“THE PRESS” PREVIEW OF THE FESTIVAL (1)

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30677, 17 February 1965, Page 15

“THE PRESS” PREVIEW OF THE FESTIVAL (1)

Opening On Monday

O New Zealand John Caselberg of Nelson and a cast of 11 are holding what almost amounts to a festival of their own in the Repertory Theatre on March 6 and 7 (2.15 and 8.15 p.m.). His anthology of Maori chants and speeches, European oratory and verse and readings from letters of historical importance was gleaned during his researches for two plays he has written. He has unearthed neglected treasures: speeches by Maori chiefs opposing the Treaty of Waitangi; Maori petitions to Queen Victoria and Lord Derby’s replies; sayings of the prophet Te Whiti; some rare poetry; a 1928 parliamentary speech by Sir Apriana Ngata; and a Maori opinion on the All Black Tour of South Africa in 1960. These contribute to his two-and-a-half hour programme. It combines the dramatic and humorous and was conceived to give a fresh view of New Zealand history. Mr Caselberg’s cast includes the Maori soprano, Liza Mahuta, and Auckland actor, Alexander Guyan, whose play “Conversations with a Golliwog,” and the

serial play “Life With Fred” have been heard on radio. One of Dunedin’s foremost actors, Michael Noonan, and Dr. Rina Moore, a noted Maori speaker from Nelson, are in the cast to read the anthology which is sub-titled “Where the Maori Speaks.” Critics who heard Auckland and Dunedin performances

heartily applauded “O New Zealand.”

N.Z. theatre Miss Ngaio Marsh will give a lunchhour lecture in the Christchurch Cathedral from 1.10 p.m. on Monday, March 1. As an authority on the history of the theatre in New Zealand, which is her subject for this lecture, her appearance in the cathedral is associated with the origins of English drama in the churches with which she will preface her account Miss Marsh will trace the emergence of drama from the churches to the market places—a link with the York mystery cycle in the festival—and also describe the Victorian theatre inherited by New Zealand. From here, her review of plays and acting in this country will cover the lively period from the late nineteenth century to the years that preceded motion pictures with sound. She will recall famous travelling companies that came to New Zealand with such famous players as the English actor-manager and master of farce and the mixture of comedy and pathos, John Toole, the American Shakespearean actor, George Milne, H. B. Irving, Oscar Asche and Ellen Terry. The full pic-

ture here includes the theatre of Australia as well. Finally, Miss Marsh will describe the theatre’s standing in this country today and the problems of the virtual absence of professional theatre and the attempts to overcome them. Actors reading Canterbury Repertory Society players, joined by JoLnathan Elsom, will give five lunch-hour poetry readings in the Chamber of Commerce hall. The programmes include New Zealand lyrical poetry and ballads, the work of Christchurch poets in particular, comic and absurd verse, John Donne and Shakespeare, and a Dylan Thomas dialogue, “The Mouse and the Woman.” Brian Bell, Helen Holmes, Annette Facer, Don Farr, Dennis Lili, Huntly Eliott and John Kim are the readers. The times are: noon on February 23 and March 5; 1 p.m. on February 26, and March 2 and 3. Admission, free. N.Z. poems The Canterbury Repertory Society’s producer, John Kim, will be reading New Zealand poetry in the Christchurch Cathedral on March 2 at 1.10 p.m. He has chosen his programmes to illustrate the changing ways in which poets have looked at the New Zealand scene, its landscape and its people: pioneer writers reporting on the new country to home readers; narrative and descriptive verse; poets’ views of Christchurch; and the shift to the critical and analytical work of poets concerned with themselves and social matters. Poets chosen include: Arnold Wall (“City of the Plain”), Ursula Bethell, D’Arcy Creswell (“From Lyttelton Harbour”), Basil Dowling (“Canterbury Nor’wester”), Robin Hyde, William Hart-Smith, Alistair Campbell, C. K. Stead, R. A. K. Mason (“On the Swag”), and A. R. D. Fairburn (“A Farewell”). Alan Curnow and Charles Brasch have been chosen to represent the analytical poets, critical as well as taking an appreciative and subjective view of the scene. 20-20 Vision Twenty painters and sculptors have prepared an exhibition of astonishments which is likely to surpass in vision and experiment what even hardened members of the public expect from some Twentieth Century art. The organisers began working on the vision last August and do not claim there will be great art here; they do insist on the serious purpose of laying aside customary ideas and materials for a while and exploring the possibilities of new ground. People who have spied out what has been going on would like to know why Tom Taylor, the Governor’s Bay sculptor covered a fully clothed man in plaster of paris and then cut away his trousers as a cast. One artist has been

