Legitimate Drama in Christchurch.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19970, 3 July 1930, Page 8

Legitimate Drama in Christchurch.

While the Canterbury Repertory Society must be pleased with its experimental production of J. Sill of

Divorcement, it cannot be said yet that the Society has received the recognition which is its due. Owing, no doubt, to the growing popularity and comparative cheapness of the cinema, the visits to this country of companies presenting legitimate drama are becoming less and less frequent as the years go by, and if it iS possible to keep alive the taste for this drama (and we are not sure that it is possible), it can be done best by such Societies as this and the Drama Society of Canterbury College. Wonderfully as the " talkies" have developed during the last two years, there must be a great number of people who will always prefer the living presentation to the mechanical, however greatly the latter may be improved. The Repertory Society has now presented Mile~ stones, by Bennett and Knoblock; The Two Mr Wetherbys, by St. John Hankin; R.U.R., by Capek; Bird in Hand, by Drinkwater; and A Bill of Divorcement, by Clemence Dane. All these are plays which have attracted much attention in other parts of the world and been presented with success. All are by notable authors and belong to the class of drama which most theatregoers desire to see; yet none of them could have been seen here but for the enterprise and the labours of the Society. All have been competently produced and acted, and whilo there must necessarily be weaknesses in the production of plays entirely by amateurs, the leading parts in all of them have been played with great skill. Much the same may be fairly said of some of the plays, such as The Devil's Disciple, by Shaw, which have been produced by the Drama Society of Canterbury College* in public halls or theatres outside the College. The production of such plays is not only a boon to those who love the theatre and wish to keep abreast of new movements in dramatic art and to see the work of new authors. It is invaluable experience- to the players themselves, many of whom are quite young; while some of these plays have performed a true educational function, for a good play holds up the mirror to the life of the present day in the Homeland, and in other countries, and even in those realms of pure imagination or fancy in which Shakespeare, for example, reveals to us a world of reality. It would be a very great pity if so laudable an enterprise should be allowed to fail merely for want of public interest and support; yet, as we have said, if the public does not want it—if it can only be kept going at a financial loss by the efforts of a few enthusiasts—it must perish, and that would be a genuine calamity.