New talent at Repertory

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33521, 30 April 1974, Page 10

New talent at Repertory

Despite a shortage of experienced male actors in Christchurch, a strong cast of 26 has been assembled for the Canterbury Repertory Theatre Society’s 'production of “Dylan,” by Sidney Michaels. The play, directed by Jennifer Blumsky, will open on May 25.

New talent was found at well-attended open auditions, and some members of the society’s Theatre Training School will also appea: in the production.

“Dylan is a chronicle of the last two years in the career of the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas. It is based on material in books by his wife, Caitlin, and his American friend and manager, John Malcolm Brinnin. Thomas died at the age of 38 in 1953. This is Jennifer Blumsky’s first major production, but she is no stranger to the play. She played Caitlin (with Con O’Leary as Dylan) in the 1967 Auckland Festival production, directed for the Grafton Theatre by Gil Cornwall. As Jennifer Barren she was well-known as an actress to Christchurch audiences, most recently in Patrie

Carey’s Repertory' production of “You Never Can Tell” and Yvette Bromley’s Court Theatre production of “The Heiress.”

The cast of “Dylan” has been in rehearsal for six weeks.

The demanding title role is being played by Mervyn Glue, and that of Caitlin by Jill Wilcox. Both had leading roles in “Under Milk Wood,” the Elmwood Players production which last year won the fourth New Zealand-wide fulllength play festival, sponsored by Benson and Hedges. A Canadian, Doug Newman, plays Brinin, Dylan Thomas’s manager on his American tours.

Thomas’s American mistress, Meg, is played by Elody Rathgen. Stephen Betts is Angus Marius, the American publisher of the poet’s works, Jacqueline Lowit is Annabelle, John Blumsky is Jay Henry, an American tycoon, and Dorothy Hart is his predatory wife, Elena. Other roles will be played by Bruce Baudinet, Janet Wilson, Tom Harding, Norman Walker, Toni Peters, Beryl MacLeod, Philip Oates, Strath McKnight, Ray Pyne, Suzanne Powell, Cheryl Brinton, Ruth Chignell, Karen Anderson, Virginia Heath, Brett Collings, John Bullock. Karen McAtalmney, and Eileen Wilson, The Canterbury Repertory Theatre Society has received a grant of $lOO from the Christchurch City Council. Acknowledging the grant, the chairman (Mr John Hendry) said the money would be applied to the theatre improvements fund,