Festival of Drama

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 6

Festival of Drama

The Shell Festival of Community Drama, at the Mill Theatre, Riccarton, July 25 and 26, starting time 7.30 p.m. Reviewed by Elody Rathgen.

One of the achievements of the New Zealand Theatre Federation has been its encouragement of youth drama. This divisional final shows that. Three of the five final plays were from school drama groups. The festival provides an excellent introduction to theatre work. The judge, Claire Marsh, commended the professional attitude of all the casts, noting their polish and sincere performances.

Nelson College chose a New Zealand play by Allan Trussell-Cullen, with the attention-catching title, “Passengers are requested to refrain from conversing with’ the driver while the bus is in motion.” It was an interesting choice of play providing many challenges for the young cast.

The lack of action and reliance on voice work were problems. Claire Marsh praised the secure interpretation of the text, the detail of the setting, and the development of a threatening atmosphere. Peter Shaffer’s play, “The White Liars,” was the entry from Greymouth High School. This young group, also had student directors and made a good attempt at a very difficult choice. The production moved along well and kept the audience involved in the plot. However, it lacked depth of interpretation and failed to unfurl the layers of meaning in the text.

The final play of the evening was also from out of town. “Lunch Girls,” by Ron Hart, was presented by the Nelson Repertory Society. This was a well focused production. Each of the actors established a distinct character in spite of the pace and anonymity of their names. Claire Marsh was impressed by the vocal range of the all-

woman cast, and by the way setting details complemented and added to characterisation. The cast managed to capture the comedy of the play very well, though they were less successful with the moments of despair. “Lunch Girls” was produced by Cynthia Wilson and must have been a close second to the winning play. Decision-making time held the audience to the end of a long evening in spite of the intense cold of the theatre. There was general satisfaction with the announcement of the Elmwood Players “Ritual for Dolls” as the winner of the final. It was a well thought-out production with the power to keep the audience intensely involved. A new award made by Selecon N.Z., Ltd, for the best over-all use of design and technical effects, also went to "Ritual for Dolls.” This play was directed by Andrew Davidge, and not as attributed in Saturday’s review.