... Redgrave on theatre The Actor's Ways and Means, by Michael Redgrave. (Heinemann, £1.50) In this series of published lectures (sponsored by the Rockefeller Foun dation in 1953) newly brought out in paperback, Michael Redgrave sets out on a glorified fireside chat. He provides no basis for coherent, studied discussion in any area relating actor to text, director or theatre in general, but ...

... Scott--tenor sax of international class Some of My Best Friends Are Blues, by Ronnie Scott with Mike Hen nessey (W. H. Allen, £3.50) Let no one say that the 20th anniversary of Ronnie Scott's Club is not being celebrated in appropriate fashion, with radio and TV tributes, magazine and newspaper articles, record albums and books. This is the second hardback to appear this year--the other being ...

... RENE EL VIN: A European round-up Per un teatro umano. Giorgio Strehler, edited by Sinah Kessler (Feltrinelli, Milan. 4,800 lire). WITH VISCONTI and Zeffirelli, Giorgio Strehler is recognised today as the foremost Italian stage producer, equally skilful, indeed masterly, in his handling of straight plays and operas, founder of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, and a profound thinker on all ...

... Bert oil Brecht--Sein Leben in Bildern und Texten. edited by Werner Hecht. with an introductory easay by Max Kriich. (Suhrkamp Veriag. Srankfurt 140 DM). Presumably to celebrate the 80 year's since Brecht'i birth in 1898. another luxury volume, this time from West Ger many. tells his life story in considerable detail, using mainly photographs some very fare and published for the first time but ...

... Musicals: the hits and misses The Book of Musicals, by Arthur Jackson (Mitchell Beazley, £7.95) The musical--what a slight, fragile thing it so often is. Looking through the comprehensive list of American and British musicals at the end of this handsome book, one shudders at the thought of how much time, money, energy and talent has been spent on them to so 1 1 lite tasting eneci. ii is iu ...

... Costumes for the Stage, by Shpila Jackson. Pitman. £4.75) SMALL-BUDGET, whether student, amateur or professional, must still attain a certain level of visual cohesion if they are to woo and retain an audience. The increased empnasis over me past couple of years in the field- o/ experimental theatre on seeing rather than hearing bears out this thesis. As head of costume -at London Weekend ...

... BOOKS by Dayid Elstein THE flow of books about broadcasting is seemingly endless. Most of them can be safely ignored by television practitioners, but Colin Munro's Television Censorship and the Law is a clear, comprehensive survey which should be on the bookshelf of every producer, executive and administrator. Munro is a law expert with a refreshingly questioning attitude towards the ...

... Scott Joplin, the man who made ragtime, by James Hoskins (Robson . £5.25p). Though Joplin's piano rags are all the rage'' here, and though two ballets based on his piano pieces are extremely popular with British balletomanes, the full scale of Joplin's remarkable achievements has yet to be understood in this country. The reason, of course, lies in the shortage of good books on the ...

... British Drama, by Allardyce Nicoll (Harrap, £8) The first edition of this book this one is the sixth was in 1925. proof that Professor Nicoll's brand of concise scholarship has not been bettered hy the many who have attempted to follow in his footsteps. Suffice it to say that in spite of its few shortcomings. British Drama remains an essential introduction to what is still the most important ...

... The Mystery of the Princes: An v investigation into a supposed murder. Audrey Williamson. Alan Sutton £5.95) Did Richard the Third murder the Princes in the Tower, his young nephews, Edward (the fifth) and his brother Richard Duke of York? Miss Williamson thoroughly investigates the case in this intriguing book. The murders by Richard have of course been accepted as fact by the generality of ...

... The Irish Drama of Europe from Yeats to Beckett. Katharine Worth, The Athlone Press £10.50. SYNCiE and Wilde. Shaw. O'Casey and Beckett are written about all the time in tomes and in essays, their work and influences being examined in mighty detail. And justly so. But W. B. Yeats, as a dramatist, has for a long time been practically ignored. It is Yeats, however, as Katherine Worth shows here, ...

... Irish distinction A Needle's Eye: the Lyric Players Theatre, Belfast (£3) 11 is surprising, one migni ininK, that artistic activity in Belfast has not come to a full stop over the past ten years. But the theatre carries on with distinction, evidence the suc cess of the Lyric Players Theatre, chronicled in this celebratory publi cation available from the theatre, Ridgeway Street, Belfast 9. ...