The Balinese scene was of a shrine or temple, with a light burning before the figure of God who sat in it, the whole stage being in dim lighting and with lianas and creepers hanging down from the flaps above. Stevie had by now fixed up all sorts of coloured spotlights and they were quite invaluable. The story of the dance was of a young priestess who, dedicating herself to the pure service of her God, was tempted by the Monkey Devils, who were in turn driven out by the God of the Sun. Lighted torches, beats on a special drum and the quite new type of dancing made another triumph for the Dutch producer, Filippe van de Broek.

But the ballet, produced by our old friend Johnny Duncan, was the piece de resistance. Johnny selected and fitted the music, and called it The Sleeping Beauty, and the cast consisted of Prince Charming, a Witch, the Sleeping Beauty, eight fauns and four dwarfs! But every Prince Charming we selected either went sick or up country, and in the end Filippe van de Broek took the part over at 36 hours notice. The standard of dancing achieved by the chief three was simply astounding. The Witch pirouetted to flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder and the Prince and the Beauty performed the intricate Sleeping Beauty Waltz perfectly together in the finale. The only people on the stage who didn’t enjoy it were the fauns. They, dressed in bits of fur and fluff here and there, were decidedly self conscious. The backcloth was a Walt Disney style of forest with red toadstools and a little bent house. Altogether, it wasn’t a bad finale to the old theatre.

There remained now only four or five months before the officers were to leave Chungkai and, as Nip restrictions on entertainment were steadily making things more difficult, the only really consistent thing of interest was a series of straight plays, once again excellently produced by Leo. He had got his company fixed, drilled and efficient, and he could now put a play on in two or three weeks. They performed Youth at the Helm, Major Barbara,Accent on Youth and Dr Clitterhouse. In each case not only was the level of acting – especially among the female impersonators – very good indeed, but the props people back stage were producing out of bamboo, old matting and mud paint, dummy radiograms that lit up when turned on by the actor and behind which a musician could play concealed; and they made a grand piano that looked like a grand piano and there was also a team of décor artists that could turn out good backcloths with paints made from mud, leaves, and various coloured bullock manures!