... BRYAN BAILEY MEMORIAL C'R. In Marx* of this year Bryan kJ Bailey, the director of the Bel grade. Coventry, was killed on the M.I. He was on his way to the Ro MJ. He was or* has way to Che RoyaJ Stratford, E., for his production of Never Had It So Good. At the same time the third ptay of Arnold Wesker's trilogy was in rehearsal at Coventry. Bryan Bailey died at the age of 38. just as he was ...

... CHILDREN'S THEATRE SIR,--As professional children's theatre representative in the British Children's Theatre Association. I wholeheartedly applaud the publicity you have given in the stage to the plight of the touring children's theatre in this country. However, H is felt by the majority of the professional children's theatres in the BCTA that CORT, whose real qualification lies in adult ...

... PANTOMIME SIR. I was glad to see a letter on pantomimes. I heartily endorse all that your correspondent has written and I suggest that the Harlequinade should be restored as this essentially puts real panto magic into the shows. Certainly the old traditions should be preserved and pop singers and radio comedians should not be starred in pantos. They dart from microphone to microphone and do ...

... LUNCH-TIME SHOWS SIR,-- Your recent editorial sug gesting lunch-time performances of ballet, revue and operatic ex cerpts in London theatres, seemed such a welcome idea that I am amazed at the apparent lack of response. The prospect of watching a mid day live show in miniature, perhaps once a week, is a pleasurcable one, and I sincerely hope that some enterprising management will think ...

... SWEET NOISES SIR, Now that the Christmas season is upon us our old friends the sweet-paper rustlers seem to be back in full force, vieing for supremacy of status with the stumbling and noisily-apologetic late-comers. Suddenly to hear that disturbing crackle as the chocolate-box wrap ping is removed, followed by the agonisingly-long wait while the paper is so cautiously and so audibly unwound, ...

... 'Terrible Lack of Opportunities' SIR.--One of the must distressing aspects of the modern theatre is the terrible lack of opportunities for young professionals. In an era in which the accent is decidedly upon the young and in which we ate so preoccupied with the idylls of youth theatres and drama scnooTs, the number of young players given early prominence is .amazingly small. I have had ...

... SIR, You have been most sym pathetic in publishing tenets and facts atxnx (he shaky position of the Repertory Players. However. I think rtKK sympathy is not enouph ;ind iruw the profession as a whole atvould siart a Fighting Fund in order to tide them over urrtil they get .1 successful transfer. I would like to stale tfuM I have been in the business since 1957 and that 1 have never worked for ...

... SIR,--May I thank Stephen Joseph for his friendly reference in THE STAGE to our Arena Theatre work. But perhaps he is being a bit pedantic; if it comes to precise definition, his theatre is nearly always theatre-in-the-square, and in fairness to Chichester their own publicity talks of an Arena Theatre. 1 ...

... CIR. As a regular visitor to the Shakesipcarc Memorial Theatre at Stratford-on-Avon, 1 was delighted to welcome the company to their new home at the Aldwych in their imaginative production of The Duchess of Malfi. It was. in deed, value for the money, which is more than I can say for the pro gramme. For the price of one shilling, I was given a sixteen-page publica tion, which provided no ...

... THEATRE IN THE ROUND CIR. Mr. Shorter is quite right to pick me upon the vagueness of my description of theatre in the round. I think this term is applied to centrol staging because the audi ence is arranged all round the act ing area. It is this surrounding pattern, and not the shape of the acting area, that justifies the term. But, let us be honest, terminology is bound to remain confused ...

... REPERTORY PLAYERS CIR, I agree with you that an effort should be made to enable the Repertory Players to carry on. It is a valuable service. I daresay that on occasion they have turned down plays that have been successful elsewhere; but there cannot be too many try-out theatres and I am sure the management of the Repertory Players has been very competent. Yours faithfully, Peter F. Somerville. ...

... 'HENCE IN SOLITUDE' SIR. May I join issue with your reader Mr. Neamc and endorse the opinion of your critic E.C.M. whose notice of Hence in Solitude seemed to mc remarkably mild? Ignoring the invocation of Ezra Pound, it is hard to understand how any true music-lover would have sat wjth fortitude through this unfortunate venture, especially after the insensitive mishandling of the E minor ...