precedented for a septuagenarian in jazz.nEven Armstrong had stopped developingnlong before he reached his seventies.nBut Hines shows no sign of diminishingnCorrespondencenLetter from London: Theatrenby Francis DonahuenAs for theater, London remains thenimperial city. Nowhere else is therensuch a concentration of playhouses offeringna continuous banquet of theaternfare. Nowhere else is there such a distinguishednstable of playwrights activelynsupplying the national stage—HaroldnPinter, Tom Stoppard, David Storey,nPeter Shaffer, Alan Ayckbourn, JohnnOsborne, Simon Gray, and others. Nowherenelse is theater-going such a refinednart.nIn speculating on why the theaterndominates the London cultural scene,none answer keeps echoing—S hakespearenand his legacy. In no other literary ornartistic genre does one individual sonoutrank his fellow practitioners. To thenquestion “Who is the world’s greatestnpainter?” several answers are possible:nda Vinci, Rubens, Cezanne, van Gogh,nPicasso. In music the answers might be:nBeethoven, Wagner, Mozart, Verdi.nIn the novel: Cervantes, Balzac, Tolstoy.nAnd in the theater: Shakespeare.nBritons are justifiably proud of thatnsupreme man of the theater. Accordingly,nthe theater in Britain begins withnShakespeare; students grow up onnShakespeare, study him, perform hisnworks; actors hone their skills on hisnlines; audiences know, appreciate, andnpatronize the Bard’s works year afternyear. And this dedication to Shakespearenis accompanied by an open-minded interestnin other dramatists. London play-nMr. Donahue is the author of ThenDramatic World of Tennessee Williamsnand teaches at California StatenUniversity.n38inChronicles of Culturenpowers. No mere charming survivor,nhe can scare the hell out of you withnhis creativity. A giant is among us,nstill. nngoers, with experience and perceptivity,nare quick to recognize new talent. Theynalso display an endearing respect fornthe past, which explains why revivalsnof major works of earlier vintage regularlynfind their way to London’s stages.nThe current season reaffirms London’snclaim to be considered the world’sntheater capital. An array of plays hasnlighted up some 40 playhouses in thenWest End (London’s Broadway), a dozennplayhouses on the Fringe (equivalent tonoff- and off-off-Broadway) and twonpublicly financed playhouses: the NationalnTheater, with its three active’nstages, and the Aldwych, where thenRoyal Shakespeare Company holdsnforth. The season’s centerpiece, as usual,nwas Shakespeare. More than a scorenof major productions were staged in ornnear London.nThe tragedy of the year is Antonynand Cleopatra, an account of middleagenromance at its summit. Peter Brook,nBritain’s leading director, gives the playnan incisive production, focusing on thensensual world of the principals andnplaying down the wars and machinationsnof Octavius Caesar. This is, to be sure,nAntony’s play for it is chiefly concernednwith the struggle of a man of state caughtnin the vise of a hoary dilemma: love versusnduty .From the opening lines the outcomenis never in doubt:n”The triple pillar of the world transformedninto a strumpet’s fool.”nThe Shakespearean comedy of the yearnis Love’s Labor Lost, staged by the RoyalnShakespeare Company and dealing withnthe King of Navarre and three of his courtiers,nwho resolve to convert their courtnnninto a rural “Academe,” where they willnstudy, fast, and foreswear all contact withnwomen. When a comely French princessncomes by, accompanied by three ladiesin-waiting,nthe king’s plans are sundered.nFour couples soon pair off, and thenwomen trick their suitors into makingnvows of love to the wrong lady. Thenplayful, courtly wooing continues untilnnews arrives of the death of the King ofnFrance. The ladies must depart, but theynpromise to accept their suitors as husbandsnafter a year’s waiting period. ThenCompany captures and sustains the arcadianntone of this artificial comedynwith its ornate language, combats ofnwit and probable satire on a philosophicaln”Academe” to which Sir Walter Raleighnbelonged.nThe most intriguing new play comesnfrom Tom Stoppard. Known for his wit,noriginality, and vaulting intelligence innsuch plays as Rosencrantz and GuildensternnAre Dead and Jumpers, Stoppardnhas broken new ground with his acerbicnplay Night and Day, a conventionallyncrafted work tackling a contemporaryntheme: freedom of the press. The scenenis Kambawe, a former British colony innAfrica, where the new ruler. PresidentnMageeba, is a dictator cut from thensame cloth as Idi Amin. The countrynis in the throes of a civil war, and flyingnin to cover the action is Dick Wagner,na gruff Australian newsman. Wagnernstops by to visit a British mining engineer,nwith whose wife Ruth he had recentlynspent the night in London. Thenthree are soon joined by a young, idealisticnBritish journalist, Jacob Milne.nBefore long the battle is joined: sharpnexchanges ricochet across the stage asnthe two newsmen on foreign assignmentndebate the responsibility of journalists.nOld pro Wagner has become comfortablyncomplacent about his own professionalnideals, while young Milne provesnan ardent defender of press freedom.nRuth interrupts the debate to give hernopinion, “I’m in favor of a free press,nit’s the newspapers I can’t stand.” EvennMageeba happens by, and he offers hisn