It was unfortunate that on the day when the Public
Relations Officer of Erik was writing to The Times pointing to a visit to Germany of Donald Wolfit's company, under the auspices of Ensa, as a proof of Ensa's virtues, Donald•Wolfit himself should be writing to condemn Ensa unreservedly, alleging that it was only with the greatest difficulty, and after having been assured that the forces were not interested in Shakespeare, that he managed to arrange short tours with Twelfth Night and other plays in 1943 and 1944— after having offered the services of his company in 1939. According to Mr. Wolfit, "Ensa has completely misjudged the taste of the armed forces from the beginning,'' and evidence to that effect is too strong to resist. The complaints of the cheapness and vulgarity of Ensa performances are far too numerous, emanating as they do as much from other ranks as from officers, to be dismissed as baseless. The issue on which Sir Herbert Dunnico, Mr. Evelyn Walkden and others have resigned from Ensa—the alleged dictatorship of Mr. Basil Dean—is a different question, but it is clear that a searching enquiry into the whole record of Ensa, with particular regard to its future activities, is essential. An organisation which expends large sums of public money must give proper value for the money-or be called on to show the reason why not.
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