It seems we may have rubbed one of our French readers up the wrong way. Jean-Edmond Marre writes: “The Diary is usually quite humorous – or at least its barbs are usually well-targeted – but your comment about Halliwell Landau sponsoring a run of a play by ‘Scandinavian gloombag-in-chief Henrik Ibsen’ smacked a bit too much of British
island provincialism.
“Hedda Gabler is universally recognised as a masterpiece of late 19th century theatre. Would your correspondent feel the same way if a Norwegian firm sponsored a run of that overblown, tear-jerker, Romeo and Juliet, by that British soap-opera scenarist, whatshisname? What were you guys smoking anyhow?”
