... 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 ...

... 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; ...

... SIR,--Firstly, in response to the letter from Mike Bain--the PO'd Performer has as much right to be anonymous as his colleague, the Secret Agent, and it seems over sensitive of Mr Bain to criticise this anonymity. Secondly, the response from the Secret Agent (The Stage, July 16) was really quite amusing. His article nikst be aimed at the beginners in the business Wet a use experienced ...

... Acting out of habit does you no good SIR,--Once again, the Act for Equity party machine has done its work and they have 45 of their members on the Council. The independents have marginally improved their position with 21. The A for E advert in The Stage exhorted members to vote for all their candidates. Not a word about reading their statements they sim ply demanded crosses against names. ...

... Lost in translation SIR--I am grateful, as I am sure my fellow-translator Eivor Martinius is, to Anna Carteret for her apology for not crediting us with the translations of the two Strindberg plays which she directed at the King's Head. But this tells only half the story. Nobody asked our permission to use the translations, and had Mrs Martinius not dropped in to see the show, recognised ...

... A matter of facts SIR I refer to your edition of July 2 and particularly to the news story on the front page, Kennedy leaves regional theatres in the lurch, in which Robert Kennedy is referred to as a past manager of the Boulevard Theatre in Soho We are the owners of the theatre in question and I would like to make it clear that Robert Kennedy was never a manager of the the atre. He has ...

... Calling all Angels SIR We are making a series of six half hours on the history of entertainment in London, beginning in the 19th century and concluding in'the present day. It is very much the story of the 'experience' of entertainment, a social history rather than a history of content. Our last programme in the series deals with the survival of West End Theatre, and the important role ...

... New rules of the game SIR--Last month your columnist The Secret Agent gave us a list of five ways in which we entertainers could hope to obtain more work from agents. I have compiled a list which, under present circumstances, I would I sidcr more relevant. I Be prepared to pay whatev- I or commission the agent I requires. Your agent is enti- I tied to charge as much as he I wishes and he ...

... SIR, 1 am at present building a 4mm scale exhibition layout tailed 'Elstree Fantasy Land, that shows the pro posed Ij>ndon Transport Tramway Extension service 52 to Elstree and Potters Bar, which would have been built in the late fifties to cater for the I-ondon housing overspill. The layout will feature the ABPC Studios, the various shops in the main high street leading to Elstrec Station. I ...

... SIR, The article by Martin Houghton on regional theatre (The Stage, July 23) was excellent. He and Nettie Kdwards gave us two fine productions of Russian plays, but he did not mention the extension of the Anglo-Russian season in the studio Richardson theatre. The liveryman Youth Theatre company has had a connection with the Sochi Youth Co and fol lowing the Cheltenham visit to Russia last year ...

... SIR It is with interest rhar I nnre rhat Dave Eager has again burst forth into print, vociferously decrying honest, independent candidates who stood for election to the Equity Council. In reply to Mr Eager's question as to why so many Northern members are standing as Variety Councillors, perhaps we should refer to his letter in Stage (May 7), where he stated that he could tap dance, tell jokes ...

... Speaking for the Individuals SIR,--Peter Bennett was born of wealthy parents, went to public school, inherited a great deal of monev. and died a multi-millionaire. I, the eldest son of an out-of-work Welsh miner, left school at 1 4 in the thirties to work underground at the coal-face, where I spent most of my young life. The longer the hours I worked, the more my father's dole was reduced by ...