The wonder of Wilton's

An extraordinary "new" venue was added to London's already remarkable range last night when actress Fiona Shaw gave the first licensed performance at Wilton's Music Hall for more than 100 years.

More than 300 people, including French Ambassador M Jean Gu?ginou crammed into the derelict old music hall, the oldest in the world, to hear Miss Shaw read T S Eliot's great 20th century poem The Waste Land. The hall was filled to capacity and people who turned up on spec hoping to buy a ticket had to be turned away.

What they missed was not a reading but a passionate re-enactment of the poem by Miss Shaw, who brought it vividly to life in all its range and complexity.

The performance, directed by Deborah Warner and lit magically on this occasion by Frenchman Jean Calman, has already been in other atmospheric old buildings in America and Europe and is due to move to the Theatre Bobigny in Paris next month and to Adelaide in March.

Its arrival for 42 performances at Wilton's comes as a blessing to Brian Daubney, co-ordinator of a campaign to get Lottery money to turn the building into a living museum.

The Waste Land