Waspe
While accepting the instruction and rebuke administered on the opposite page, Waspe continues to have some uneasy thoughts about such campaigns as 'Save Piccadilly' and 'Save the Theatres.' On the subject of the Circus I have already expressed myself. And as to the theatres, I cannot think that many of them deserve classification as "buildings of architectural or historic interest" — with the implication, if not the reality, that they be preserved in perpetuity come what may — so long as there are genuine guarantees that new theatres will replace the old. Such guarantees would presumably take care of objections from Actors' Equity, at least. For even if the new theatres came eventually to be devoted to sex farces and the like (a danger I concede), Equity doutless has the same regard for members who appear in those as for their colleagues in straight drama.
Critics in peril
The troubled Royal Shakespeare Company, which can use all the goodwill it can get, is certainly not going out of its way to ingratiate itself with the critics — not in its season at The Place, anyway. Apart from the already publicised incident last week when the Guardian's Nicholas de Jongh was pinned against the wall by a couple of actors and prevented from leaving during the curtain calls of Lear, I hear that the Sunday Times's J. W. Lambert found himself unexpectedly grappling with an over-obstreperous actor actually during a performance of the same play — and had his glasses smashed.
Something to learn
The American Embassy's cultural department here, I learn, has set up (and is paying for) a two-week trip to the US for British arts administrators, most from regional centres. The idea is to show them how to go about private fund-raising in a situation in which the government is not keen on providing public subsidies. With little prospect of the Treasury here increasing the arts hand-out, I trust they'll play close attention.
Previous page
