Now don't get me wrong, I believe that TV is a wonderful invention, and I find its immediacy with news events and current information worth every penny of the licence fee, but what happened to drama? "What do you mean, drama?" I can hear you ask, "It's full of drama - Coronation Street, Eastenders, The Bill etc, etc. OK, I accept that the soaps have drama of a continually evolving sort, but if you've forgotten to put on the video recorder you can spend a lot of time asking friends and relations what happened. The drama on TV seems to be confined to crime, socially inept groups of people with complicated sexual relationships or one-off shows that are often pilots for a possible series. There are, occasionally, some very welcome adaptations of novels and biographies which the BBC do particularly well. Channel 4 and ITV have also given us some excellent examples of the book brought to the small screen.

So, what's my complaint? It is that TV has abandoned the production of stage plays, and, given the sparsity of real plays in the West End, can only contribute further to the disappearance of some of our most important playwrights like Somerset Maugham, Caryl Churchill, Graham Greene and so on. It's only in the provinces that plays are likely to get a revival - even the National has succumbed to another musical - "My Fair Lady". The interesting, but hardly mind-bending "The Woman in Black" is still on and musicals occupy almost every theatre space available. "Stones in His Pockets" is an economical two-man show which I very much enjoyed as a cabaret, but it couldn't possibly qualify as a play. Even the revivals offered are predictable - "The Importance of Being Earnest", "Bouncers" - who hasn't seen this or been in it? I could only find one new "play" in London and that was Caryl Churchill's "Far Away" at the Albery. There are plenty of vehicles for the current invasion of Hollywood actors who want to legitimise themselves by appearing on the London stage in adaptations of old films like "The Graduate" and amusing trifles like "Art".

Before you decide that I am suffering from post-millennium depression, I do regret the loss of real drama from so many theatres and the TV, drama that has been constructed by playwrights from human conditions and for our consideration. To a large extent, TV is the victim of its own success. The search for material to satisfy the demands of the ever lengthening schedules means the quality tends to be compromised. Some things slip through, but too much is superficial and easily forgotten. With the continuing problem of underfunding in our regional theatres and the commercial necessities of the London theatres, the only place you will be able to find revival of an Arthur Miller or a Terence Rattigan or a Ben Travers will be on an amateur stage somewhere near you. Keep at it.

Ray Dyer