N.Z. PLAYERS’ NEW PRODUCTION

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27874, 24 January 1956, Page 14

N.Z. PLAYERS’ NEW PRODUCTION

JOHN HUNTER TO HAVE LEADING ROLE

One of the leading actors in the New Zealand Players’ forthcoming production of “Twelfth Night” will be John Hunter, who will play the part of the witty and gay clown, Feste. He will return to New Zealand from Canada today. Edith Campion will play the part of Viola. John Hunter appeared with the New Zealand Players as Puck in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and the Wicked Fairy in “Love of Four Colonels.” He went to England a year ago and acted with the Birmingham Repertory Company for a short season. In Canada he has appeared in radio and television productions. Rehearsals will begin this week for “Twelfth Night,” which will be presented in 28 tdwns. starting at Wellington on February 27. Two New Zealanders will appear as guest members with the Players this year. They are Redmond Phillips, who has been a leading member of the Birmingham Repertory Company for the last five years, and will play Sir Toby Belch, and Rosalind Atkinson, a Shakespearean actress of note with a distinguished career on the London stage since the late 1920’5. Miss Atkinson has been specially released by the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre Company at Stratford-on-Avon for the season with the Players. After the Shakespearean tour she will be seen again in a modern play with the company.