A Matter of Female Directors and Male Critics

There's been a reviewers row over the play I saw: A Matter of Life and Death. It seems that most of the heavy (male) critics have been heavily slagging it off, and Nicholas Hytner has come to its defence. Of course the director is a woman. So often plays which have critical acclaim - Rafta, Rafta, for example - I find to be amusing but not exceptionally good, but those such as a Matter of Life and Death, which are slammed, I find to be some of the best I have ever seen. This row is described in todays' Observer.

However, also in the same paper there seems to be general agreement that the new architects have restored the Festival Hall sensitively to something approaching the original 1951 concept. I shall look forward to seeing this when it opens in a month. I shall definitely try eating at the Skylon restaurant.

Interestingly, some years ago a friend of mine came across two of the original seats from the Festival Hall. Having bought them for around £300, he sold them at auction for nearly £2000. They were sold singly, one featuring on the catalogue, which must have helped. Also the timing was quite good as it was the 50th anniversary of the Festival of Britain when they were sold.