Radio Drama
SIR,--I'm afraid Mr. Val Gielgud was too provoked by my opening sentence to read much beyond the first paragraph of my article. I said hopefully that 'drama is no doubt a sore point at Broadcasting House,' and went on to give my evidence for think- ing it ought to be. If it is not, then I am sorry it is not. My appeal was not for 'journalistic' notice, nor even for schoolmasterly; but for such quality in the performance as would give us all pleasure. If actors were satisfied with a produc- tion of Three Sisters which I heard some years ago, they could not have been actors who cared much for Chekhov; if schoolmasters were happy with that recent Troilus and Cressida or Measure for Measure or Henry IV, they could not have been much in sympathy with Shakespeare; if avant-garde enthusiasts acknowledge their debt to Mr. Donald McWhinnic, I am among them, but where is Mr. McWhinnie now? and Godot preserve us from what is being done in his absence. It is not as though the radio form is impossible—I heard a production of Hedda Gabler last Sunday—a recording made in Mr. Gielgud's own time—which seemed to me almost definitive of the play. With this example behind them, let us pray that drama is a sore point at Broadcasting House.
HENRY TUBE 36a Holland Villas Road, W14
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