Show recalls old controversy

Press, 19 May 1981, Page 29

Show recalls old controversy

The Robert McDougall Art Gallery has gone back 30 years in a newly-opened exhibition to recall a controversy which caused a deep and slow-healing split in Christchurch art circles. The row was over the purchase for the city collection of a Frances Hodgkins painting, “The Pleasure Garden,” a work which seems conservative, and even a little old-fashioned, today, but which was far too radical in 1951 for the conservative forces in Christchurch. The public argument lasted for several years, and provoked not only a war of words but some artistic commentaries which threw it into sharp relief. One of these (later accidentally destroyed) was painted by the young W. A. Sutton and is the subject of this exhibition.

Sutton, who has ’ been widely known since the 1950 s for his portraiture and his Canterbury landscape paintings, is now retired as reader in art at the University of Canterbury.

The exhibition features his original working drawings for the painting, “Homage to Frances Hodgkins,” in which he shows a group of supporters of the artist grouped around an easel on which “The Pleasure Garden” is displayed. Sutton included himself in the painting, but in the background where he could be seen, while in sympathy with the supporters, to be getting on with his craft.

Although the painting itself no longer exists, there are photographs of it, and one of these is on display. Seen prominently in the middle of the painting is Margaret Frankel, who championed the purchase of the work from the outset.. On her right are two of her most prominent supporters, Rene Lonsdale, and Alan Braissington, and behind the easel is another staunch proponent of the painting, Heathcote Helmore.

Also shown are Colin McCahon, Doris Lusk, Beth Zanders, John Oakley, and Olivia Spencer-Bower. On the floor beneath the easel is a copy of “The Press,” which Sutton included in the painting because it devoted a good deal of space to commentary and correspondence on'the controversy. Play in French Christchurch theatre-goers will be treated to a rare spectacle in the Ngaio Marsh Theatre next month — a play performed in the language by a visiting

French theatre company.

The play is “Huis-Clos,” by Jean-Paul Sartre.. It will be presented by the touring Inter-Europe Spectacles company. Under its English name, “In Camera,” the play is well known and has been produced several times in recent years by local groups. The action is set in Hell, which in the play is merely a slightly overheated drawing room, with a door and a service bell which rarely works, no. windows, and no mirrors (an omission that makes the inmates curiously uneasy). There are couches for each of the main characters, all dead and damned. The cast is an odd triangle of the man-mad Estelle, the lesbian Ines, and Garcin, who is often lost in. narcissistic self-absorption. The trio have obviously been selected to spend eternity together because their relationships will be permanently unstable. As they come to realise, they are doomed to torture each other as punishment-, for their crimes.

To protect themselves, they, attempt to form couples, but are defeated by the arithmetic of the situation. They can neither co-operate with nor ignore one another. Each is tormented by the

knowledge that he is being judged by the others. Garcin sums up the situation in the play’s most quoted line: “Hell is other people.” Plenty of pots Forty of the 230 entries received for the 1981 Fletcher Brownbuilt Pottery , Award were from overseas, the organisers say. They have come from potters in Wales, India, Japan, Switzerland, Australia, England, the United States, and Canada. Entries are up about 50 per cent on last year, and more than 190 New Zealand potters have submitted their work. This exceeds the total number of contributors in the 1980 exhibition.

The winner of the $2OOO award will be announced in Auckland on May 30 by the judge, Richard Shaw, of the United States. He will select one outstanding entry, but may also award a limited number of . certificates of merit.

Shaw is head of ceramics at the San Fraricisco Art Institute.

He will have a week.in which to judge the entries, and afterwards those selected by him for final judging will be on display to the public exhibition in the Auckland War Memorial Museum from May 31 to June 14. Greek revival

A production of “Helen,” a play by Euripides, is being presented this week by the department of classics at the University of Canterbury. The production marks the opening of the. New Zealand Classics Conference at the University. , ' ■ The script is a new translation by Robin Bond, a senior lecturer in the department. Bond is also directing the play and playing the leading male role, Menelaus.