filling plastic gloves with plaster. Others have painted eye-teasing pictures. This sort of thing has been going on in ever-increasing avant garde circles for some decades, inspired at times by Marcel Duchamp who motorised paintings, produced extraordinary constructions and paved the way for pop art and the appreciation of industrial-age objects. Humour, satire, experiment and, perhaps, a discovery of importance are in this exhibition at the Durham street gallery. Painting today Mr Peter Tomory, before he left the Auckland Art Gallery to work at the Elam School of Fine Arts, toured New Zealand to select the fourth exhibition arranged by the gallery to draw attention to new ideas, new painters, and the vitality of contemporary painting. There are forty pictures by 31 artists in this exhibition opening at the Durham street gallery on February 22. The painters include Rudolf Gopas, Pat Hanly, Colin McCahon, Doris Lusk, M. T. Woollaston and Quentin Macfarlane. Startling colour is characteristic of most of the pictures; arresting visual devices are the feature of many. This is meant to be an informative show to indicate, not what is necessarily the best painting being done in New Zealand, but what is inventive and fresh from the workshops of both young and established artists. 20 potters Twenty leading New Zealand potters have supplied examples of their work for this display which was first conceived as a way to show the Japanese potter, Shoji Hamada, what kind of pottery is being produced here. This should be an indication of the best pottery being made in New Zealand today. It shows a strong Japanese influence. Several of the exhibitors have worked in Japan. Most are professionals and all have been invited by the visual arts committee of the festival to submit six pieces or sets. The Canterbury Potters’ Association, which has 80 members, is staging the exhibition. Some of the contributions will be for sale. This should be the finest collection of local pottery ever assembled in New Zealand and as such forms part of the association’s efforts to encourage even those who treat pottery as a hobby permitting creative expression to strive for high standards of design and craftsmanship. A Japanese potter who has already left a mark here is Takeichi Kawai, who visited New Zealand last year and gave demonstrations. Potters from all over New Zealand have arranged to see this display and the work of Mr Hamada. The considerable place that pottery has acquired in the festival reflects its growing attraction for many people who combine a desire to undertake creative work with a reaction against machine production, repetitive presion and decoration.

For city, house and garden

Furniture The European fine arts gallery at the Canterbury Museum is showing the most comprehensive collection of furnishings, porcelain, silver and glass assembled in Christchurch for many years. (Open to visitors for a month from February 18. Admission free.) Here are the museum’s fine collection of English and Continental porcelain, recent gifts and purchases—many of which visitors have had little opportunity to see, and Georgian and Regency furniture (c. 1760-1820) lent by private collectors. There is a magnificent French inlaid commode (Louis XV) ornamented with gilt ormolu. It has a golden marble top. French furniture is displayed on an Aubusson carpet belonging to the museum and the backdrop is the Victoria and Albert Museum tapestry which is on loan. On a fine Persian carpet in the centre of the gallery, is a Regency dining table, laid, and set with splendid candelabra. The Lyttelton portraits given by Lord and Lady Cobham and other paintings decorate the hall. There is a collection of Irish glass and old silver. Ikebana Two flower masters, as they are known in Japan, will give demonstrations each lasting two hours, of Japanese floral decoration. They will begin at 10 a.m. and 2.30 p.m. in Hay’s theatre on five days from February 22. Decoration with flowers reaches one of its most refined forms in Japan and is an important accomplishment for all women. The Japanese Government has sponsored these demonstrations by Mr Shinei Maeda, who has been demonstrating in the United States, and by Mrs Toyoko Fukuda, a lecturer in floral art at the Ikenobo Lakeside College. They have decided to work with New Zealand flowers and foliage. Their programme Includes a lecture on the history of flower arrangement, an hour devoted to illustrations and a period for questions from their

