17 SEPTEMBER 1954, Page 14

HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT SIR,—ln his review of Histoire du Soldat

in Edinburgh, Mr. A. V. Coton refers to it as ' the first professional showing in Great Britain.' There was a production of this work at the A.D.C. Theatre, Cambridge, in the late Twenties, in which the princess was played by Lydia Lopokova, the Soldier by Michael Redgrave, the Devil by Hadley Briggs, and the Narrator by Dennis Arundel!. The septet consisted (I think) of the leaders of the relevant sections of the London Phil- harmonic Orchestra, conducted by Boris Ord.

I suppose the circumstances and milieu mark this as an amateur' production. but my own recollection is of a performance which was at least the equal of anything the ' professionals' can achieve today.—Yours faithfully,

BASIL WRIGHT Savile Club, 69 Brook Street, W.1