" THE EATER OF DREAMS "
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR1 SIR,—In answer to Mr. Godfrey's letter in the Spectator of November 30th, may I say that I have always tried to make allowance for his difficulties at the Gate Theatre ? I had hoped that my " absurd efforts " had at least convinced him that I follow his productions with sympathy.
He tells us that black curtains for the first scene of Lenor- mand's admirable play are merely a convenience. Mies the same apply to the blackness of the atmosphere ? And that first scene is not one, but two. We lose the effect which Lenormand intended, when he showed the heroine approaching her window, in suicidal thought, while the old lady in the next room describes her suspicions of that very attitude and movement. And yet the stage is split in two later scenes, which are played in succession. If Mr. Godfrey cares to know how a stage can be easily divided he may go to the small Duchess Theatre and see the thing rapidly done between two scenes of Tunnel Trench.
Can I suggest a better method ?
Let me refer Mr. Godfrey to Lenormand's own notes. They indicate the devices adopted by Gaston Baty and Pittieff for the avoidance of long waits. Have one symbolical background, if you must, and vary its " moods " by changes of lighting, as I think Mr. Godfrey has already done in other productions. The mood is essential, and that of the scene in the Swiss pension should not suggest a felon's cell in a subterranean dungeori.—I am, Sir, &c.,
RICHARD JENNINGS.
8 The Grove, The Boltons, S.W. 10.
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