Shorter Notices
The Stratford Festival. By T. C. Kemp and J. C. Trewin. (Cornish Brothers. 25s.) MR. TREWIN quotes the Cornishman who went to Stratford-upon-Avon in 1769 to hear Garrick recite his famous ode (" Shake- speare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare ") and observed bitterly : " I was charged nine guineas for six hours' sleep and two shillings for asking a country bumpkin what time it was." In the matter of accommodation there has been some improvement since then, even if it has not quite kept pace with that in the proper honouring of Shakespeare. The Stratford Festival proper began in 1879 with a performance of Much Ado About Nothing in the brand new Gothic temple of Dodgshun and Unsworth. London resolutely refused to see any importance in the event. " Can it be argued," asked The Theatre, " that the poet who sought in London the sphere for his intellectual life stands in need of a ' memorial ' which takes the shape of an addition to the list of petty provincial theatres ?" Local obstinacy has had the better of this argument. The festival struggled on from year to year ; the Gothic building was burned to the ground and the present building took its place ; standards of production grew higher ; the festival's im- portance increased. There are no sneers from London now. The first festival lasted for ten days ; the 1953 festival, which began this week, is to last for thirty-three weeks. Mr. Kemp and Mr. Trewin show in full detail how the festival has progressed from its modest beginning. I. H.
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