'Rapunzel' works with children

To the editor:

Regarding the review of "Rapunzel" at Southeast Missouri State University: Why review a children's play with derisive comments about the fact that it is a children's play? Particularly disparaging was the comment, "... the two clowns that serve as narrators and a chorus may annoy anybody over the age of 11."

While the review praised the wonderful set and director-adapter Dennis Seyer's work, the primary negative criticisms centered on the peculiarities of a children's play. It is absurd to criticize the very things that make a children's play work.

I have three suggestions for future reviewers:

See the play with children in the audience so you will truly understand how they react. Seyer has a great deal of experience with presenting absolutely delightful children's plays in this community. They are almost always sellouts, and parents and teachers frequently lament the fact that the university only produces them every other year.

Watch the parents in the audience and you will see that, far from being annoyed, they are amazed at how responsive the children are to clowns and how completely the clowns are able to direct the behavior of hundreds of overly excited children.

Adults who are not curmudgeons will have more fun watching the children around them than watching the stage. It is impossible to imagine the flow of the play if you have not experienced a children's play with an audience of children.

My third suggestion for any reviewer would be to spell the director's name correctly.

LIZ LOCKHART

Cape Girardeau