audiences who may also have the opportunity to try out their own arrangements. This art of “living flowers,” or Ikebana, emphasises the value of the individual flowers. The Japanese deplore the submerging of the individual beauty of leaves and blooms the floral profusion charateristic of European arrangements. Their style is based on line, economy, harmony of colour and great simplicity. Art and religion are closely bound together in Japanese culture and flower arrangements can be an expression of experience and thought. Flowers are handled and contemplated with reverence and, as with other Japanese arts, their arrangements may be for the sake of spiritual enlightenment. Careful treatment of materials, association of forms with philosophical concepts of heaven, man and earth, are among the more esoteric elements of floral constructions. But Japanese arrangements today are usually free of the more formal rules and are adaptable for European household decoration. Japan’s art The 101 items in the exhibition of Japanese decorative arts (Hay’s, admission, 2s 6d; from February 22) are insured for 10 million yen—about £lO,OOO. This is a choice and very beautiful collection of pottery, lacquer ware, metal and cane work and some exquisite embroidery. It is mounted by a Christchurch architect, Mr David

Brokenshire. The artists and craftsmen who have supplied the pieces are all well known in Japan. The split cane work is exceptionally fine; the pottery covers a range of schools from folk craft styles in stoneware to brilliant cloisonne enamel and abstract, sculptured ware. There are 20 lacquer ware items, and 16 examples of metal work including delicately etched, decorative plaques. Flower show Flowers are being flown from five countries and four Australian states for the immense show which the Canterbury Horticultural Society will open for three days in Hagley Park on February 24. It is the biggest arranged by the society and will take five and a half acres of the park near the Armagh street entrance. India has asked for 100 sq. ft. for its exhibition. Holland, Singapore, Ceylon, and Fiji, Western and South Australia, New South Wales and Queensland are sending- cut flowers. Native flora from these countries and a big selection of tropical flowers will be a feature of this show. All the local specialist societies will have displays and a 180 ft. marquee will contain decorations from garden clubs.

Architecture How architects work, the many threads they draw together, and an exercise in conceiving an image for a new city centre are the themes for an exhibition arranged by the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Architects, It will be showing in the Christchurch architectural Association atelier. This means the second-floor studio in the Devon Chambers, 93 Worcester street, opposite the Avon cinema. To show, stage by stage, the implications of an architect’s work, projects by five architects are illustrated in detail with perspective drawings, working drawings, and photographs. A commercial office, now under construction, a public building, a students’ hall, a church and a house, all in Christchurch, have been chosen for this display. It will show how town planning, by-laws, fire safety, client’s requirements, aesthetic considerations, servicing details, structural elements and building techniques are worked together. Models of new buildings will be included. One of the city’s keenest advocates of a revised conception of Cathedral square and its adjoining streets, Mr A. L. Mitchener, has been catalyst for a group of six young men, architects, a draftsman, and an art student, who have executed the other theme. They have been working for some months on a study of part of High street. Cathedral square and Colombo street north to Victoria square. Their purpose is to put an image in the public mind, though not a firm scheme, for the renewal and redesign of this area with special regard for building heights and the possibilities of closing the streets to motor traffic and reserving them for pedestrians. Sketches and photographs will illustrate their message which they have called “A Square in Search of a City.” The city will be able to find it on week days and Saturdays from February 22 to March 6 (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.—9 p.m. on Fridays). Admission, Is.