The other roles are filled by students — Stephanie Johnson has the leading female role of Helen and Alan Wright is Teucer. The final performance will be tonight. “Helen” was written and produced by.. Euripides in ’ Athens in 412 8.C., during the long and destructive war between the..city states of Athens and Sparta. But Robih Bond says it is not overtly an .anti-war play. “Its message is transmitted

by implication, with the light touch of ironic and sophisticated comedy, as Euripides diverts himself and his audience with comment through action and dialogue on the tricky relationship between reality and illusion and on the deceptive nature. of appearances.” > Limbs on tour

Limbs, the Auckland-based professional dance will begin a brief tour of the South Island at the end of the month and the company will be in Christchurch on June 2 and 3 to present its new show in the Theatre Royal, in preparation for a tour of the United.States.;'

The company will also perform at -the Theatre Royal, Nelson, on Sunday, May 31, and at the Regent Theatre, Dunedin, on Friday, June 5. , -

Afterwards, Limbs will leave for the United States, where the company will take part ,in the American Dance Festival in North Carolina from June 13 to July 24. The dancers will give public performances in New York and Washington, ’D.C., .and /make a guest appearance at the Los Angeles Dance Festival. They will also give three public performances in San Francisco. , / ■■ - “We are - delighted with these invitatioßsMt will be a great experience for us to be exposed to the American modern dance scene and to come back to New Zealand filled with new impetus and inspiration,” says a statement from the company's artistic director, Mary-Jane O’Reilly. , ' . ‘ Invitations for further overseas performances in 1982 have also arrived. One proposal is for an Australian tour from January to March, followed by a tour of Japan in June; Limbs has also received open invitations to perform in the West End of London and at a number of European festivals. -

The touring company in the South Island will consist of four women -r Mary-Jane O’Reilly, Kilda Northcott, Debbie McCulloch, and Shona Wilson — and three men — Adrian Batchelor, Douglas Wright, and Alfred Willjams. Some 0f... their routines were choreographed by Mark Baldwin, who returned to Limbs from the Ballet Rambert in London six months ago, but recently left again

to join the Australian Dance Theatre. His works on the programme are “Outside the Fight,” described as a dynamic dance for three men; • a sensual dance, “Melting Moments,” set to music by Dvorak; and “Entering the Shell,’’ to:music by., an Auck-. land' composer/ Don McGlashan. The South Island programme will also include “Negation,” Sa dance set to music, by Marianne Faithfull, and choreographed for the company last September by a former member, Chris Jannides, who .made a brief return; visit to/New Zealand from./Australia; /'/// / / . Some new items choreographed . by -. 'Mary-Jane O’Reilly will be included in the programme, and a highlight will be a major work, “Saga,” which has been rechoreographed since its last presentation in Auckland. / / The music for this/: piece was composed by Jan; Preston and Neil Hannan, of the rock-band, Coup d’Etat. The costumes are by a Theatre Corporate designer, Jude Crozier. ; „ ’ ’ - ' Organ recital An internationally-known, organist will give a .recital in the Christchurch Teachers College auditorium on May. 28, during a New; Zealand tour. \ - ■ - •> ,J - • / The visit is part - of his annual world .tour, sponsored by the . electronic-organ manufacturer, Kimball International. Doh Jenkins plays Kimball organs in. all his concerts. ■ ’ ’ - ' • ; Music pL France The. second of a series of foqr harpsichord recitals by David Vine will be given on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the -Southern Ballet Theatre in the Arts Centre. Each programme in the series is devoted to the mu-

sic of a particular country or school. The first recital explored the music of Spain and Italy, and Sunday’s recital will concentrate on the music of France. Almost 300 years of music is covered, from two sixteenth-century anonymous works up to the . death of Balbastre in 1709. Other composers featured in the programme will be Chambonnieres, Louis Couperin, Lully, Francois Couperin, Forqueray, Duphly, and Rameau. The final two recitals will cover music from England and Germany. Anniversary plays . The Dunsandel Players will celebrate a quarter-cen-tury of drama in their district when they present an evening of songs and. plays for a five-night season next month. The’plays, both oneacters, are a- comedy,' “Devil in a Bag,“/and the wellknown thriller “The Monk'ey’s Paw,’’/and' the songs : will be a ' selection from Gilbert and Sullivan. The season will run from June 9 t 0.13. ■ / Authorship “The Robbie Horror Show” was written and directed by John Banas, associate director of Downstage Theatre, says the administrative director of Downstage, C. R. Prowse. The authorship of the show was attributed by' Meryyn Thompson in an article,'.printed on April 14 and based on material supplied by the prompters of Thompson's touring : production of ‘“Songs to the . Judges.” // Prowse says .“The Robbie Horror Show” had its initial .season at Downstage, and later toured in a triple bill which also included Thompson’s “Songs to Uncle Scrim.” “It seems the two shows have been confused,” he says.