My memories of the Theatre Royal go back a long way, but my mother's - Edith Clarke's - went back a lot further. In the 1950s she and a neighbour would climb up into 'The Gods', paying just a shilling (5p) to enjoy a performance every week.

Her proudest memory came during the interval while she was watching a play in which Paul Scofield took the leading part. My memories are hazy, but I think it was Alexander The Great.

A lady a little older than my mother sidled up to her and asked what she thought of the main actor. Fortunately my mother was a great admirer of him, as I myself have since become. She predicted a great future for him. He was not then as well known as today.

"I'm so glad," the enquirer replied "as I am his mother". She apparently used to venture quite frequently into the upper circles to discover what the audience really thought of her son.

My mother died some years ago and would now have been aged 99. My wife and I have kept up the tradition of visiting the Theatre Royal as often as we can and recently thoroughly enjoyed The Nutcracker by the Russian Siberian Ballet Company.

We wish the Theatre all the best for their forthcoming 200th Anniversary.

By Richard Clarke