... SIR, So Act for Equity don't toe the party line? Is that why they share a list with Marius Goring? Many have said in council that he is wrong to fight the union. Now they back him. Don't toe the line? When one of their elected officers of the union says jump they jump. I've seen them. Jill Lamede is not the only Independent Candidate who has asked an AFE councillor to propose or Second their ...

... 'Don't discolour entertainment' H SIR I am personal manager to Paul ^U Arden-Griffith who is currently per- H forming in John Redgrave's touring ^M show That Old Minstrel Magic. ^M With regard to Helen Gould's ^M report, Black-up ban after city race protest, {The Stage, September 10), I honestly do not believe that any mem ber of the British public could be offended by the content of this ...

... It's time to lighten up I SIR I wholeheartedly endorse the I sentiments of Melvin Kaye in his letter I (All things bright and tuneful, Stage I September 3) about good tunes and I bright happy shows. I I am also pleased to be able to I answer his questions: (a) Tony Hatch I (b) The new production of The Card I which has just completed its run at I The Watermill Theatre, Newbury. I Let's hope ...

... Parity is not the only one to be able to offer this SIR,--Parity, with the help of Durham County Council is not the first to offer stage and television training alongside able-bodied students; the BBC has been an 'Equal Opportunities' employer (including training) for many years. Trainees earn to learn. Leading figures in the disability arts say they have grave concerns over Durham's project; ...

... The first reading of a play is the most crucial reading of them all SIR--It's been fashionable for some time to believe that a first-day-of-rehearsal reading of the play is a waste of time. Not to the writer, it isn't. If it is a new piece, or a new version of a foreign piece, it's aoie to oe aoie to nsien. You think, at the typewriter, that you have cleaned the text, that your ear is sound ...

... Backing the box office SIR--Knowing full well that I lay myself bare to the ultimately insignificant derision of The Flyman and his ilk, I feel that issue must be taken with his nostalgic and ill-informed meanderings on the good old West End box office (Stage September 17) I, naturally, am of a telephone booking room, where sup posed horrors of customer disservice take place on a reg ular ...

... Let's hear it for the Quaker Girl SIR I was interested to read the recent correspon dence in The Stage concerning 'bright, happy' musi cals and should like to put in a word for the new Samuel French version of Lionel Monckton's The Quaker Girl. The show first appeared in 1910 but several Victor Herbert operettas from the same period, as well as Reginald De Koven's 1891 Robin Hood, were revived ...

... They've got it mixed up SIR, I would like to clarify an Important point of information contained in William Maxwell's letter Casting debate couched in controversy published in The Stage and Television Today of May 28. Although I consider myself a man of good will I have never con tacted Equity to offer assistance in setting up a computerised casting directory so that I may return to an acting ...

... Oh boy, Roy, you played a blinder SIR Over the years, I have seen Roy Barraclough in several guises. Playing it straight in various stage produc- tions; hamming it up in drag with ^^M Les Dawson; lampooning comedy ^^fl roles as a panto Dame or Fairy; ^^T and, of course, as miserly pub ^H landlord Alec Gilroy in televi- ^H sion's Coronation Street irritat- ^H ing at times, yet kind, considerate ...

... Greatest love However, his final performance in the Street together with that of Julie Goodyear, as Bet when the parting of the ways had arrived, brought scenes of emo tional acting which I can never remember being achieved on television. Roy has gone back to his great est love the stage and will be greatly missed in a role in which, surely, he will never be forgotten. But lovers of the long ...

... Theatre that can be therapeutic ^M SIR In order to honour the truth of our company ^H London Playback Theatre I have found it necessary to ^H respond to the article about us in The Stage (Watching Your ^H Worst Memories in Action Replay, August 27). ^H Firstly there is an unfortunate judgmental slant towards ^H the more emotionally charged aspects of the Playback pro- ^H cess. Beginning with ...

... SIR,--I would like to make a few points in response to Flyman's article entitled 'Give us a fiver for every time we've heard that idea,' published on August 20. I believe this article was referring to TECS agency, of which I am the director. I am sure that the idea of start ing an ageVicy for technical staff was not a revelation known only to myself but TECS does appear, as you correctly point ...