Three One-Act Plays By Elmwood Players

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30809, 22 July 1965, Page 18

Three One-Act Plays By Elmwood Players

Three one-act plays were presented by the Elmwood Players in their new hall at Fulton avenue last evening. “The Wedding.” written by Anton Chekhov and produced by Alex Henderson, was a verycreditable performance. The scene is a wedding breakfast and about 10 of the cast are on stage for most of the play. The cast give lively, interesting performances. In the final dramatic rumpus at the end of the play, it was easy to imagine how the play might have been a fiasco with the limited stage fcilities in the hands of a less capable cast. The second play, “A Night Out,” which was written byHarold Pinter and produced by Hunter Bell, is the story of an over-possessive and demanding mother and her son, Albert, who is defensive and withdrawn. Albert literally has a night out which includes a party, a pick-up and a fist fight with his mother, and eventually achieves a sort of aggressiveness which he mistakes for independence. The performance was convincing enough, but the production was rather crammed for a one-act play. It was elaborate and ambitious for such a small stage, and although the frequent changes of scenery were swift and painless, the play lost continu-

ity. Some of the minor character roles were well handled Ron Palmer as Seeley and Chris Joyce as Mrs Stokes both gave creditable performances. The final play, “Rhyme and Treason,” written by Terence Journet and produced by Brian Cooper, is the story of a princess in the tower and the desperate struggle to find her a husband before she is 21. The production and performance were of a fair standard. Ted Loftus was very funny as the bedraggled Prince Caias and gave an excellent character performance, but the Queen was rather too despotic and her husband rather too matter-of-fact to be a convincing pair. The plays will be presented each night this week, and “The Wedding" and “Rhyme and Treason” will be presented later this month in the British Drama League festival.

Classroom Block Sought.— The Timaru High School’s board of governors will press 'for a new classroom block at Timaru Boys’ High School, recommending to the Department of Education that it be sited at the corner of Oxford and North streets.