Bad Boy of Ballet Forced to Resign???

This morning's newspapers were awash with stories about the sudden departure of Royal Ballet artistic director Ross Stretton. The 49-year-old leaves after just 18 months in the job and amidst allegations of affairs with numerous ballerinas, casting improprieties and general mutiny in the 90-strong dance company. Last month frustrated dancers were reportedly poised to vote a motion of no confidence in order to depose their leader, and performers union Equity was brought in to present their concerns to Tony Hall, executive director of the Royal Opera House, where the Ballet resides. Stretton has now left under a cloud with a leaving statement suggesting that the Royal Ballet is backward-looking, more interested in its heritage than in "the future of ballet". And speaking of arts bad boys, disgraced Tory party chairman and millionaire author Jeffrey Archer seems to be up to his old rule-bending. Currently serving four years in an open prison for perjury, the playwright now faces being returned to closed incarceration after he was caught attending a drinks party when he was meant to be at his family home. Until a decision is reached, Archer has been banned from his day release scheme working at Lincoln's Theatre Royal (See The Goss, 19 Aug 2002).

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