• CHEERFUL news at last for theatre goers. The Hampstead Theatre is due to reopen at the end of May.

I’m sure the organisers have great plays in store. I’m ready for an overdose.

During a major outbreak of the plague in 1593 theatres were shut. In the autumn of 1594 when the plague disappeared, theatre companies didn’t waste time and soon reorganised.

A great opportunity for the Lord Chamberlain’s men and William Shakespeare who went on writing his most successful plays.

Wars, plagues and natural disasters are no strangers to our planet. But the theatre survives.

CHRISTINE MOULIE, NW6