Expressionistic plays

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33263, 28 June 1973, Page 16

Expressionistic plays

“Mirror Mirror ... (or perhaps not),” a series of short original plays — “Gladys Goldmein,” by Jerry Buske and Allan Hanes; “Samson,” by Chris Brown, produced by Sandra McMaster; “Isom’L,” by Patrick Brennan, produced by Sue Hill; “Abyss,” by Chris Dillon, produced by Steve Howard; “Revelation,” by David Eddy, produced by Peter Bowker. University of Canterbury Drama Society, Ngaio Marsh Theatre. June 27-30. Running time: 2hrs 15min. In the Drawbridge graphic which the student drama society has been using for programmes and publicity, a vague, dark figure is reflected in a mirror. This sets the tone of the area of theatre that they are apparently trying to explore: not a neatlyframed, discreetly touchedup piece of photographic naturalism, but a hazy, sometimes terrifying, vision seen through an unreliable, distorting lens, which derives a good deal of its impact from suggestions of what lies outside the frame.

This is, in fact, expressionism—a word seldom used about New Zealand productions — and the students are to be warmly congratulated on attempting material which does not have much obvious audience appeal, at a general level, anyway.

The programme consists of three of these expressionistic pieces, and a version of the Old Testament story of Samson which seemed to me stylistically remote from the others; it was all held together by an opera buffa by Jerry Buske and Allan Hanes, offered in four episodes between the other plays. GOOD FUN The opera was good fun and well performed, particularly by Viv Daley in the central part; to start with, I thought it undercut the mood of the three main plays, but its final effect was to give the audience a chance to realign itself between the more serious pieces. The Samson play came across as something of a “drama buffa,” though I am still not sure of the intentions of the author and producer. The audience certainly liked it for its occasional eruptions of absurdity, but it did not seem to capitalise systematically on any comic build-up. It seemed amazingly incoherent, whatever its intentions. SUBTLE SYMBOLISM

“Abyss" is an interesting piece, particularly in its use of vague locations and tantalising personal relationships. Subtly-depicted symbolism was also effective in the play, but the author seemed uncertain of an appropriate language register, a problem in “Samson,” too.

“Isom’L” began like a Socratic dialogue, developed into a kind of parable (again with some good symbolic hints), and ended with a couple of recorded monologues. Somehow, though, there seemed to be an inappropriate tidiness about this play, a reluctance to leave the connotative depths unmeasured, and an odd sense of elusive didacticism lay over the whole thing. BEST STRUCTURALLY

“Revelation” certainly appealed to me most, partly because it seemed better structurally than the others; its central paradox (which activates its dramatic potential) is in the clarity of its situation (an interrogation), and the absence of specific details. In this, it is rather like Anthony Taylor’s plays. Visually, it was also much the best, with dancers, interrogators, strobe lighting, a bit of bodv painting, the lot. Dianne Levy managed well in the main part: her movement set the mood, and her voice was good, too. All of these plays have their unsatisfactory areas, and some of the performances are pretty amateurish also. But at least one feels that this is what a university drama group should be doing: providing provocative, original, experimental materia) with a minimum of audiencecourting and plenty of vitality. —H. D. McN.