Priestley at the Priestley talking about, er, Priestley.

Imagine that. Well you might, for it is happening.

Tom Priestley, son of Bradford-born playwright, novelist, essayist and broadcaster J B Priestley, is coming to The Priestley theatre to launch a book about his father's theatrical career and thoughts.

Mr Priestley, a former film editor who worked on such well-known movies as Deliverance, The Great Gatsby, Tess and 1984, also happens to be president of both The Priestley and the Bradford-based Priestley Society.

J B Priestley: The Art of the Dramatist, and Other Writings on the Theatre (Oberon Books at £12.99), is in three parts. The first is a chronicle of J B's relationship with the theatre, both as a playwright and as a producer. The second part consists of J B's own history of the English theatre. The third part concerns the importance of theatre as a public experience.

"There is no guarantee that a play will be an electrifying experience but at its best going to the theatre is one of the few communal activities left. It is something we don't get anywhere else.

"We have got even less with television and the internet. You see people beetling about in the street with their mobile phones, not responding to anything in front of them, " he said.

More than 20 years after the old eclectic's death and a handful of his plays are still being produced.

"I haven't got the figures in front of me, but An Inspector Calls, When We Are Married, Time and the Conways, I've Been Here Before, The Linden Tree, Dangerous Corner are still popular.

"It's always possible to do a wellmade play badly and yet still get something out of it. Well cast and directed, there is a lot of strength and emotion in them, " he added.

Having seen or heard on the radio all but one of them, Time and the Conways, I can testify to both points.

His reputation today, I should say, lies with his work for the theatre and the broadcasts he did on the radio during the early part of the war. Post Script, a rumination aloud on public and personal affairs, preceded Alistair Cooke's 15-minute letter From America.

What might his father have thought of the state of theatre today?

"The great change has been the Arts Council and the subsidised theatre.

There was no National Theatre in his day, though he was on the committee that set it up, I think.

"The way the commercial theatre works is exactly the same: the need for big stars to fill seats; the excess of musicals rather than serious plays, are still with us.

"In London we have pub theatres and small places and they do a good job; but they are a world apart from the National Theatre. I think my father would have been pleased with the National but very disappointed with the rest of theatre, " he said.

As much as he might have been disappointed by some aspects of the Labour Party in office, perhaps? (J B being a committed Socialist. ) "I think he would have thought that political activity should come from the roots up rather than from the top down. We seem to be lectured at a lot these days.

"Perhaps it is about politics letting things happen rather than forcing them to happen. There's always a great difference between what they say is going to happen and what actually happens.

"There is an unconscious spirit in the land that makes us go in a particular direction. We do not move in the direction laid down by politicians, " he said.

Tom Priestley is appearing at The Priestley on Sunday, March 19, star ting at 2pm. For tickets ring (01274) 820666.