It was only a month or two ago that I
last met Sir Nigel Playfair, when he was returning from rehearsals in the open-air theatre in Regent's Park. He was cheer- ful and apparently well, and interested in plans for the coming autumn ; and I believe few if any of his friends imagined that he had not still a long career before him. He was a clever actor, but not a great one. But he knew enough about acting to get the best out of other people, and perhaps I might add had enough common sense in judging the public to know just how far he could take them with him in the direction of serious drama. Being interested in all sides of theatre work and in all artistic novelties, he may claim to have been one of the first producers in this country to realize what might be gained by collaboration between all the arts—combining with action and dialogue all that could be got out of colour and light, dancing and music. If he had not been a student of Reinhardt's work on the one side, and that of the pre-War Russian Ballet on the other, I doubt if he could ever have made so great a- success out of The Beggar's Opera, with all its infectious airs.
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