STIMULATING PLAYS BY N.Z. WRITER

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31728, 11 July 1968, Page 18

STIMULATING PLAYS BY N.Z. WRITER

“Fragments in Plastic.” Four short plays by Max B. Richards. Produced for the University Drama Society. Ngaio Marsh Theatre, July 10-13. Running time 8 p.m. until )0.35 p.m. These plays may at times shock you, bore you, annoy you, but they will certainly leave you with a sense of stimulation. Max Richards has not yet arrived as a major New Zealand playwright, but if audience apathy does not deaden his present impetus, he will not only arrive, but stay. The University Drama Society gave Mr Richards four strong casts, all of them thoroughly rehearsed, and competently produced. Few universities could have provided such an Insultingly small audience. The four fragments are plastic-brittle climaxes in the lives of the vogue age-groups: young people starting life, and old people finishing with it—both disillusioned with what it appears to offer them. “The Cuckoos” are a family without security, without roots, and split by the selfishness of the children who look forward to the future with angry boredom, and the selfishness of parents who look back to the past with regret. Tony Blackett, Jenny Anderson, Annabel Rillstone and Chris Grosz used an unfortunate declamatory style which killed any sympathy for them as people. They worked well as a team though, to produce a few exciting climaxes. Brian de Ridder produced. The best acting of the evening came from Juliet Walker, Paula Logie, Mabel Phlange and Basil O’Sullivan as four old people sharing their loneliness on the roof of a city building. “The Roof,” published last month in “Frontiers,” needs pruning by a third, but is still a sensitive statement about the selfishness of, this time, old people. Iff style, it is Beckett with sentiment rather than despair. Susan Morrissey’s production enlivened the static script with imaginative detail and moving concern.

The young lovers in “Waltz of the Apples” continue to illustrate the selfishness of any love relationship. With an empty pram symbolically between them, Tony Blackett and Annabel Rillstone ate apples with less innocence than Adam and Eve and to less effect. But their movement and dialogue did dance excitingly and showed the playwright at his economical best. Brian de Ridder’s production used the stage most effectively. The last play, produced by the playwright, showed that he could entertain. “Sadie and Nico” has, dare one admit it, plot! Although it is deliberately unlikely (the possessive, selfish love of a freezing worker keeps his prostitute-mistress a prisoner when she is seriously ill), the plot creates an excitingly theatrical conflict. Lionel Rogers and Shirley McGregor build up fascinating characters and involve one in their distorted relationship right up to the electric curtain. For all their immaturity, these plays are worth seeing for their own sake. And anyone who has ever wanted to see New Zealand produce a playwright who could hold his own with an All Black should go to the theatre this week to encourage the birth of a possible candidate. —P.R.S.