Emlyn Williams Says "Dickens Adult Fare"

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28541, 21 March 1958, Page 14

Emlyn Williams Says " Dickens Adult Fare"

Children should not as a rule be expected to read many of the great classics which are used in schools as textbooks, in the opinion of the Welsh actordramatist, Emlyn Williams. Mr Williams arrived from Dunedin this week for a short season in Christchurch. Mr Williams is of the opinion

that the classics, and the works of Charles Dickens, especially, are adult fare.

‘They were written for adults and they contain irony and satire which require an adult mind for appreciation,” he said. “If children get it rammed down their throats they often dislike it and the work is spoiled for them later.”

Famous novels and stories by Dickens and Dylan Thomas, which would provide scenes for his solo performances in Christchurch, were in no way “highbrow” Mr Williams said.

“Not Readings” ‘‘Please don’t say they are readings. Readings sound so dreary. They are performances that have a lot of humour in them and have gone down well in Auckland and Dunedin. I found New Zealand audiences just as quick, receptive and sophisticated as those in America and Australia,” he said. Mr Williams carries with him a specially-made period costume which he wears as he acts the character of Dickens himself. He does not dress for his Thomas performance. His primary appeal will undoubtedly be his soothing voice and perfect, but unaffected, manner of speech. No highbrow or poseur himself, Mr Williams is very much a man of the earth. His outlook is practical ("a playwright can make a good living these days just the same as a good commercial business can”) and his outdoor preferences are swimming and walking. (“How far away are your beaches?”) Fond of Reading He is intensely fond of reading (mainly biographies and historical novels) and carries, borrows and buys books on his travels. Preparation and research for his present series of performances took a full year of study. His thirteenth play—a four-act dramatic comedy .entitled “Beth” —will open in London this week. It is typical of Mr Williams’s down-to-earth outlook that the theme of the play is modern family problems: Mr Williams is not a Welsh Nationalist and says he is one of the few Welshmen who do not sing

But he likes meeting his fellow Welsh and while he is in Christchurch will meet the Canterbury Cambrian Society.