Actors

Two child stars of "Slumdog Millionaire" are at risk of losing their monthly stipend and their trust fund if they don't at- tend school more regularly, a trustee for the fund said Thursday. Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail, 11, and Rubina Ali, 10, shot to fame after starring in the Oscar-winning movie. But these days, Azhar is showing up at school only 37% of the time, and Rubina has only a 27% attendance rate, the trustee said. "It's pathetic," said Noshir Dadrawala, who helps administer the Jai Ho trust established by the filmmakers to provide an education, living allowance and housing for the young stars, who both grew up in Mumbai's real-life shantytowns.

The New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater has been the most significant not-for-profit theater group in this country since it was founded by Joe Papp more than 50 years ago. During his lifetime (he died in 1991), Papp made theater in America both accessible and essential. From the late '60s to the mid-'80s, he produced landmark plays such as "Hair," "A Chorus Line," "That Championship Season," "The Normal Heart" and "Short Eyes," plays that transcended their moment in time.

The BBC says little-known actor Matt Smith will take over the title role in the long-running sci-fi series "Doctor Who." The 26-year-old is the 11th actor to star in one of Britain's most popular TV shows -- and the youngest. Smith has appeared on the London stage and starred in the political TV drama "Party Animals," but is a relative unknown. The new role will make him a major star in Britain, where "Doctor Who" regularly draws 10 million viewers per episode. Current star David Tennant plans to leave the show after four special episodes this year.

Actors' hospital: A Thursday article in Section A about plans to close the Motion Picture and Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills said actor Jean Hersholt planted 48 acres of walnut and orange trees at the site. When Hersholt found the property for the facilities in 1940, the trees were already there.

The growling "Hey!" that Martha uses to summon her husband, George, in the Rubicon Theatre Company's production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is a guttural noise choked with savagery and a thick smoker's phlegm. An emasculating sound if ever one existed, her bark is the recurring audio motif of this rousing revival, which brings an invigorating if sometimes strained animalism to Edward Albee's classic vivisection of WASP marriage. Joe Spano and Karyl Lynn Burns play the unhappily wed academic couple who spend one very long night (and part of the next morning)

OK. So I know I'm supposed to be shocked to discover that Christian Bale cussed out the director of photography on the set of "Terminator Salvation" last summer. (You can listen to his tirade on my blog, but be warned: The language is most certainly R-rated.) But is it really a surprise that Hollywood actors -- even really gifted ones like Bale -- often act like bullies and idiots? After all, if you look back at the history of film, there is a long tradition of brilliant nut cases, from Marlon Brando and Peter Sellers and Rip Torn right through Nick Nolte and Don Johnson to Sean Penn, Joaquin Phoenix and Russell Crowe.

I've been a big fan of Christian Bale since I saw him in "American Psycho," in which he delivered a very deep and intense performance. Then I heard his inexcusable and demeaning tirade a couple of days ago ["Tinseltown's a Tirade Town," by Patrick Goldstein, Feb. 5]. I'd really like to know if he apologized to the director of photography and to everyone who witnessed this outburst. I feel for the person at whom his tirade was aimed, as well as those who witnessed it. There are definitely better ways to get a point across to people who make mistakes in a more respectful way than with a vulgar, expletive-laced and really long tirade.

Re: "When charity ends at home," April 13: Maybe the story should have criticized the wealthy actors who have donated money to politicians instead of helping the actors' home and hospital. Eleanor Cias Granada Hills

Re "SAG's next take," editorial, April 21 If Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg and his cronies succeed in sinking the agreement his opposites on the board of directors made with the studios, their only success will be to sink the normally dysfunctional union into total irrelevance. While guild members have lost a reported $65 million in compensation, Rosenberg's people steadfastly refused to recognize that they were not going to bring the producers to their knees by threats and bluster.

Of all of Shakespeare's comedies, "As You Like It" might just be the most difficult to follow. The comedy of romance and mistaken identity contains cross-dressing, character doubling and a fly-by gallery of supporting clowns whose paths intersect with a velocity that can make your head spin. The New York-based Aquila Theatre, in residence at the Shakespeare Festival/LA, mischievously seeks to compound rather than simplify the confusion by having actors take on multiple roles in Russian-doll fashion.