Brits in America

Before I read Arkatov’s interview, I was planning to see Margolyes’ one-woman show. Now I’m not, and I’m grateful that Margolyes herself warned me off. I’m one of those rare (according to her) Americans with an attention span longer than 20 minutes, one of those nearly nonexistent Americans who knows who Charles Dickens is.

During my 20 years in New York City, I got to see plenty of bad, much-praised British theater, dumbed-down and condescendingly performing, the actors flirting with the supposed transoceanic yokels in the audience instead of serving the text and playing to each other.

I hope someone made a tape of “Wooman” in England; I’ll wait for the real thing on PBS or Bravo or A&E.;

FRANK DWYER, Los Angeles