Oh yes it is! A delightful early Christmas present in today’s post: my chapter on theatre for children and young people in the new Routledge Companion to 20th-century British Theatre & Performance. Huge thanks to the editors, especially the incomparable Trish Reid!
![The galleon from Neville Coghill's 1949 Tempest, "made of punts strapped together with the superstructure of the galleon built on top of them. It was poled along by among others Tom Chitty the novelist [Sir Thomas Willes Chitty, 3rd Baronet (born 1926), better known as Thomas Hinde]."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbkz3bfhrucwtfq7ujm3ohno/bafkreiadtwr4muf3mgymmicmgbbfaiul35rxsjjsiiir4cs3rdeyqrwhqm)
![Dear Mr Fletcher-Watson,
Memories are fallible at all times but this is my recollection.
The duckboards just beneath the surface of the lake on which Ariel ran out across the water were roughly parallel to the audience [“halfway back”, handwritten]. Only the figure was lit from the side so the illusion of running on the water was very convincing. Charles then ran back to the path on the side of the lake and followed the curve of the path which led to the ramp at the back. This was built on scaffolding but how this was masked from the audience I don’t know. Charles ran up the ramp, again lit from the side and as he waved his last farewell the firework exploded and the other lights went out. I add a rough plan as I remember it.
The boat on which we sailed away was made of punts strapped together with the superstructure of the galleon built on top of them. It was poled along by among others Tom Chitty the novelist. All the goddesses arrived by punts – one was Mary? Galbraith who wrote about it in the Oxford magazine not all that long ago with photos from the Tatler of 1949. I think I have both these; if you are in London I could show you. Caliban came out of a tank set into the lake.
Other people connected with the production including Charles were at a celebration with us to mark the fiftieth anniversary in 1999. I suppose some of those are no longer with us. Nigel Davenport, who played Gonzalo died the other day.
Bill Gaskill](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbkz3bfhrucwtfq7ujm3ohno/bafkreih3jg3clrg7qmejwvnemdqvq53rncf5idlmy25ql4whklkaetghnq)
![[…] My own memory, for what it’s worth, is of Ariel running weightlessly across the lake into the distance while Bill Becker, as Caliban, arose from his lair – a tank sunk into the lake at the closest point to the spectators – and waved a farewell to his fellow spirit. As Charles Hodgson was graceful and fast moving, while Bill was twisted and clumsy, this moment of parting contact, as if between equals, was very touching – as though they were making contact for the first time at the moment of lasting separation […]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbkz3bfhrucwtfq7ujm3ohno/bafkreihdxupfi74wj27svpirbtp7syv7btghcio2ncu5nwhwtgnanx7uu4)
![Handwritten letter from Tom Stoppard: July 31. Dear Mr Fletcher-Watson,
I’m afraid I wasn’t there. Peter Wood (director, now retired) described it to me. His address is: [REDACTED]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vbkz3bfhrucwtfq7ujm3ohno/bafkreigp7a4iptn3orqjuk2o5pz633qyd2hwvk2fhfgdbowbvc3wivwkd4)
