THE WEEK’S RADIO Congreve And Wilde Comedies

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30107, 16 April 1963, Page 15

THE WEEK’S RADIO Congreve And Wilde Comedies

Although it was not produced until 14 years after the death of Charles 11, William Congreve’s play “The Way of the World” is generally considered the finest of the Restoration comedies.

Unfortunately for Congreve, his masterpiece was a little late on the acene, for two years before its production a tract by an obscure clergyman, Jeremy Collire, had condemned the “immorality and profaneness of the English stage.” This had a considerable effect on audiences and helped to usher In a period cd insipid sentimental comedies, with the result that “The Way of the World” was at first a failure. But Congreve’s brilliant satire on the society of his day has been better understood and appreciated by later audiences. Indeed Lytton Strachey declared it to be ‘•among the most wonderful and glorious creations of the human mind.” Its wit, the scintillating style and rhythms of its language, the sophisticated characters with their frailties and their complicated relationships, both dynastic and emotional, make perfect material for radio, and in Charles Lefeaux’s 8.8. C. World Theatre production, from 3YC at 7.30 pm. on Friday, the parts of MiUamant and Mirabell are played by Dame Edith Evans and Sir John Gielgud. These two greet actors make the famous “contract scene,” where each states the conditions upon which they will agree to marry, easily recognisable as the most brilliant scene in Restoration comedy. The music, adapted and arranged by Lionel Salter, is by John Eccles, who grew up during the reign of Charles 11, became Master of the King’s Band of Music under William 111 in 1700, and in the same year composed the incidental music for the original production of “The Way of the World.” Two hundred years later than “The Way of the World,” Oscar Wilde was writing plays whose wit and sophistication bear comparison with Congreve's. The setting is the same—fashionable London society, that seems to have changed remarkably little in the interim. But, unlike Congreve, Wilde does present some really good people. The hero of “An Ideal Husband’’ (3YA, 7.30 tonight) is a fundamentally good man who was once, in his youth, guilty of one dishonest act; his wife is a thoroughly good, highprincipled woman; and there are some reasonably honourable people among the fools and wits who appear in the background. This is another 8.8. C- ■ World Theatre production by Charles Lefeaux. The play was first produced in 1895, when it ran concurrently with “The Importance of Being Earnest’’ and Wilde was supreme in the London theatre. Neu; Records The longest work in John Gray's “New Records” programme, from the YCs at 8 p.m. tonight is Bartok's Second Rhapsody for Violin, played by Isaac Stern, with the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein. Bartok wrote this work, which is in two continuous movements, in 1928 and dedicated it to Zolton Szekely, the leader of the Hungarian Quartet. The session will begin with the least known of the four overtures Beethoven wrote for "Fidelio,” the “Leonora” Overture, No. 2, played by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Lorin Maazel, a young American conductor who has lately been making a great name in London. A third orchestral item comes from the baroque period. Handel’s Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B-flat is played by Leon Goossens, with Yehudi Menuhin conducting the Bath Festival Chamber Orchestra. Completing the programme are two examples of Mozart's church music—“Et Incarnatus Est” from the C minor Mass and “Lauda te Dominum” from the Solemn Vespers, sung by I the Swiss soprano, Maria Stader, with the late Ferenc ‘Fricsay conducting the Radio (Symphony Orchestra of Berjlin. Marceau Speaks The famous French mime. Marcel Marceau, is as voluble off stage as he is silent when on it He talks freely about himself and his art, as listeners will hear when “The Voice of Mime” is broadcast in the national women s programme from the main national stations art 11 a.m. tomorrow. Laughton Reads In the last 15 years of his life, the late Charles Laughton achieved some of his greatest successes by reading and telling stories to audiences. A recording of one of these performances may be heard from

3YC at 9.15 pm. tomorrow. It flows easily from reading to reminiscence. He ends a reading from Jack Kerouac's novel, “The Dharma Bums” with an observation that demolishes those who haw celled the author a beatnik, then talks about modern ant. Henry Moore, the great stained glass windows of Chartres Cathedral, and so on. Optical Maser In the BJB.C. “Science Survey” from 3YC at 7.30 pm. on Monday, Dr. John Sanders, of the Clarendon Physics Laboratory at Oxford, talks about the optical maser, a unique device developed in recent years. Already used for radio-astronomy, it may eventually load to an entirely new means of communication in outer spece. Dr. Sanders says; “The optical maser provides us with a light beam which could carry at one time many millions of conversations, enough for all the inhabitants of the earth to talk

to each other in pairs.” He describes a ruby maser, one of the first working models made by an American team in 1959, as well as a gas maser he has successfully developed himself. “Tannhauser”

From 3YC at 7 p.m. cm Sunday. James Robertson will introduce a recording of W'agnet’s opera, "Tannhauser.” Franz Konwitschny conducts the Chorus and Orchestra of the German State Opera, Berlin. and the cast includes Hans Hopf (tenor) as Tannhauser, Elisabeth Grummet (soprano) as Elisabeth, Dietrich FischerDieskau (baritone) as Wolfram, and Gottlob Frick (bass) as Hermann.