Madam, – It's more than a little ironic that the most theatrically disabling feature in the current Abbey production of The Comedy of Errors, as identified by Fintan O'Toole (Weekend Review, April 11th), should be speech. "Ironic" in that, for over 20 years, a multiplicity of influential voices have been loud in their assertions that the theatre in Ireland, in its deference to the standing of the writer, has been "too literary", "excessively verbal", "blind to the importance of design/lighting/mise-en- scene/physicality", etc.
I agree fully with Mr O'Toole in his belief that part of the solution to that problem of inadequate vocal technique is by way of "a rough repertory company working together, however intermittently, over a number of productions", a process which appeared to be underway some years ago with the Classics Company, directed by Andy Hines, which presented a good All's Well that Ends Well'and a very good As You Like Itat the Helix, DCU.
Where have they gone? It would be unfair, however, in debate of this kind, to overlook the best work of Dublin Shakespeare Society, in many ways aptly definable as "a rough repertory company": by the time of its 100th birthday in 2007, it had presented almost the entire Shakespeare canon, to impressively high standards of theatre, including the vocal, as exemplified in recent productions of Macbeth, Much Ado about Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Troilus and Cressida. – Yours etc,
PATRICK BURKE,
Castle Heath,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.