19 JANUARY 1962, Page 14

THE WITCHING HOUR

SIR,—It appears from your issue of December 29 that Mr. Bamber Gascoigne hasn't been doing his Shakespeare homework. He wades into the Old Vic production of Macbeth because it is dark, and 'almost every scene seems to take place at the witch- ing hour of night; failing, appareatly, to note that of the twenty-six scenes in the play, sixteen take place at night, of the remaining ten, five embrace the end of the play, which might reasonably be assumed to occupy the afternoon, leading into dark. One could hardly describe the Old Vic's accent on darkness to be unreasonable,

BRUCE ARNOLD 6 Wilton Place, Dublin, 2