... TOYS IN THE ATTIC SIR--It would seem that the London theatre critics have universally damned Lillian Hellman's Toys in the Attic at the Piccadilly Theatre. The reasons for toris would appear to be: because the production does not compare favourably with the one in New York that uhc Engltsti cast did not attempt Southern-American accents; that the play has been mis- produced over here; that ...

... SIR. Miss Valerie Lush is mis taken in her comments on Bridie's John Knox, in the stage of November 3. John Knox was printed early in 1949, two years before Bridie's death. 1 know of nothing to suggest that he was not satisfied with the play and he wrote in quite other terms to Mr. John Laurie about it. The letter is quoted in Mrs. Ban nister's book James Bridie and his Theatre. The ...

... MICHAEL MILES MAY NOT QUIT Sir, In 'Television Today (Octo ber 27) under the heading Michael Miles To Quit it was stated: (a) that Michael Miles is to retire from show business and (b) that Take Your Pick is to end in eight- teen months time. Mr. Miles asks me to point Jut that New Zealanders never quit anyway and that neither sf the statements is necessarily true. The reports of hi ...

... SIR. I am interested to know that so many prominent people think (here should be a National Theatre in this country, but I won. der why it is regarded as so impor tant. when there are so many excellent West End theatres, as well as the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre with its branch at the Aldwych. and also the Old Vic and the Royal Opera House. I think it would be a very good thing if our ...

... A GROUSE ^R, Your correspondent Ver- non Laxton may have some thing to grouse about, but how about this case? Six years ago I submitted a script in response to an advertise ment in your journal. It was ac cepted. Before submission three weeks were essential to rewrite the play up to literary standards. In that time I was three weeks in arrear for rent and had to work in the bitter cold, it ...

... HENRIETTA'S GRANDFATHER SIR-- May 1 add to the very interesting article by Frances Col- Irngjwood about Henrietta Hodson? She was the grand-daughter of George Alfred Hocteon who owned the Duke's Arms in that part of Weflmiirster la-ter assigned to the Borough of L.nnbeth. In my Story of ihe Bower Saloon, a ptaythou&e attached to that tavern, I mention his going from Hie Yorkshire Stingo in ...

... QIR. All kinds of excuses are *3 being advanced for the decline of interest in repertory. Television, wet nights, lack of money, an un exciting bill of fare. these and many more. Might I suggest that repertory actors, in their attitude to Press publicity, are as much to blame as anyone. Invariably, they look down their noses at the type of gossip paragraph used in most news papers, and think ...

... EDWARD DUNSTAN OIR,-- The letter from Mr. Jos. Coulnhard for information about Edward Dunstaa has only just come to my notice. I am only sorry he is no longer alrve, for Mr. Coulthard's kind tri bute to his work would have pleased him greatly. He died two years ago at Bognor, where for some years he had lived in retire ment. He gave up his Shakespear ean company before the war, owing to ...

... SIR, It is nearly Christmas once again, and not for the first time, I plead for the preservation of tradition in our pantomimes and especially for the retention of the glamorous lady in tights as prinoipal boy. Every time she has been re placed by a pop singer or comedian, the result has been a lessening in the old, familiar magic and the destruction of that curious air of unreality which is ...

... NEW WRITERS --WHY NOT FROM RADIO? Sir, ATV. as related In your November 17 issue, plan to find new TV dramatists in MOST of the likely sources, but they make one important omission Sound Radio. BBC still puts on between 350 and 450 plays a year well over six every week. Many of these are adapta tions, many others are written by authors already familiar to TV. But a large number are the work of ...

... SIR,-- May I protest against the unfairness of E.C.M.'s hand ling of Hence in Solitude in his review of the Sunday Ballet Club. E.C.M. girds against the use of Chopin for a work concocted out of a mixture of modern and classi cal steps etc. The greatest teacher of Aesthetics of our day, the poet Ezra Pound, has always insisted that the test of any masterpiece is its suitability for re ...

... 'TOYS IN THE ATTIC' SIR,-- The extraordinarily lenient criticism by Mr. R. B. Marriott of the production and acting in Toys in the Attic' and the even more extraordinary letter from Messrs. Miradin and Paramor in your last issue surely cannot be allowed to pass without comment. I saw the London production on its second night. Friday, November 11; I had read none of the press notices at that ...