Censorship by TVNZ upsets playwright

Press, 20 August 1982, Page 11

Censorship by TVNZ upsets playwright

Wellington reporter

John Mortimer, the London author, has complained that a scene in his play. “A Voyage Round My Father." was cut when it was screened by Television New Zealand recently. In an open letter. Mr Mortimer wrote that he was astonished by the statement of Mr Peter Fabian, the head of programme standards, that the banned scene “added nothing to the audience's understanding." "The point of the scene in question is that the blind father is unable to see the whole truth about life — the fact that a country landscape

also contains an example oi unexpected human behaviour. that is to say two women kissing. “The son denies his lather this knowledge and the last line of the first act of the play — ‘We saw a good deal of the monstrous persistence of nature’ — has no point St all unless the audience sees what the father cannot see. “By their extraordinary action the New Zealand censors have put the television audiences in the position of the blind father." Mr Mortimer added that his play ran for two years in London, had been performed in many schools and colleges

and had been shown on television in Britain. "It has not. until now. been tampered with. I have received great kindness, such a warm welcome and so much appreciation of my work in New Zealand that I am saddened that my best play should be presented there in such a pointlessly altered version." he said. Mr Fabian said he was not surprised by the playwright's reaction to the censorship. Mr Mortimer was a strong campaigner against censorship of any sort, he said. Mr Fabian said there was a section of the Broadcasting Act referring to taste and

decency. Around the time of the decision to censor Mr Mortimer's play, the corporation had upheld a complaint on the ground that it was a breach of this section. The complaint related to a homosexual encounter included in a programme. He said his department's role was not the final one. It was only a recommendation to Television New Zealand. It was the director-generals prerogative to differ and this did not appear to have happened. Mr Fabian said that although the cut might have taken a good line from the play, it did not detract from the over-all plot.