PANTOMIME may be looked upon, in this age when contempt is the sole reward of tradition, as a rather trifling entertainment fit only for children and the Christmas holidays. But it has none the less a distinguished history, and, of course, the immortal figures who revive the forgotten joys of star-traps in the Harlequinade are among the oldest that the theatre can claim. Mr. Birch, who will talk this evening, is an unusual combination of scholar and practical man of the theatre. A Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, he was until recently responsible for the productions of the Cambridge A.D.S., and he has also to his credit some of the most interesting London productions of recent years, such as Prisoners of War, The Red Umbrella, and Berkeley Square.