... Post censorship rubbish SIR, We are sorry to see in your Editorial of May 1, that while congratulating John Neville on his new venture at the Fortune, you are attacking the small laboratory theatres that have emerged in the last two or three years for presenting post-censorship rubbish. I do not suppose anybody would try to defend on artistic grounds everything that has been presented at the ...

... The frustrated artist SIR,-- One has every sympathy for .G-Ai. whose frustrations are shared by many of us, both employees and managements. OA1. seems to have overlooked the fact that the profession is very overcrowded and continues to become more overcrowded every year. May I sugge* that GAL. should be a little more understanding of the management's problems and less hasty in accusing them of ...

... Imaginative Michael H. S. Robinson SIR, How gratifying it was to read the remarks of Miss Wallace erf the Thorndike, about the need for imaginative management and recognizing the important factor that the theatre is people. The new theatres that have emerged in the past few years have shown themselves to be successful albeit budgets still tight, because they have recogni zed that the theatre, ...

... Shaw letters Dan H. Laurence SIR, For the Collected Letters of Bernard Shaw, I should be grateful to your readers for the following: 1. Any Shaw correspondence not already reported to me, whether in libraries, in stitutions, or in private hands; 2. Any information con cerning a turn-of-the-century playwright named St. Aubyn Miller, especially the year of his death. 3. The identity of any ...

... Tom Paine' SIR,-- Your review of The Exploding Dream has a lot to say by way of comparison with Paul Foster's Tom Paine. Die plays and their production may well be al ke, and P.W.B. is entitled to point the derivation of one from the othc\ -but should like to explode the myh that Tom Paine is the mas ...

... The scripts option system Dear Sir, In Writer's View last week, Allan Prior says that the scripts option system for new writers is unique to ATV. Just to set the record straight, Thames drama department has been operating this system since the company started, and indeed ABC also made use of it. The option idea can, of course, only be used on limited occasions, and only applies to untried ...

... Critics' poll SIR 1 really must protest al the fatuous poll which you published claimini; to qualify the influ ences of various drama critics. Apart from the apparently homespun sampling method (a fair proportion of each age group was attempted), nobody seems to have realised that what they were really polling was the newspaper reading habits of theatregoers. What else can account for the ...

... Why people laugh SIR, For my final report about people called Life's Funny, I am arranging a combined work which will include data about nicknames and how they were acquired, plus comments on the reason why people laugh, with illustrations. To assist me in my researches, I would appreciate any material on these themes which readers of thf. stage may care to send me. Yours faithfully. Armand ...

... Equity replies on new members SIR,--Comment in your columns on Equity's statements about the pressure of new members on an already overcrowded profession only confirms what we have been saying The state of ignorance about the conditions and extent of dramatic training in this country is appalling. If I were fully to reply to the issues raised in your Leader and the letters from Raphael Jago ...

... Cotries Sir, Instead of busying themselves trying to exclude new talent from the acting pro fession, I suggest that the Equity moguls would be better employed in breaking up the coteries that surround so many radio and television producers, who find their sympathisers al most continuous work. C. J. KITSON 19 Manor Road, Rochester, Kent. ...

... ANOUILH'S JOAN WRITING thirty years after Shaw wrote St. Joan, Jean Anouilh appears easily familiar with the subject and his treatment of Joan's trial in The Lark, very will presented in Christopher Fry's translation at Vanbrugh Theatre by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art last week, offers interesting points of comparison. His more modern approach showed well in Brian Shelton's ...

... Credits for Z Cars Dear Sir, In view of the number of times I am asked about the creation of the original Z Cars, let me put the record straight once and for all! Of the first ten scripts written for the series, 1 wrote five, Troy Kennedy Martin wrote four, and Robert Barr wrote one. Troy owns the copy right. David Rose was producer, Robert Barr was executive pro-**, ducer, and Elwyn Jones ...