The Living Arts

Press, 13 June 1978, Page 18

The Living Arts

Maori art Maoris from as far away as Twizel will gather in the James Hay Theatre on Saturday night for the annual festival of Maori culture, run by the Waitaha Maori Cultural Council. The festival is Canterbury’s preliminary for the annual South Island festival, which will be held at Labour week-end in Picton. Two teams from Twizel and many from Christchurch and the immediate area will compete on Saturday night, and there will be performances by guest artists as well.

Mime and monologue Richard Bennett, the mime artist who made a good impression on Christchurch audiences at Arts Festival time, will return this week for a season of three nights in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre. Mr Bennett is based in Wellington, where he is senior lecturer in drama at the Wellington Teachers’ College. He is also leader of a mime group, Mime International, which has toured most of the country in the last few months. This is the group with

which Mr Bennett appeared earlier in Christchurch; its repertoire includes both satirical sketches and “serious” work. Soon it will have to continue without its leader. Mr Bennett will leave in September to take up a French study grant at the Jacques Lecoq School of Mime and Movement. In conjunction with Mr Bennett’s season, the University Drama Society will present a production by Dick Corballis, a lecturer in the English department, of Samuel Becket’s play, “Krapp’s Last Tape.” This play consists large-

ly of a monologue by an old man confronted by three visions of himself at various ages. It is a typical example of Becket’s plays, which, although widely studied in universities, do not lend themselves readily to production by amateur groups, and consequently are seldom seen. “Krapp’s Last Tape” has a cast of only one: the title role, which in this production will be played by Martin Duffy. The two attractions will run jointly in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.