Youth theatre
Sir: I was sorry to see Will Waspe's criticism of the Shaw Theatre's policy in your issue of April 15. As it was directed at me personally, may I have a little space to reply. Your columnist castigates me for hiring the theatre to the producers of Miss Joyce Rayburn's play Come When You Like, on the basis that it will have no appeal to
" young newcomers to the theatre," and does not therefore fit in with our "pious dedication " to the cause of good theatre for young people. I readily concede that the play has no appeal to me personally or to many of the young people I know. On the other hand it has had considerable appeal to many young people who do not usually go to the theatre at all. The youngsters who live around here for instance, who do not give a fig for our classical revivals or our contemporary plays of quality, have come to this particular comedy with obvious enjoyment. Thus, through it, we have reached some of the youngsters whom we had previously failed to attract; and it was with this hope that we decided to accommodate this lighthearted piece for three brief weeks in the Easter holiday. In any case, I consider your columnist's critical sally, "Whatever is Michael Croft up to at the Shaw Theatre?" as premature as it is ill-founded. In the ten months since this theatre opened we have staged one major Shakespearian production, one play by Shaw, two new plays by Peter Terson, Willis Hall's outstanding war-time play The Long and the Short and the Tall and a month from now we shall stage another Shakespearian play Twelfth Night. In addition we have presented a student season of plays by Moliere Dylan Thomas and Bulgakov, and a highly praised Christmas play for children by David Wood. We have also presented a variety of musical and literary concerts of outstanding quality, either independently or under Camden Council's sponsorship. Artistes who have appeared here in the ten short months of our tenancy include Dame Sybil
Thorndike, Dame Flora Robson, Jenny Linden, Tom Bell, Timothy Dalton, Avis Bunnage, Simon Ward, Sinead Cusack, Maurice Reeves, etc, etc, and musicians of the calibre of Elton John, The Strawbs, the Rev Gary Davis and the St George's Canzona. We shall shortly have, in Twelfth Night, a cast headed by Vanessa Redgrave and Nyree Dawn Porter. Thirteen productions in ten months and twenty concerts by first class artistes — I submit that this programme, carried out on an entirely inadequate subsidy at extremely low seat prices, is proof enough of what I am up to" at the Shaw Theatre.
Michael Croft The National Youth Theatre Director, Shaw Theatre, 100 Euston Road, London NWI
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