POETRY-READING FESTIVAL

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28322, 6 July 1957, Page 2

POETRY-READING FESTIVAL

Mrs M. Dronke To Be A Critic

A festival of poetry reading and drama, which the organisers believe to be the first of its kind in New Zealand, will be held m Christchurch on July 20 by the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Association of Teachers of Speech and Drama. Most of the 86 pupils who have entered for the festival are young women and girls, though some young men and boys are included.

The festival will be opened in the morning by the Mayor of Christchurch (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.) and will continue throughout the day. In the evening. Mrs Maria Dronke, of Wellington, who will be the critic in the senior section of the festival, will give a recital of poetry readings and scenes from plays ranging from Chaucer to modern writers.

Miss N. Caughley, of Christchurch, will be the critic for the intermediate section, and Miss Edith Cameron, of Waimate, for the junior section. The festival, which is noncompetitive, will be conducted on a fairly small scale, but the promoters have insisted on a high standard of work. Teachers have been limited in the number of pupils they can enter. All pupils will be given a detailed report of their work and the critics will give them constructive help for improvement in sectional groups. The critics will also give general remarks on pupils’ work to the audience.

The purpose of the festival is to give entrants the opportunity of improving their standard of

poetry speaking before an audience, free from the anxiety of competition yet with the benefit of expert criticism after their performances.