BETTER COMPETITIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 255, 28 October 1929, Page 3

BETTER COMPETITIONS.

CHANGES NECESSARY. "PLAY MODERN DRAMA." SUGGESTIONS BY JUDGE. Suggestions for improving competitions were made by Mr. J. William Bailey, of Wanganui, judge of elocution at the Auckland Competitions Society's festival, in an interview. His main point was that more attention should be given to the work of modern dramatists. Of the difficulties met in trying to run the competitions programmes through to schedule time, Mr. Bailey said that the periods allowed for many of the sections was most inadequate. "I understand that this was caused by an influx of eleventh-hour entries," said Mr. Bailey, ''and I should like to say that the competitors and the general public are to be congratulated on the spirit shown in the circumstances. Some days we were hours behind. It is important that this should not be so. There must be harmony if good work is to be expected." To parents, Mr. Bailey gave a few words of advice. "Please yourselves whether your child learns to play or to sing, or studies any of the other accomplishments, but see- that it learns to speak correctly. A child must always talk, and by its speech will often be judged. Let the children read aloud at home and see that-they do not fall into any of the affectations of their elders. Above all, let them learn the pure vov, 1 sounds of the English language. Hani ember what Ruskin said: 'If I had a child and were able to give him only one accomplishment, it would be to be a good reader.' Misuse of Gesture. "The principal fault at the competitions," said Mr. Bailey,- "is that many children have been what may be .termed 'too evidently elocutionists,' with all the tricks and rules too obvious. This is perhaps necessary in practice, and should be attended to in exercise, but the spirit of the piece should be all that matters in performance. Gesture is quite in order when it helps to create a picture, but when it is merely an addition without meaning it detracts from the interpretation. So many children at this festival, erred in this direction. They merely waved their arms in circles, or made such a studied, lengthy, movement that one naturally stopped all thought of the piece and watched the flourish.

"Incidentally," remarked Mr. Bailey, "I heard it whispered early in the festival that judges from 'little Wanganui' might not be satisfactory. With all modesty, I might mention that 60me years ago I was interviewed by a doctor representing the British Government and offered the position of instructor in Vocal Therapy in London at the recommendation of the 8.A.D.A., to assist in the restoration of speech, to shell-shock soldiers." Many of the classes at the competitions were judged.under difficulties and the problems which judges faced in trying to take any handicaps into consideration are illustrated by stories which Mr. Bailey tells of some of the larger elocutionary sections. "One of the classes with 46 competitors had to be finished in the office," he said. "Many had paid to hear the children and naturally could not be refused admission, so the competitors, the stage manager and myself had a space about eight feet in diameter to work in; this space grew even smaller as the work went on. The piece included the lines: 'East and West,' which often brought in their train a circular wave in. each direction. It was quite all right when the child motioned to the East, but indicating the West, the hand was brought into the diaphragm of the stage manager. Boy 3 in the class which '. was to' follow that one were placed outside on the balcony, and as they came forward, I marvelled at the number of snub noses among them, until I realised that it was nothing more than a little circle of dirt. They had been watching the class through the French windows .and had pressed their faces against the glass."

Drama and Opera Suggested. Competitions must not be allowed to die out, if the aesthetic side of the child's development is to be properly attended to, declared Mr. Bailey. "That this may be possible," he said, it may be necessary to change the usually accepted classes and make the type of entertainment more modern. I think that many of the straight out individual classes might be done away with and the same work introduced through presenting oneract plays and scenes from opera. It should be easy, in a city like Auckland' where there is such a line Little Theatre Society, to gain its assistance in the matter of entries. The society's producer could not find time to coach, but he could make valuable suggestions as regards selection, and it would provide the active members with a wonderful opportunity once a year. In this way every aspect of the art would be presented in its most delightful form. None of the literary value would be lost, for many of the greatest brains of the day are writing for the drama. Children could be catered for in the same wav.

"As a further argument in favour of the suggestion," added Mr. Bailey, "it must be admitted that while present day poets do not seem to' have the poetic insight of the old masters, the same cannot be said of the playwrights of today—Shaw, Galsworthy, O'Neill, Synge, Milne and countless others. They are well up to the highest standard."