Swan upon waving water
Sir: Mrs Hilary Spurling speaks (18 April) of the 'revolution' in producing Restoration comedy which William Gaskill 'largely engin- eered' through his National Theatre Recruit- ing Officer of 1963. She might have men- tioned (or is she too young to remember?) the epoch-making visit to London of the Berliner Ensemble in 1956. Along with Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle they brought with them Brecht's Trumpets and Drums, an adaptation of Farquhar's Recruiting Officer, set at the time of the American War of Independence. This German production made a striking contrast to the coyly periwigged, nervously mannered style traditional in London for these comedies: its lack of rococo frills, its slightly tendentious stress on historical 'realism'. and its spaciously slow tempi, obviously gave Gaskill his inspiration. At least, when I first saw Gaskill's Recruiting Officer the con- nection with the Berliner Ensemble seemed obvious—not only in the choice of play but in such things as the cool lighting, and the sober colour schemes (fawns, browns and greys).
Previous page
