When Sheila Ballantine was offered a role in Kenneth Tynan’s 1970 erotic revue, Oh! Calcutta!, she averred that “I don’t mind being naked on stage, but I draw the line at being naked with bad material.”
In her significant, wide-ranging stage career, Ballantine, who has died aged 98, knew where to find the real action and was consistently drawn, over 70 years, to the highest quality company of writers, directors and actors at the Old Vic, the Royal Court, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in plays by John Osborne, Simon Gray, Joe Orton and David Storey.
