Theatre A 'Blueprint Of The Future’

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30783, 22 June 1965, Page 2

Theatre A 'Blueprint Of The Future’

The theatre is intended to be a blueprint of the future, according to Miss Katherine Matthies, producer of Peter Howard’s play, “We Are Tomorrow,” which will be presented in Christchurch this week. “Every one unconsciously copies what they see on the stage or screen to some degree,” she said yesterday

Anyone who had anything to do with the theatre had a tremendous responsibility to guide the public. “I believe we are meant to use the better part of human nature in the theatre, drawing on patriotism, the love of home and the love of humanity , so that we build for future generations a world that is really worth living in,” she said.

Actors and producers should use their talents to inspire as well as to entertain their at.diences. A profound play did not have to be obscene to attract audiences, she said. “The Sound of Music” was an example of the “fresh clean living and fun" that entertained and inspired audiences. ■ “Everyone enjoys seeing it,”' she said. Miss Matthies said the “an-| gry young men” of the theatre should save their breath—and their talents—for something worth becoming angry about.: “It seems to me they are only propagating the new morality,: which I see as the old immor-1 alitv.” she said. The stage was the ideal place for putting across ideas —love or hate, she added. Asked if she would enjoy producing “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Miss Matthies said: “I would not want to produce it or put actors in it” The play was not relevant to the present age, for one thing, she added. “We have advanced technically so fast (with men walking in space) it is time we helped people catch up morally. We still have the same hurts, hates, greeds and divisions as the people in cave-man times," she said. Miss Matthies puts Peter Howard in the same class as George Bernard Shaw as a playwright.

“Howard projects thoughts and action to meet the needs of modern humanity,” she said. Peter Howard, a columnist of the “Daily Express,” was sent to investigate Moral ReArmament and became its world leader. He died early this year.

Miss Matthies received much of her training as a producer from him. So far she has not attended a school of dramatic art, but hopes to do so soon.

German-bom Miss Matthies and her family left East Berlin for the United States in 1951. She graduated from San Gabriel College, near Los Angeles, and became interested in the theatre when invited to take part in a film produced by Moral Re-Armament in Michigan. This part led to roles in plays and the musical, “Space Is So Startling.”

“In the cast of 80 in this show we had players from 20 different nations and the premiere was in Tokyo,” she said.

From Japan the company had a season in the West End. London, and then travelled through England and Scotland. Germany, Switzerland and India. “It was in India that we also did ‘We Are Tomorrow’ and from then on I became seriously interested in production. I prefer producing to acting; like most actors I always thought I knew better than the producer,” she said.

Miss Matthies described this play as being a tremendous challenge to producer and cast. “It is a witty, provoking play. It is life and makes everyone in it think as well as act,” she said. The Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) asked for a special performance of the play to which he invited members of the Diplomatic Corps and others in Wellington. The company also presented a special performance of Howard’s “The Ladder” in the social hall, Parliament Buildings, for members of Parliament, Miss Matthies said.