DRAMA FESTIVAL.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 204, 30 August 1933, Page 3

DRAMA FESTIVAL.

» 3 I FARCE AND SENTIMENT. HELPFUL CRITICISMS. With the aid of such advice as Miss Elizabeth Blake offers to each eociety competing in. the current festival of the British Drama League (Auckland area), the standard of local play production is sure to rise, and the public attitude towards amateur theatricals «..l l>o more sympathetic. Last evening the second of the first festival to be held in Auckland, saw three playettes presented, after all of which. Miss Blake completely won over both tho hearts of audience and players by her frank criticism of faults, and equally helpful suggestions for improving play, technique. Whether the production was farce, romance or drama, she was always there with understanding and appreciation, looking at the work from the dual angles of audience and fellow-producer. The first of tho three entries was tho Avon Circle's excellent interpretation of Gertrude Jenning's farce "The New Poor," in which Miss Blake saw much to praise, with especial regard to the manner in .which the play speeded up in the second half. The adjudicator, speaking from the stage after the curtain-fall, dealt with the work of each player in turn, then said a word about the play—its production and type—every point -being expressly designed to aid the local amateurs. The second production of the evening was Rachel lliyman Field's beautiful sentimental play, "The Patchwork Quili," in which the central figure ie an old lady whose mind wanders when her grasping daughter and son-in-law take her cherished but old-fashioned possessions from her. The happier days of her past are reenacted on a beautifully-lighted stage, the whole effect being one of fine taste. Miss Blake admitted to losing her heart to the young man of the piece as portrayed by Miss E. Crozier—albeit she was definitely opposed to seeing ■women on the stage in modern male dress.' This was quite the beet such representation —among amateurs and off the music-hall stagethat she had seen. The ability of the old lady to sit and listen while her past unfolded itself to her, the promise of real dramatic talent ehown by each and every player in this production by the Greenhithe Women's Institute, were given due emphasis by the criticiser. The Piopio Dramatic Club, which, led off the festival on Monday, closed the programme last evening with, a wellconceived version of the A. A. Milne dialogue drama "The Stepmother," in which a mother of five daughters and her husband's illegitimate son "find themselves." The possibilities of production, restricted in this play, were carefully outlined by Miss Blake, to the advantage both of audience and players. A move here, a slight change in the placing of the scenery, a hint as to the difficult work of interpreting emotional stress, and noble sacrifice—all these points and more received their due. Last evening's audience in the Concert Chamber proved the growing warmth o£ the public response to the idea of festivals of community drama. To-night's entertainment will consist of "The Maker of Dreams," by the Hamilton St. George's Dramatic Circle; "Ghoste on Christmas Eve," by the Georgian Readers; and "The Maid of France," again by the Hamilton St. George's Dramatic Circle. It promises to be quite as interesting a programme as Monday's and Tuesday's. The second of these productions, unlike any of the others to date, has two scenes.