it is many years, I should say, since he did any woodwork.’ He conceded that the play was finely produced but was sceptical that it was entirely the work of ‘so called’ peasants. ‘The structure of the theatre’, he observed, ‘indicates a large amount of capital and is as far removed from one’s conception of village life as anything could be.’ In fact, he went on, ‘The thing taken together is a huge fraud and the embodiment of humbug.’
