January 3, 1982

THE father figure in Bill Thompson's adaptation of ''Hansel and Gretel'' is a performer who lives for art but can't eke out a living. He represents man's spiritual nature, which needs to be nourished against materialistic odds. The theme proved portentous. After last Sunday's twilight performance of the fable at the Harry Chapin Center for the Performing Arts in Huntington Station, the theater, which had been on the brink of bankruptcy, shut its doors permanently. The following evening, the board of directors met and found no alternative but to cancel the balance of the season because of insufficient funds. Regrets to subscribers were mailed yesterday. Tomorrow, the legal steps are expected to begin.

Turned up to a high pitch and filtered through a true writer's sensibility, anger is once again proving to be a powerful force in the theater. Just how powerful is being demonstrated by the proliferation of angry plays of all shapes and sizes on New York stages this season -from the eight-and-a-half-hour ''Nicholas Nickleby'' on Broadway to Shirley Lauro's 25-minute ''Open Admissions'' Off Off Broadway. The anger comes in a variety of forms, too. While some of it is political anger aimed at social injustice, much of it is personal, psychological or existential. In his savage comedy ''Grown Ups,'' Jules Feiffer gives us a hero who decides to expiate a lifetime of emotional grievances with his middle-class Jewish family. Christopher Durang's ''Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You'' begins as a satire of Roman Catholic ritual and ends up crying out against the seeming indifference of God. But whatever their variations in subject or attack, the best of the new angry plays share a common purpose and achievement - to make the audience squirm uncomfortably in its seats.

It has taken special legislation and 42 years of negotiations, but for 1,200 residents of Broad Channel, Queens, the day appears finally to be coming when they will be able to call their homes their own. Residents have had to live under a permanent threat of eviction because, although they own their own homes, the land under their houses is owned by the city. The land leases are for a period of one year only, and the city hasth e option to terminate the leases at the end of each period and gi ve homeowners 10 days' notice to leave. ''Living under the lease arrangement has meant living under constant pressure,'' said Daniel Tubridy, a restaurant owner who grew up in Broad Channel and whose parents and grandparents all live in the community. ''You realize that there is a serious threat, but also that the city could never move you out. We would go to the streets if we had to.''

SOME people on Wall Street have their own name for the new tax law. They call it the ''Accountants' Relief Act,'' and they're not far off. The radical changes that Congress enacted last year in the nation's tax system is translating into big business for accountants this year, when those provisions take effect. And 1982 shapes up as the year of the accountant, if there ever was one. ''Accounting flourishes when there is change,'' said Henry Gunders, co-chairman at Price, Waterhouse & Company, which ranks No. 4 among the elite Big Eight firms that dominate the accounting profession. Russell E. Palmer, chairman of Touche Ross & Company, the No. 8 firm, added that ''1981 was our best year ever. And 1982 will be even better.'' The accounting business is bursting not only in the Park Avenue towers where the leading firms are based, but also in the offices of certified public accountants throughout the land. Greater demands by municipalities, businesses and individuals for more precise information of all types, particulary more accurate financial information, have made the accountant a much sought-out individual. Everybody seems to need accountants. ''You have much more complex problems that you are dealing with,'' explained William L. Raby, chairman of the Federal tax division of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. ''It's not enough to be somebody who knows a little about taxes. That's becoming dangerous.''

The following dispatch is based on information arriving from Poland. Sources with knowledge of Lech Walesa, the Solidarity leader, said yesterday that he had set pre-conditions for negotiating with the Government. One was that the talks be on neutral ground. He has also reportedly demanded that the rest of the 18-member union presidium and three advisers be present.