We have received the following letter which is both a plea for help and an offer of help. We have responded to the author’s plea for information but if any other reader would like to respond, email addresses are given.
Dear Editor
I am an avid reader of your mailing list despite living on the other side of the planet and sadly being unable to attend any performances!
I am teaching drama at Nagasaki College of Foreign Languages in Japan. We have just successfully completed our Christmas pantomime, but I am already planning ahead to next year. Are there any publications you would recommend, academic or popular on traditional British drama? Else, in the next newsletter, would you mind mentioning my email address and asking your readers if they would like to send me any words of wisdom?
Additionally, if any of the troupes your are in contact with are touring Asia in the near future, I would be delighted if they could get in touch - I may be able to arrange events and accommodation for them at this end too. The British Council often helps with expenses in these cases and I can possibly wangle some money through our school budget.
When in my teens, through ignorance, I did not have any opinion of traditional performance. Ironically, living here in Japan I am an active participant in Japanese festivals and will be the first westerner to perform in one of the largest and oldest festivals in Japan, Okunchi, in two years time. I would like to communicate to my students the excitement and fun of participating in this kind of activity!
I would appreciate any help you could afford me.
Yours sincerely,
Sebastian Sainoo-Fuller
Kozen Machi 4-1-301
Nagasaki City, Japan