S1R,—Country-house theatricals are not quite the 'vanished folkway' that Strix
supposes. In 1953 I took part in a performance of The Importance of Being Earnest in a country house in Co. Londonderry. We had intended to stage the play out of doors, but during the first rehearsals it became apparent that not only were the difficulties attendant on such a pro- duction almost insuperable, but that whether the weather permitted or not, the activities of midges would have detracted seriously from the ability of the audience to give the play the attention it deserved. So we transferred to the hall of the house, which we were sure looked exactly like the morning-room in Algernon's Flat and could convincingly be
transformed into The Garden of the Manor House, Woolton, by the importation of a few potted plants and a green rug.
The audience came by invitation only and were accommodated on the stairs, on chairs perched precariously on tables and on volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Lighting was a problem, as the only source of power was a turbine which could not be relied upon to give of its best without a free and unhindered supply of water. In the summer this water dried up completely and in the winter it either burst its banks or froze or clogged with leaves. The first act was brilliantly lit; the second grew darker, and in the last we were playing in a stygian gloom, lost to our audience and almost to each other. At this point the old man who attended the turbine burst into the scene and pathetically announced, `Ah'm givin' yous all the power Ah can.' Nobody remarked on this interruption afterwards, so we assumed that the mystified audience must have thought it part of the plot, which would have been
abundantly clear if only they had been able to see.
Our delight at making £50 for the British Legion was very nearly exceeded by the rap- tures with which we received a remark over- heard in the bar (for which no licence had been given or, for that matter, sought) afterwards. 'How nice,' it went, 'to see something put on by the gentry for the gentry.'—Yours faith-
fully, HUGH GREGOR Bronyscawen, Llanboidy, Carms
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