ON a 15ft. stage, before an audience of 150 seated on tubular chairs and old benches, an important piece of theatrical history was made in London last night.
The first performance of a banned play by rebel Russian novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn took place at the tiny theatre on the second floor of No. 55, Exhibition Road, Kensington.

The play, Candle in the Wind, was performed by a group of part-time Polish actors. And there was less fuss than at the opening night of a local drama production. Solzhenitsyn wrote the play, which is partly autobiographical, after his release from a Siberian labour camp. It was to have been put on at the Palace of Culture in Moscow, but the Soviet authorities moved in, broke up the props, burned the script and banned the play. It was smuggled out of Russia, only recently printed in Germany and finally translated by Polish exiles in London. Directions Nobel prizewinner Solzhenitsyn, now living in exile in Switzerland has sent directions for the play. He regards "Candle in the Wind" as among his finest work, says the play group. Solzhenitsyn, author of "Cancer Ward" and "Gulag Archipelago", has indicated he may fly to England next week to attend the play. It is performed in Polish, but the group is planning an English version. Said 23-