Nothing earned or learned

Sir Tom and Sir Trevor — Stoppard and Nunn — have teamed up to realise Sir Trevor’s ‘40-year dream’ of bringing Sir Tom’s breakthrough play to the West End.

Sir Tom and Sir Trevor — Stoppard and Nunn — have teamed up to realise Sir Trevor’s ‘40-year dream’ of bringing Sir Tom’s breakthrough play to the West End. I couldn’t make the opening night and Sir T (x 2) had restricted press seats to that performance only so I had to make my own arrangements. What a bunch of highwaymen those ticket agencies are! (I’ll get to the play in a second.) You have to pay for the privilege of paying for the privilege. The fee amounted to 20 per cent of the entire outlay. But the author’s royalty is barely a quarter of that. Playwrights, retire. Become ticket agents instead. My cheap-seat status banished me from the opulent foyer and out on to the windy pavements where I pulled open a rickety old door, ascended three flights of carpetless steps and came out into a creaky platform of uncushioned tramseats.