ALEXANDER WATSON.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19862, 25 February 1930, Page 15

ALEXANDER WATSON.

"THE EVERLASTING MERCY." Many are prejudiced again3t elocutionary recitals —or rather, against elocutionists. Tlvey carry in mind a vision of Sunday school concerts, where various small children, and sometimes some of larger growth, have demonstrated the awful effects of a course in elocution. Mr Watson does not "elocute" ; he is an artist. Now the outstanding feature of any artistic presentation of a iiterary, or inusictu vvorkj is th&t in it the executant succeeds in identifying himself with the mood and the attitude of the creator of that work, without presuming to add anything that may suit his personal whims, and without using the work as a medium for the display of it is own virtuosity. This identification was the chief merit of Mr Watson's rendering of Masefield's "Everlasting Mercy" at the Radiant Hall last evening. By "his agency the poem was given form until it was no longer distant and literary, but dramatic. living, and as real as part of one's own experience. The poem itself is a statement by one, Saul Kane, of his early life 0 f debauchery, and of his conversion to a clearer vision through the instrumentality cf small and .natural things. Mr Watson gave the actual presence of Saul Kane, musing on the evil he had left behind him, relating the story to his friends, and in the grip of the strong emotion that courses through him. The poem lends itself to the purposes of such a recital, but it is a high compliment to Mr Vatson that the story came to the audience with the reality and the force of a personal narrative. The moving incidents were presented with forue, and the moments of reflection with a quietness that lent theni added beauty. Perhaps the highest poetic level is reached in the latter portion of the poem, where a sense of the nearness and the tangibility of the pleasant autumn eaith is created. Mr Watson did the justice. Tn the miscellaneous selections which followed, the audience was given the opportunity to appreciate other sides of Mr Watson's ability. In ihe shorter poem, ."The City of Is." by M. J. Savage, the legend of the cathedral under the sea was related, while "The Figure TTead," a sailor's yarn by Crosby Garstin, tells the farcial tale of a mermaid's love for a red-uiated figure head The humour of this r.nd of the two following pieces, ''At the Concert," bv A. W. Bellow, and "The Art of Tumbling," by Alston Collins, entirely cantivated the audience, while showing Mr Watson's versatihiv. At the conclusion <f the programme the audience declined to leave before a further number. "Ethelred,' 1 had been given. . Mr Watson will present to-night another programme, consisting mainlv cf selections from Kipling.

KIPLING SELECTIONS TO-NIGHT. The first part of Mr Watson's recital tonight will be devoted to works by Rudyard Kipling, including "Gunga Din," the first part of "My Lord the Elephant" (Mulvaney s adventure), "The Ballad of the Bolivar," "The Explorer," "We and They," "The Kea and the Hills," "The Bell Buoy." The second part includes: "Sheltered, 1 ' ft backwoods story by S. Orae Jewitt, "Mrs Poyscr Has Her 'Say' Out" (George Eliot), "The Dutchman's Dog" (C. P. Adams), "Imphm" (Old Scottish), "Conn Goes Hunting (Boucicault). To-morrow afternoon a special matinee will be given at 2.30. A popular prommme will bo plvon, including thtf first epi' sode. from "The Little Minister" (Barrie), "The Defence of Lucknow" (Tennyson), three Kipling selections, "Oonts," "Mulhoiland's Contract," "The Hump : ' The King's Breakfast" and other selections from A. A. Milne's works, "Mr Wihklu's Misadventure" (Dickens), '"The Monk Fehx (Longfellow), "Jessie Cameron" (Christina Rossetti), etc. There will not be nn evening recital to-morrow, Thursday will be a Barrie niglit. and on Frld»r CSMles Dickens's masterpiece of humour and pathos, "Dr. Marigold's Prescriptions," will be given.