MUSIC AND DRAMA

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21909, 9 October 1936, Page 5

MUSIC AND DRAMA

Soon —The Roscians Drama Society will present “The Heart of the Shamrock.”

October 10—Dance recital by pupils of Miss Rona Vaughan at Radiant Hall; proceeds for the Plunket Society.

DOMINION TALENT ON LONDON STAGE

BIG CONTRIBUTION MADE

Writers, players, and producers from the Dominions are making a bigger contribution to the London stage than ever before, says “The Morning Post.”

At the moment plays by a Canadian and an Australian are running in the West End; one of the most successful comedies of recent years is by a New Zealander; a young South African dramatist has had three plays produced in London since the summer of 1934; and nearly a score of leading actors and actresses, as well as one or two producers and managers

of distinction, hail from the Dominions.

In the past, the Dominions and colonies have yielded few well-known dramatists. The late Dion Titheradge, of Australian birth, was an exception. To-day, however, we have such promising writers as Dr. Merton Hodge, who wrote “The Wind and the Rain” and “Grief Goes Over,” and who was born and educated in New Zealand; and Mr Noel Langley, a 24-years-old South African from Durban, who is gradually establishing a reputation as dramatist and novelist.

Mr Langley continues to experiment: his three plays so far have been the roystering “Queer Cargo”; “For Ever,” a tale of Dante and Beatrice; and a South African drama “Farm of Three Echoes.” *

The last piece, given- for a special performance nearly nine months ago, with Dame Sybil Thorndike in the cast, was interesting as one of the few plays by a Dominion dramatist with a “native” setting. Plays of South Africa are uncommon, and of other Dominions almost gs rare. Miss Mazo de la Roche, authoress of “Whiteoaks,” now at the Playhouse, sets the scene in her own Canada; but Miss Margot Neville, the Australian authoress of “Heroes Don't Care,” at the St. Martin’s, has chosen the north of Norway.

A recent play of Australian interest. “Golden Gander,” by Mr Henry C. James, was done first at Croydon last autumn under a, different title, and later at the Embassy, when Miss Coral Brown, herself an Australian, had an important part Just after the war an

all-Australian comedy of the hackblocks, “On Our Selection,” by Steele Rudd, had a very brief London run. The Dominions have given us many more actors than dramatists. Australians on the stage at present include Miss Madge Titheradge, bom in Melbourne; Miss Marie Lohr (Sydney), Miss Clarice Hardwicke (Melbourne), Mr Cyril Ritchard (Sydney), Miss Nancy O’Neil (Sydney), and Miss Coral Brown (now appearing to “Heroes Don’t Care”). South Africa has produced Miss Marda Vanne (Johannesburg) and Miss Dorothy Black (from the same city), who, in addition to her notable work as an actress, once made a good stage version of “The Edwardians.” From Canada come Mr Raymond Massey. born in Toronto, and now one of our most celebrated actor-producers; and Miss Frances Doble (Montreal). Miss Victoria Hopper was born in Vancouver. Miss Marie Ney, educated in New Zealand, did her early acting in AustraliaThen, too, one of our most perceptive producers, Mr H. K. Aylifl, Is from Grahamstown, South Africa. Mr Sydney Carroll, a manager who has done much for the stage, comes from Melbourne. So the record proceeds.

Conrad Veidt and Raymond Massey have been given two of the leading parts in “Under the Red Robe,” a film version of Stanley Weyman’s _ historical romance of the days of Richelieuwhich Robert T. Kane is making at Denham for tha Twentieth CenturyFox Corporation.