Will Waspe
Theatre people are evidently as pleased as they are surprised that Westminster City Council is offering the old Playhouse in Northumberland Avenue on lease as a theatre again, following its release from BBC radio. Apparently the place is in pretty good shape and the asking rent of £15,000 a year seems reasonable. The fact is, though, that the Playhouse — Probably because of its disadvantageous Position — was in decline as a theatre before the BBC took it over, and it is hardly likely to do much better now. A pity, it seems to me, that a deal can't be done whereby the Council trades the site for development in exchange for one of the more central theatres already threatened by property corporations.
Tooth and claw
C. rides, whatever their personal animosities, indulge in so much mutual back-scratching that it was startling to see the Sunday Times art lady, Marina Vaizey, being so snappy about the sculptures in Holland Park: "The case for figuration is at the moment being sabotaged by the diabolical unevenness of the artists and
works selected . . the general banality is amazing .. tasteless stuff." For some reason, though, she restrained herself from mentioning that the selection was made by Edward Lucie Smith, who was once a warm favourite for the Sunday Times job that fell to Mrs Vaizey.
Keeping balance
The title suggested the shortest TV programme of the decade, but it was apparently scheduled to run for three quarters of an hour. Noticing too late that London Weekend Television were offering last Saturday night The Best of Russell Harty, I was sorry to have missed it and must forever wonder what on earth they put in it. Just to maintain a balance, let me say that BBC I did nothing to enliven the same evening with an item called Eleventh Hour, for which three writers (in this case — spare them not — Brian Clarke, Clive Exton and Hugh Whitemore) are supposed to hack out a topical TV play in the course of a week for live transmission. This may be a stimulating exercise for the writers, but it's an unholy trial for the viewers. The Beeb, with the sort of nerve no one would want in a tooth, is running a series of ten.
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