Madam, - I attended the final preview of She Stoops to Conquer at the Abbey Theatre on Monday, July 28th in the company of a couple from England. The lady is quite deaf and wears two hearing aids.
Upon arriving at the Abbey I enquired of two different members of staff about the facilities for deaf people, expecting to be told that there was either a "loop" system or another type of apparatus that you wear around your neck.
I was astounded to be told the Abbey has no equipment to help the hard-of-hearing.
That this should be the case in our publicly funded National Theatre is nothing short of scandalous. It is especially offensive in this year of the Special Olympics when we have portrayed ourselves to the world as being concerned with the difficulties of the handicapped. - Yours, etc.,
GILLIAN ARMSTRONG, Bass Place, Dublin 2.