SHAKESPEARE THEATRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3775, 20 July 1926, Page 28

SHAKESPEARE THEATRE.

COUNCIL OF FIVE. RE-ERECTION OF BUILDING. LONDON, June 2. Five distinguished men, representing art, architectuve, finance, literature, and the stage, have consented to act as an advisory council to the governors of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Strat-ford-on-Avan in the work o£ re-erecting the building which was destroyed by fire and endowing the building which was destroyed by fire last March. They are: — Sir Charles Holmes, the director of the National Gallery. , Mr Guy Dawber, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Mr Reginald M’Kenna. Sir James Barrie. Mr 11. Granvillc-Barker, the playwright and producer. Conversations have already taken place, and several members of the council have been specially to Stratford-on-Avon. The money available at the moment for rebuilding the theatre consists of 125,000 paid by tne insurance company and nearly £22,000 subscribed since the fire. This is totally inadequate to do the work ill hand. It is generally agreed, says an official statement, that it will be impossible to build an adequate modern theat.o upon the old site, which is on the river hank, restructed in area and for a large part below water level. Other adjacent sites already in the possession of the governors are more suitable. It is more than likely that the ruins of the old theatre will be adapted for a conference hall. Since the inauguration of tho fund by the Prime Minister, Mr Thomas Hardy, Lord Oxford, and Mr Ramsay MacDonald, donations have come from all parts of the world. The governors will shortly make a special appeal to all lovers of dramatic art to contribute to the rebuilding and endowment of the only national memorial in the country to England’s greatest poe. f >