Alive and well
Sir: In Mr Ackland's memory of the first production of The Three Sisters (18 September) he writes of things past as though they were non-existent today. In his tender evocation of Irena's creator 'with her delicate, flower-like beauty and her tremulous hopes of happiness' we may well be with the play and its exquisite original production or more than half a century ago. But both Mr Ackland and those readers of your paper who remember the magic wrought so vividly by the actress in the cast, who 'sparked off the writing career of this distinguished playwright, may like to know that Miss Bcatrix Thomson (incidentally, it is spelt without a 'p'—the only point that Rodney Ackland appears to forget) is alive and well and living in Farnham. Moreover, she has not retired completely and only a few years back I had the privilege of engaging her to appear in my production of The Old Ladies, revived with success at both the Westminster and Duchess theatres in the West End, and not too long before that in a revival of Arnold Bennett's What the Public Wants out of town. The former piece was, of course, bY Rodney Ackland. 'Trixie' Thomson—as always—in both pieces was delicate and true.
Peter Cotes
Savage Club, London SW1
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