A KIPLING RECITAL

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 29, 29 October 1918, Page 7

A KIPLING RECITAL

BY MR. ALEXANDER-WATSON. ,

Not even the most severe tliundcrstoriu of the y?ar could keep the .public away from Mr. Alexander AVafsoii s entertainment last night. It'was" a.-tri-bute to tlie' visiting English elocutionist •'to'find that even in such violently, inclement weather more people attended the Concert Chamber than there .was accommodation for. On account of the downpour and consequent flooding of the streets, llr. Wufcon arrived at tlw hall a quarter of an hour late, but knowing that he would keep faith'the. large audi- I enco was well content to "wait.; Last evening's recital was devoted'to the prose and verse of R-lidyard Kipling, England s virile poet "and •author, m'lioso'writings always have the effect of a pood tonic. In their form there is originality'; in their sentiment there is' clean, strong imuilinuM, and in 'heir bluntness there is face-to-face, truth without.- puling apology. Kipling's prose was represented' by forty minutes of the irresistible. Mulvaney and Ortlieris, those. , cheerful builders of the Empire, in their connection with "Uv Lord the Elephant" (from "Soldiers Three"), a recital which in the hands, of Mr. Watson was a gurgle of delight from beginning to end. Kipling-'s appeal to the. nation at the initiation' of the. war as expressed in his verses ".For All Wo Have and ..Are," were declaimed with ringing conviction, and his Polouius-like address to his son in "If —" was also finely expressed. 'Die. prophetic "Big Steamers" recalled to mind how years before the present war. Kipling had, realised that without tlw freedom of the seas England could be starved. The verses were recited with', rare charm. Other Kipling versos reeit-. pel were "The Married Man,' iho Hump," '"Hip Bell Buoy" (in which the reciter made the bell's warning, "Shoal,. 'WnreShaol" a .thing of life), "The. Story iit the Garden," and the invigorating "Ballad of (ho Claulierdown." Mr. Walson was, disturbed , in his contemplative reading of ".Mandalay" by the drone of Highland pipes, which was so inappropriate an ■ accompaniment as to be disconcerting, so lie met the Highland charge with the guns of the- Clampherdowii, and subdued it. "Finally -Mr. AVntKon liwdo a rythmical tragedy of "Boots," the sensation of an infantry soldier rendered half-crazy by the never-ending inarch over Africa at the time of. the. Boer \Var—doleful material to.-finish with. ... ~ Mr. "Watson will this evenins give a, Dickens and miscellaneous recital. The (.■election? from Charles Dickens will be taken from ''Martin Churalewick, "I'ickwick Pnpcrs,". and. "A Christmas Carol." while. Iho niifcollaneoiw items will be "The Defence of Lucknow" (Tennyson), "A Holiday in Bed" (Barrio). "The .Hißhwaym.-in" (Alfred Xovc.<), and AViiilcnmb Ui'lc.v'e ."'.lho ElfChild." ' ", " ■ •.. .