SCOTT MASQUE.

Press, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20567, 8 June 1932, Page 3

SCOTT MASQUE.

CENTENARY CELEBRATIONS IN EDINBURGH. PRESENTATION THIS MONTH. The Masque, which is being prepared for June 21st to 25th, aud which is to be staged in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, as one of the events which are being arranged for Edinburgh in connexion with the centenary of Sir Walter Scott's death, has, on tho suggestion Of the Outlook Tower authorities/been entrusted to Miss I. F. Grant, author of "The Social and Economic Development of Scotland before 1603," and "In the Tracks of Montrose." Miss Grant will write the words, and the Edinburgh Section of tho Scottish Community Drama Association will undertake the w*hole burden of production. Oast of Over Two Hundred. Mr David Stephen, whose name familiar by reason of his settings of .Scots songs, is composing the music. He is introducing many traditional airs into his composition. Tho Masque will be acted by the Edinburgh groups of the Scottish Community Drama Association. Different scenes will be undertaken by different groups, but the important and difficult task of weaving these performances into a united whole will rest with Mr E. Douglas Robertson, who is honorary secretary for the South-Eastern Division, and i has had fifteen years' experience in I connexion with the drama movement. The stage manager will be Mr James Wallace Bell, who wrote and produced "Symphony in Illusion," the winning production of the Edinburgh Dramatic Festival, which was afterwards given first place in the Scottish finals. The oast will number two hundred persons or more. A Play About Scott. The Scott centenary commemorations opened in Glasgow on April 14th, when the Scottish National Players gave an appreciative presentation of "Scott of Abbotsford," in tho Lyric Theatre. Written by Miss Winifred L. Gunn, the play was in every respect worthy of the occasion and the purpose to which it was devoted. Outstanding happenings at Abbotsford and Edinburgh .were realistically unfolded in the second act, and the drama moved rapidly until the ciimax was reached with the entry ot Ballantyne bearing the news of the novelist's financial losses and threatened bankruptcy." ___________