Letters: How about some truly national theatre awards?

These letters appeared in the 15 March 2016 edition of The Independent

David Tennant as Hamlet.

Hear hear for regional theatre (David Lister, 12 March) and a televised awards scheme which recognises the whole of the UK. Calling the London-based awards the Oliviers implies the very best nationally, but actually only has a narrow frame of reference.

We have a home in Stratford-upon-Avon and a base in London at the Barbican, yet many of our fine productions last year, such as Othello and Hecuba, missed out as they were ineligible. That goes too for countless wonderful shows from other regional theatres.

We work regularly with over 20 partner theatres all over the country and can vouch for their fantastic quality of work, which surely should be celebrated.

Our regional theatres are a vital part of cultural life for audiences and are as essential for producing great actors, directors and writers as anything that happens in our capital.

It is already difficult for regional theatres to entice national newspapers to allow critics to review regional productions. The London theatre awards, as currently named, simply add to the sense that the rest of the country doesn’t matter. Let’s find a way of championing the very best work everywhere. Our audiences expect nothing less.

Catherine Mallyon

Executive Director,

Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-upon-Avon

Warwickshire

Clash of cultures over separate seating

Umaar Kazmi’s letter (14 March) seemed to be one long apology for ultra-religious Muslims. If, as he says, for a number of them “sitting separately is a choice”, then its more likely because of indoctrination than free choice.

Either way, gender segregation amounts to a medieval view of women in their communities, and shouldn’t be tolerated at public meetings, being incompatible with our liberal values.

Steve Lustig

London NW2

I have a question for Umaar Kazmi.

Some years ago, when I was teaching and served as a local union representative, I was responsible for giving a lift to a colleague to meetings. He was a Muslim, had had a stroke and used a wheelchair.

Our AGM was to be held locally and my colleague, who had friends living near the venue, arranged for us to call on them afterwards. Their house was on a hill and the front path was very steep. The father and two sons watched me struggle to push my colleague up the path until it became clear that we were unable to proceed.

In the living room chairs were set out to watch the Test match and another set of chairs at the other end of the room. I settled my colleague and, wanting to be on hand should he need me, I sat down beside him as I always did at meetings. I had forgotten that, as a woman, I should have gone to the other end of the room.

The ladies of the house came in and sat there. The hostility was palpable. Suddenly, I was angry. I thought: “This is England. Here we do not sit segregated. I have behaved as seemed right for my friend.” I did not move.

The person who kindly helped us back down the path afterwards was the grandfather. He gave me a box of dates from Mecca from his recent pilgrimage. His kindness redeemed the event. What does Umaar Kazmi think I should have done?

Gill Ledsham

Windsor

Umaar Kazmi rightly wants conservative Muslims to have the freedom of choice to sit separately in political gatherings.

However having segregated meetings may take away the freedom of choice from people who would not want to sit separately.

In practice the only way to allow this choice is to have a third, mixed, section. My question is: how often does this happen?

Julie Dalton

Sheffield

As a friend of America, I worry about Trump

I think it was in the comedy film Primary Colors that the fictional Presidential candidate, Jack Stanton, played by John Travolta, said: “I will not go negative. Any jackass can burn down a barn.”

Well the jackasses have burnt down the barn this time. Donald Trump is not the main issue in the American presidential campaign; he is the only issue. No serious political arguments are taking place in the US now and no solutions are being advanced to the great American people for their problems.

As someone who has grown up in the shadow of Hadrian’s Wall, I know history tells us the answers are not to be found in the simplistic solutions advanced by Donald Trump.

Writing to you today from the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City I see a great city all around me, a beautiful city just at the beginning of spring. But I see a city with an awful lot of empty shops for rent. The contrast between rich and poor is ever wider. You see it when you cross over from Brooklyn into New York City itself.

When things go wrong good friends should say so. I genuinely fear for the future of democracy. I fear for this wonderful country America, which should be so full of hope.

Nigel F Boddy

Darlington

Tell our children about apprenticeships

The myths surrounding apprenticeships are deeply ingrained in our society (“Government’s apprenticeship push missing target audience”, 14 March). Too many people still believe that they are the second-best option to going to university, because they have not been told what a modern apprenticeship entails.

Polling we commissioned from YouGov found that 63 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds have not received any careers advice on apprenticeships at school. This lack of information is doubtlessly the biggest barrier to the Government’s drive to train 3 million more apprentices by 2020.

The Government needs to redouble its efforts to overcome the myths about apprenticeships. Everyone should know that an apprentice can earn while they learn, study for qualifications equivalent to a master’s degree and kick-start their careers without drowning in debt.

The starting place for this will be to ensure that young people have better careers advice that acknowledges that apprenticeships are just as viable a career path as going to university.

Jackie Bedford

Chief Executive, Step Ahead

London EC1

Babies can’t break into electric sockets

Andy Jackson’s account of life as a stay-at-home father (14 March) lists electrical sockets among the hazards from which children are to be protected.

Growing up in an electrician’s family I knew from an early age that British electrical sockets are inherently child-safe. The openings are too small to admit even a crawling baby’s finger and any attempt to poke hair grips, teaspoons or any other metal object into them is defeated by an insulated shutter which only opens when a plug is inserted. These safety features are required by law and have been so since the 1930s and I am astonished that so few people seem aware of them.

Not so the socket covers which are supposed to “protect” children against this non-existent danger. They are unregulated and subject to no standards. Even a small child can remove one of these in seconds and, in the hands of an enterprising child, it can actually be used as a tool to defeat the socket’s built-in safety features!

Socket covers should not be used and their sale should be banned.

Derek Haslam

Colne, Lancashire

Quit the EU and curb the rich

Francis Kirkham discusses the varying claims as to how much Britain pays into the EU, relative to how much we receive back (letter, 14 March). In doing so, he highlights one of the problems of our membership: we are not in full control of our finances. By leaving the EU, we could regain that control.

In due course, we would hopefully elect a government that isn’t in thrall to the greedy and selfish. We may then see a reversal of the one-way traffic of recent decades, where wealth has flowed inexorably towards the already rich.

Keith O’Neill

Shrewsbury

Cruises, cheap care for the old

Your second editorial of 12 March clearly is of the opinion that only the very wealthy can afford a cruise at a cost of “£700 per week per person” for life. May I point out that that is less than the amount my mother-in-law pays for her care home? And that is for life too. (And, surprise, she could by no means be described as wealthy.)

Conrad Cork

Leicester

Ordering etiquette in the greasy spoon

I’m afraid I can’t trust Barbara MacArthur’s account of her encounter with a student in a cafe (letter, 14 March), as she clearly misheard the start of the conversation. No current student would have said, “I want three eggs” etc. They would have said, “Can I get three eggs?”

Mark Redhead

Oxford