... A sound start for beginners Sound For Theatres A Basic Manual by Graham Walne A difficult task it must be to try and put into words the 'do's and don'ts' of such a wide-ranging subject. I was glad to see that Graham Walne does not try to tell exactly how the job should be done, but carefully lists all the different methods and equipment needed to reinforce or add to a performance. In this book ...

... Mae West, by Fergus Cashin (W.H. Allen, £6.95) mm: wnai was one oi inc ocai ex amples of the person who begins as a scandal and ends up as an institution. An unsuccessful vaudeville artist, in the business almost since infancy, she made her own brand of sex a highly saleable commodity by exploiting her limited talents and capitalising on her un doubted assets. In addition to her figure, these ...

... Dramatic sociology The Revels History of Drama in English, general editor Lois Potter, volume IV 1613-1660 (Methuen, £25) NOT ONLY plays and players, theatres backstage and in the auditorium and a score more aspects of drama in writing and in action are dealt with in the fourth volume of The Revels History of the Drama. Society and the audience in many forms are related to theatregoing and ...

... The private aura in the public eye AN ORNAMENT of our theatre, Ralph Richardson is also a gem of a personality. Unusual without being eccentric, he commands attention yet has about him an aura of wishing to be private. In the theatre, his art has become wonderfully refined, sure, able to pin-point the smallest of considerations while having great power of over-all persuasion. In this biography ...

... Introduction to musician's work Michael Tippett, by Meirion Bowcn (Robson Books, £7.95) A further volume in the excellent Contemporary Composers series which provides an introduction to the work of a musician of unusual sensitivity. To understand the music, one has to understand the man, and Meirion Bowen, who was Sir Michael's assistant for several years, conveys his extraordinary ...

... Demanding guts Winter Season A Dancer's Jour nal by Tonl Bentley (Jill Norman and Hobhouse, {4.95) To have to stand in fierce and daily competition to try and conquer the im possible is something that dancers face throughout their short working lives. Perhaps our ethereal appearance is achieved not because of our high level of consciousness but because of having none at all it takes guts ...

... A tribute to scholarship The Meininger Theatre 1774-1928, by Steven DeHart (UMI Research Press; Bowker Publishing Company, £27.50) The Meininger Theatre is largely unknown to the average theatre enthusiast and even the serious student might well have to scratch his head before attempting an explanation of its significance. It is therefore a tribute to American scholarship that Steven DeHart ...

... Strong flavour P.S. We Love You the Beatles Story 1962-3, by Tony Barrow (Mirror Books, {1.25) Twenty years after the release of Love Me Do, charting much better than it did on its initial issue, comes the latest in the series of Beatles' memorabilia and nostalgia, with pictures which prove the humble origins of the world's greatest supergroup. Not a long read, and aimed at the fans rather ...

... Superstition and 'Scottish Play' The Curse of Macbeth: with other theatrical superstitions and ghosts, by Richard Haggett (Picton Publishing, £7.95) Kicnara Huggett s diverting miscellany of superstitions connected with the state is a delight. If you have to remember rabbit's feet, teddy bears, old pieces of even older dressing gowns, photographs of one's nearest and dearest, telegrams and ...

... Academic skills applied to entertainment American Popular Stage Music 1860-1880, by Deane L. Root (UMI Research Press, Bowker Publishing r.n f>l IT IS sometimes stated that The Black Crook was the first American musical. The truth is that it could more accurately be described as the first Broadway success, though in 1868 the New York theatre was not concentrated in one area but spread from ...

... The Bard's theatre Shakespeare and His Theatre, by John Russell Brown, illustrated by David Gentleman (Kestrel Books, £5.50) CHARMING ILLUSTRATIONS by David Gentleman, all of them in colour, bring a charming look and flavour to John Russell Brown's story of the Elizabethan Globe, where so much of Shakespeare's work was accomplished. Russell Brown describes many aspects of the Globe: how it ...

... on Record, this book is essential for anybody collecting big band records, listing as it does currently available albums (which are mainly, of course, compilations) and those issued in recent years which might be obtainable from specialist dealers. But it is more than that. In effect, it is a history of big bands, for each listing is preceded by a biography of the leader concerned and there ...