THE WEEK’S RADIO N.Z. Play A bout Immigrants

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29716, 9 January 1962, Page 3

THE WEEK’S RADIO N.Z. Play A bout Immigrants

The Auckland playwright, John Graham, originally wrote his play, “Lest We Resemble,” for the stage and its first performance was a rehearsed reading given by the United Theatre, Wellington, several years ago. Now the play has been adapted for radio — with the close collaboration of the author by Earle Rowell, whose N.Z.B.S. production of it will be heard from 3YA at 7.30 p.m. tonight.

The play concerns an old Dalmatian settler. Ivan Mrkugich, who has bulit up a prosperous vineyard at Henderson, near Auckland. He bought the land with money earned when he worked as a gumdigger in Northland, and he has developed the vineyard with the assistance only of his wife. Mary, and his daughter, Zarka. His son. Tony, is more interested in writing poetry than in growing grapes. One Sunday, two strangers call, and force him to break the law by selling them a bottle of wine. Then they reveal themselves as detectives, who have deliberately trapped him. Ivan is so angry that he attacks one of them with a gum spear. This incident is the beginning of the tragic downfall of Ivan and his family. The play in many ways provides a parallel to Richard Benyon's ‘"The Shifting Heart.” which presented the problems of Italian immigrants in Australia. Taking part in this production are Ernest Blair as Ivan Mrkusich and Yvonne Lawley as Mary. Bloch Quintet Ernest Bloch, who died in 1950 at the age of 79. was one of the great solitary figures of modern music. He was a Swiss-born Jew and a considerable amount of his music is concerned with Jewish themes and has a distinctly Hebraic character, but he was not simply a nationalist composer on the 19th-cen-tury pattern. Similarly, while he was a strongly individual composer who took little interest in fashionable trends, he was not reluctant to write in an advanced idiom. An example of this is his Quintet for Piano and Strings, which may be heard from 3YC at 1026 tonight Written in 1923, and since established as one of the greatest modem chamber music works, this work combines the use of dissonance and quarter-tones with more conventional melodic passages. An agitated first movement is followed by a mysterious andante that is permeated by a deep sadness The last movement is >n allegro that begins with tremendous energy and harshness but resolves into a radiant climax. Tonight’s performance is by the Qumtetto Chigiano. German Play Gunther Eich, whose play, “Omar and Omar,” will be heard from 3YC at 8 p.m. on Friday, is both a distin-

guished poet and one of the best known German writers for radio. He takes radio writing unusually seriously, regarding it as a specialised art in its own right, and he will not allow any of his works to be presented on television. “Omar and Omar” is not one of his most serious plays—though humour is one of Eich’s strongest points —but it has the enigmatic sense of mystery that is characteristic of his work. The first Omar is the Caliph of Bagdad, surrounded by riches, but tormented by fearful dreams. The other Omar is a poorly-paid stevedore, with whom the Caliph is contrasted. Omah the Caliph is played by Hugh Burden and his counterpart by John Slater in this B B C. production. French Bacon

On Saturday at 739 p.m. 3YC will broadcast the first of a series of talks on Francis Bacon (1561-1626). produced by the 8.8. C. for the 400 anniversary last year of the birth of the great writer, statesman and philosopher. In the first talk. Professor F. P. Wilson, formerly Merton Professor of English Literature at Oxford, speaks of Bacon’s career and writings “Power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring.” wrote Bacon. Unfortunately, not only was his counsel—though "wise and far in advance of his time.” says Professor Wilson—always rejected by others, but he himself failed to live up to his principles. His fall from power as Lord Chancellor of England followed when he was found guilty of taking bribes, but his wisdom lives on in his writings. He was convinced that the true goal of science was “the belief of man’s estate.” a doctrine that holds more significance for us today than ever before. Sibelius Concerto The great violinist Jascha Heifetz, has made many records in the course of a recording career that extends back to the days of singlesided 78s, more than 40 years ago, but few of them have received such unanimous acclaim as his recent recording of the Sibelius Violin Concerto, which will be heard from 3YC in a Sibelius programme beginning at 8 30 p.m. on Saturday. This record, in which Heifetz is accompanied by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, “is clearly one of the finest of all Heifetz’s gramophone

records.” according to one English reviewer, who called it “a performance of great nobility, consummate technique and great artistry which must in some measure put every other (recorded) version in the shade.”