The International Theatre Institute (honorary president, J. B. Priestley ;
president, Llewellyn Rees) is presumably something to do with Unesco, from whose Paris headquarters it sends me, un- bidden, its monthly bulletin called World Premieres, published in both French and English. This comprises a summary of the new plays produced in various parts of the world during the past month or (in the case of Israel, Chile and Switzerland) during the past five months. In each case the title of the play, the names of the author, the director and others concerned in the production, the " duration " (including the lengths of the intervals) and a short summary of the plot are given ; to these are added brief extracts from the notices which the play received. Thus we can (for instance) learn that the dramatic critic of Le MatM wrote of Pas d'Orchidees pour Miss Blandish that " At times it all got rather boring " ; that there are two ten-minute intervals in Venus Observed ; and that M. Poot's music for a production in Brussels owed much to " the fine performance of the orchestra, which in its turn was dependent on the high standard of musicianship among its members " (Le Soir). I suppose this publication cannot be wholly pointless, since it may lead indirectly to a Chilean melodrama being translated into Yiddish, thus benefiting the playwright, the translator and the cause of international understanding ; but I should hardly describe it as filling a long-felt want.
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