Fourth Programme In Drama League Festival

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30192, 25 July 1963, Page 16

Fourth Programme In Drama League Festival

The fourth programme of the British Drama League festival was presented at the Repertory Theatre last evening. The audience saw four plays; but “Yerma,” the first to be performed, tended to make those that followed seem insignificant. “Yerma.” even in the excerpts offered, gives an opportunity for varied character acting to a numerous cast. It is highly dramatic, and the leading players lest evening made a determined effort to convey the tragic frustration of the predicament in which they found themselves. Patricia Turner was good as Yerma, particularly as her part was one of the most demanding seen in this festival so far. As Juan, Derek Gunn was forceful; but there was a lack of flexibility about his speech and manner that made it hard for him to vary his approach to Yerma. A more lively interpretation was given by Essie Clark as the Pagan Crone. Towards the end, with the introduction of characters

difficult for the audience to identify precisely, the interest of “Yerma” fell away a little. It was, however, always picturesque and colourful; and the producer, lan C. Lund, showed skill in knitting together two acts from the longer work. The next play. “The Barrier,” was acted by members of the W.E.A. Dramatic Society. The piece has been presented before by this group, and on that occasion they acted with greater ease of manner. Nevertheless, Grace Williams’s performance was effective last evening and she had good support from Patrick Sweeney and Wyn Skellerup. Stewart Binse spoke his lines without much expression; and in general the drama of “The Barrier” was not strongly felt by the audience. “The Mask” was a great contrast with everything else on the programme. It turned out to be a thriller, which hovered on the verge of farce. The audience enjoyed it; but did not take it seriously. Alex Aitchison gave the best performance here. “The Mask” was produced by Arthur Penver for the Little Theatre.

The fantasy of “A Jubilee” should seem delightfully absurd; but this result was not achieved by the Shirley Players in their version of the comedy. Everyone in the cast worked hard, none harder than Michael Kilty and Athol Leask, but they were not able to suggest much more than amiable eccentricity Mavis Corbett came nearer than anyone to real comedy in “The Jubilee.” The festival will continue at the Repertory Theatre this evening, when three plays will be presented.