Grateful recollection Sir: As I have so far managed to
exist without having seen or heard a Wagnerian opera—rather as I survived without ever having visited Brighton until quite recently, and hope so to continue without ever visiting Blackpool at all-1 perhaps missed the finer points of Arianna Stassinopoulos's description of the happening at Bayreuth. Nevertheless her article recalled vividly to mind the most brilliantly funny revue sketch I have ever seen—I think at the Lyric—in which Beryl Reid took part and which represented a scene from Giitterdeimmerting wherein everything started to go wrong; rather as Arianna Stassinopoulos describes the action at Bayreuth, only on this occasion done deliberately—the riotous proceedings finally brought to a close with a No. 9 bus careering across the stage.
Since then the very mention of Wagner always evokes a grin and I fear I would dissolve into convulsive mirth if I visited any of his masterpieces. For the recollection of that long-ago revue I am most grateful.
B. Watkins 50 Lexham Gardens, Kensington, London W8
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