CHRISTIANSEN AND BEAVERBROOK SIR,—Leonard Mosley writes that as an editor
I had 'a childish belief' that it was more important for a dramatic critic to report booing in the gallery than the performance on the stage. This is a petulant over-simplification of my attitude to the theatre. It is true that I demanded_ that the theatre should be 'reported' at all times. This involved three things: (1) to tell the story of the plot; (2) to give a critical appreciation; (3) to describe audi- ence reaction. And, of course, the three rules were interchangeable in the telling of the news according to the discretion of the critic.
I was delighted to see that Alan Brien, in the first issue of the Sunday Telegraph, came out in favour of 'reporting' the theatre, and in my view the rules provide the soundest basis for intelligent and comprehensible criticism.
Mosley says that I wrote a letter giving him protection against cuts or alterations of his reviews without consultation with him. I am delighted to hear it; I waged a constant battle against sub- editorial re-writing and alteration of the work of specialist writers unless they were consulted, I acknowledge that I failed with Mosley as a dramatic critic—and with Daniel George as a book critic. But it was an enjoyable and worth-while struggle.—Yours faithfully,
ARTHUR CHRIST IANsIN
Little Holland Hall, Holland-on-Sea, Essex
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