Drama festival begins

Press, 28 July 1976, Page 6

Drama festival begins

New Zealand Theatre Federation Area Festival, Repertory Theatre, first night: “Adaptation,” by Elaine May; directed by Stewart Robertson for the Elmwood Players. “Stay Where You Are,” Olwen Wymark; directed by Patricia Harris for the Halswell Drama Group. “The Happy Journey,” by Thornton Wilder; directed by Colin Alexander for the Repertory Theatre Course. Christchurch has, once again, the largest drama festival in New Zealand and the first programme last evening left no doubt that this week will be an extremely stimulating opportunity for theatre people to compare techniques, discover new writers and revalue their methods. The first play, for example, was a shapeless, gimmicky affair set in a television studio with a highly philosophical quiz game in progress. But it held the audience in spite of this by a fresh production approach, and several very promising performances —particularly from the actors employed in the fashionable manner of utilities. “Adaptation” was a poor script saved -by competent performance; but the other two plays were more felicitously chosen, and. surprisingly, both of them reached a standard that in recent years

would have carried them into the divisional finals. Largely, this was through some exceptionally strong acting, particularly of female roles, but there was also a continuous sense of very sound and inventive directing. "Stay Where You Are” is one of Wymark’s better pieces, and the obvious influence of Pinter is so well integrated into this femaleorientated nightmare that it simply intensifies an already traumatic atmosphere—though it could certainly take cutting. The story involves an extremely unpleasant old woman (Dorothy Screen) who has enticed a girl (Elizabeth Beamish) into her room; both of these were excellently done, with good supporting performances from John Warren and Kerry Huston. The only real fault in an otherwise very powerful production was in some rather sloppy, grouping, accentuated by a loose set. Thornton Wilder’s oneacter I would have thought defies revival—it belongs so emphatically to its period in both style and content. So I have no hesitation in describing Colin Alexander’s production of this highly intractable piece as the triumph of the evening; his sensitive direction was all over the piece, but his achievement is the more remarkable when you realise that he gave most of the cast all the training they

have. None of them was less than polished, and the two best performances—Deborah Williams and Fiona Samuel as mother and daughter—reached an exceptionally high standard in both movement and (American) speech. It is critical folly to pick winners from a first heat, particularly with the lonesco and Williams works coming up this evening; but there can be no question that the competition for this year’s finals will be the most intense of recent years. —Howard McNaughton