The Dominion SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1929. THE REVIVAL OF PRIVATE THEATRICALS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 33, 2 November 1929, Page 10

The Dominion SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1929. THE REVIVAL OF PRIVATE THEATRICALS

In an age of machines, when we depend more and more on mechanical contrivances to provide our amusements, and entertaining in the home tends to become a lost art, it is interesting to read Mr. J. M. Clark’s views, reported earlier in the week, on the return of private theatricals. In recent years there has been, undoubtedly, a marked revival of interest in the spoken drama. This can be seen, not only in the growing popularity of the repertory movement, but also in the schools, where nowadays the drama is treated in a very live and effective manner by frequent performances of plays and excerpts both classical and modern. In some of our leading schools the English classes are encouraged to write plays which they later perform. This has excellent results in widening the literary outlook of the pupil and in providing a means of expression which appeals strongly to the juvenile and adolescent mind. It would be a healthy sign, indeed, if there were a revival of private theatricals in the home, providing a pleasant change from the eternal bridge party. An intellectual stimulus would be added which would preclude the necessity of the insidious cocktail, and pleasant recollections of a charming play might replace bitter reflections on the losses of the evening. The young people of to-day, bored by broadcast concerts and quickly tiring of the latest intricate dance-steps, hardly know the boon of simple pleasures. With their ready-made amusements, theii talkies and their gramophones, they rarely realise the charm of doing—of self-expression. The desire for expression is still there and must have an outlet. Doubtless it accounts for the restless feeling amongst the youth of to-day, and for many of theii escapades. The musical evening of twenty years ago had much to recommend it. It provided a healthy outlet and a centre of intellectual discussion. At it's best it was both educational and amusing: at its worst it was merely boring—and no more so than much of the so-called entertainment of to-day. It was no uncommon thing to have one-act plays performed at these evenings. To-day there is a much wider field for the amateur and a much better one. Most of the leading modern authors write for the stage, and there are many one-act plays admirably suited to private production. There is that fine group of Irish playwrights, including W. B. Yeats, J. M. Synge, Lady Gregory, Lord Dunsany, and St. John Ervine, who have ■ given us many little masterpieces which are rarely performed in the commercial theatre. J. M. Barrie, John Galsworthy, St. John Hankin, and Arnold Bennett are equally well known. Their plays have generally proved box-office successes, and in consequence have occasionally been performed by professional companies in New Zealand. But there is quite a large band of authors who write, nowadays, for the amateur theatre. In England and America there are numerous amateur and professional societies engaged in producing plays of literary and dramatic merit which otherwise would never see the limelight. The more successful are frequently taken up by managers afterwards and turned into financial successes. .Eugene Q’Neill wrote first for the enthusiastic Princetown Players, a band of semi-professionals who soon became famous in America. Several of John Drinkwater’s plays have become known in similar fashion in England. Stanley Houghton, Laurence Housman, James Gregson, Allan Monkhouse, George Dunning Gribble, Ashley Dukes, H. F. Rubinstein, and H. M. Harwood, are a few others who have written for the literary theatre and have given plays worthy of performance, plays which are stimulating intellectually. Almost the only occasions on which work by these men is seen in' this country are when they are performed by the various repertory societies. These certainly earn a generous measure of gratitude and public support. ' . . . . Another healthy sign of late years has been the growing popularity of. play-reading clubs. These are often confined to the home, where their influence must be refining and instructive. It is gratifying to think that out of these may grow again the old private theatricals which were such a joy, not only to those who took oart in them, but also to their audience.