BRITISH THEATRE CONFERENCE
Sta,—In reply to your comments on the recent British Theatre Con- ference, may I say that: (a) Mr. J. B. Priestley was invited to be chairman for his pre-eminence as a playwright, broadcaster and writer on matters theatrical, and as leading British delegate to both the 1946 and 1947 meetings of U.N.E.S.C.O., and for his leadership at the Paris Conference for the formation of the International Theatre Institute. (b) The sug- gestion that both joint honorary secretaries are Communists is contrary to the facts. (c) The constitution, to which the managers were repeatedly invited to contribute, though admittedly makeshift, was carefully devised to give weight to the established theatrical organisations in the inner ring of delegates, while providing for representation of all other interests in the outer ring. A motion requiring action could be carried only by A majority of two-thirds in both rings. Of the 135 inner-ring delegates, forty were allotted to the managers, forty to the unions and the balance to twelve national theatrical organisations, so that the managers and the unions, if in agreement, could not be defeated, and under the two-thirds rule either group could only be defeated on failing to secure five votes from the remainder. (d) Unity Theatre Society, Limited, representing thirty-five branches, a full-time London theatre, two semi-professional companies in Scotland and with a membership, excluding affiliated branches, of over 10,000, was unanimously allotted inner-ring repre- sentation by the committee. (e) During the first three days, the con- ference, after an opening plenary session, divided into three commissions under experienced chairmen to examine over ninety resolutions, which were reduced to twenty-four agreed recommendations to go before the final plenary session on the fourth day. (f) The verbatim report of the final plenary session makes it clear that the decisions of the conference were those of the delegates and that they were subject to less direction from the platform than is customary.—Yours faithfully,
H. EILEEN CRABTREE,
Organiser, Batumi THEATRE CONFERENCE.
77 Dean Street, W. r.
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