BAN DEFIED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 266, 10 November 1938, Page 24

BAN DEFIED.

NO ACTION IS TAKEN. ANTI-FASCIST PLAY. PRODUCED IN SYDNEY. (Frem Our Own Correspondent.) SIDNEY. November o. N*e,w Zealanders who are followers of the Little Theatre Movement will be interested to hear how the New Theatre League in Sydney has won a two years and a half battle against the censorship of Clifford Odets" anti Fascist play, "Till the Day 1 Die." When the piny was first produced in 1030 it was banned by the then Chief Secretary (Mr. Clmffey) at the instigation of the < -el'ma n ("onsul-( General in Sydney. Mr. Chaffey then said it wahis duty to protect the people from anything which incited them to violence, or taught thein the means of violence, but he was forced to admit that he had neither seen nor read the olav.

This was tantamount to an admission that he had clamped the. ban on it merely on the say so of the ConsulGeneral, and left Sir. Chaffey open to the accusation that he himself must have Faeeist leanings to take such a serious step without making any inquiry or having any report on the plav. The New Ineaire League got around the ban by continuing to produce tho play privately, and it was, of course, quite an easy matter to obtain an invitation to a performance. But. meantime, Mr. Chaffey has disappeared from tlnstate Cabinet, and the new Chief Secretary (Mr. Gollan) has shown himself a more liberal type of man. Accordingly, a fortnight ago the New Theatre League gave a public performance of the Odets play and as nothing happened announced publicly that it would repeat the performance last Saturday. It was then stated that detectivcs would attend the performance.

After this second performance of the play, Mr. Gollan said no action would be taken against this defiance of Mr. C'haffey's ban. "Wo do not want to give the idea that we wish to control the Preea or etage," he said.