottle-party in my life. Then hold on round the curve, I said, and we sallied forth. But it was not to be. We hadn't reached the corner when the ...

... TO run a revue through 138 editions is pretty heroic going, even in peacetime. Although the majority of these editions of Revudeville at the Windmill have taken place during peace, for the show has been running since the Windmill Theatre opened nine years ago, the last batch has been seen since the fateful September 3, 1939. The present and 138th edition has been produced since London's ...

... Fifth Avenue Girl (Film) THE cleverness of this Miss Ginger Rogers is becoming phenomenal. Neither the world, nor Hollywood, nor even Miss Rogers herself will be any the worse for that. When I met Miss Rogers a few years ago in New York she was a not very well-known little dancer (she belonged to the group they call baby stars) and went under the warmish label of Ginger Pepper. Then a ...

... AND what are you going to do when you grow up? I asked Pat Burke, as I helped her make a sand- castle, many years ago, in Australia. Sing, oi course, she replied, Like my mother and father. Anyone can sing, I said, with all the cynicism of my first long pants. Not like me, she insisted, with the quiet confidence of her seven years. Everyone in London will come to see me, and people will ...

... The Silver Patrol (New Theatre) AFTER a quarter of an hour or so of this spectacular musical show (by Mr. Bruce Sievier, with music by Mr. Pat Thayer), I felt like following the example of the American who looked on a giraffe for the first time and murmured, I don't believe it! I could not believe, that is to say, that all the solemn marching and counter-marching and patriotic singing by ...

... Round the New Shows At the Theatre Margin for Error (Apollo 8.25) MISS CLARE BOOTHE'S latest play is about the Nazis in New York, which it mightily amused. Whether London, where we are rather too near the Nazis to regard them as an unlimited source of fun, will be equally tickled, I rather doubt. Not that the sight of pompous people strutting about a stage, with guttural accents and a swastika ...

... Round the New Shows At the Theatre The Tempest (Old Vic) THE Old Vic made a silly mistake-- from the commercial as well as from every other point of view-- in remaining closed for the first six months or so of the war. For some reason which you may or may not call inscrutable the British public (much more intelligent than most of the folk who cater for them) like Shakespeare as their fare in ...

... THE last time I saw Adelaide Hall was at a terrific ''Jam'' Session in Cambridge, run by a young swing fiend called George Banner. We walked round The Backs later, and became, as one does, rather sentimental. It makes you feel you 'd like to get away from all this night life, said Adelaide, and become an undergraduate. The prospect of Adelaide Hall, in square and gown, climbing the roof of ...

... Round the New Shows At the Theatre Under Twenty-One (Fortune Theatre) POSSIBLY even an amateur revue is better than none at all in these times. Yet, with every wish to encourage a plucky enterprise, etc. (particularly one which is devoting its proceeds to a worthy charity-- a fund to aid the French Forces now in this country), I cannot but confess that I found Under Twenty-One about twenty ...

... Round the New Shows At the Theatre THE number of West End theatres still remaining open is certainly small. But those who are wringing their hands and doing the ''Ichabod'' act need to be reminded that the number is not much smaller than was the case in August and the earlier part of September in normal times, though no one, I imagine, needs to be reminded that the present times are very far ...