I READ Councillor Griffiths excoriation of A Winter's Tale with mounting confusion. Was his target the production, the playwright or both? Ambitious then, or indiscriminate?

For the production I can't speak, but for the play I must. The good councillor asks what it is about. The corrosive effect of jealousy and the redeeming qualities of love and reconciliation, is the usual summary. These are not small themes.

A Winter's Tale is one of a clutch of three late, great plays completed by The Tempest; written possibly in 1610/11 in Shakespeare's late 40s, a couple of years before his retirement from the stage. It is not a rarity outside Ludlow.

The great historian, A L Rowse, writes that "the play has always had its appeal". It is certainly one of my favourites.

But then, perhaps, the councillor knows what he likes, and likes what he knows.

Chris Crowcroft,

Church Walk,

Ludlow.