THE WEEK’S RADIO "The Emperor Jones”

Press, Volume C, Issue 29402, 3 January 1961, Page 14

THE WEEK’S RADIO " The Emperor Jones”

“The Emperor J6nes” is one of Eugene O’Neill’s earlier plays, nut his supreme mastery of stagecraft is already evident in it, and the title role has become an almost classic test of a coloured actor’s skill, from Paul Robeson onwards. In a 8.8. C. production of the play to be heard from the YC’s at 8 pan. on Friday, the part is taken by William Marshall, an American actor.

f Brutus Jones, an American former convict has built up a small but profitable empire on one of the smaller West Indian islands, outside the scope of white man’s jurisdiction. The play begins at the moment when his subjects revolt against his cruelty and rapacity. The Emperor Jones sets out alone to make his escape through the forest to the coast He has hunted so often in the forest that he thinks he knows it like the back of his hand. But his Cockney henchman. Smithers, knows the forest and the natives better than does their "emperor.” "Ternight when it’s pitch-black they’ll ’ave their pet devils an* ghosts foundin’ after you. YouTl find yer 'air'll be standin’ on end before tomorrow mornin’,” he warns. Jones's illusions of power and success turn to helpless panic as the ominous beating of drums grows louder and faster in the darkness; ghosts from his guilty past appear, and the forest still stretches black and endless before him.

“Finnegan’s Wake” Tim Finnegan lived in Walkin street, A gentleman Irish mighty odd, He had a tongue both rich and sweet. And to rise in the world he carried a hod: Now Tim had a sort of tippling way, With the love of the liquor he was bom. And to help him on with his work each day. He’d a drop of the craythur every mom. Whack fol the dah, dance to your partner Welt the flure, yer trotters shake, Wasn’t it the truth I told you, Lots of fun at Finnegan’s Wake. This ballad, sung by Dominic Behan to introduce the 8.8. C. programme “Lots of Fun at Finnegan’s Wake,” (3YC, 731 tonight) not only provides the title of James Joyce’s book, but is a key to a whole work. L. A. G. Strong, the novelist, first pointed out in “The Sacred River” that much of the symbolism of this “most obscure and baffling book ever written” (“Finnegan’s Wake”) is based on a great mass of popular songs from which Joyce quoted, in each case reinterpreting by punning to suit developments' in the story. Of all the songs, the title ballad is the most important and appears in some disguise in every chapter, but many other street ballads are quoted, in addition to arias from Italian opera, musichall songs, nursery rhymes, negro spirituals and more conventional Irish melodies. An understanding of these allusions can obviously help to interpret the book, and both tonight’s programme and another to be heard later—“ More Fun at Finnegan’s Wake”—attempt to aid understanding it. The first programme examines songs connected with the hero,. H. C. Earwicker, and the second is concerned with Earwicker’s son, Shaun, twin brother of Shem, or Jim the Penman, who is partly a self-por-trait of Joyce.

Maori Viewpoint Few N.Z.B.S. features have aroused such interest as “Coming to the City,” broadcast in “Point of View” some months ago. In this programme, six Maori students discuss among themselves their experience in adjusting to city life. They do so with a frankness which shakes a few commonly accepted beliefs about the Maoris and which aroused a women’s organisation to. protest to the Director of Broadcasting. The discussion will be rebroadcast by 3YA at 4 p.m. on Thursday.

Artists Talk Reg Butler, originally an architect, earned world-wide terne as a sculptor with his "Unknown Political Prisoner,” which was awarded an international prize in 1953. In a 8.8. C. interview to be heard from 3YC at 9.35 pjn. on Thursday, the Canadian broadcaster, Ronald Hambleton, asks him about the distinction between an art and a craft—Reg Butler makes many practical things like chairs and electric fires, as well as his own sculptor's tools—and what his work means to him. The sculptor proves to .be a fluent and communicative talker, able to reveal something of the fundamental working of an artist’s mind. Another artist, this time a conductor, is interviewed by Wynford Vaughan Thomas in a 8.8. C. programme to be heard from 3YC at 9.55 p.m. on Sunday. He is

Sir Thomas Beecham,' who was recorded within a day or two of his eightieth birthday, giving his views on composers, people, and places today and in the past. Sir Thomas Beecham, says Neville Cardus, has lived long enough to enjoy the legend that has gathered round him, a legend that depicts him as a man of-the world, a witty, sophisticated cynic, and a conductor of irresistible allurement, persuasiveness and style, but lacking depth. The legend tells only half the truth, as the interview shows. Wild West Opera Puccini's opera, "La Fanciulla del West” or, as it is often known, “The Girl of the Golden West,” is enjoying something of a new .lease of life on the gramophone, for three complete recordings of it have been released in England within the last two years. One of these will be broadcast by 3YC at 7 p.m. on Thursday. The opera was performed for the first time at the Metropolitan in 1910, amid, great publicity and expectation. The cast included Caruso, Emmy Destinn and Pasquale .Amato and Toscanini was the conductor. Even such performers as these could not keep it in the repertoire for more' than four seasons, however, for it was hopelessly weighed down by a preposterous libretto, and Puccini’s score, reflecting his discovery of Debussy, was only intermittently in the style of his highly successful earlier works. In the recording to be heard from 3YC, the leading roles are sung by Carla Gavazzi (soprano), Ugo Savarese (baritone) and Vasco Campagnano (tenor).