DRAMA FESTIVAL

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume LX, Issue 91, 17 November 1939, Page 3

DRAMA FESTIVAL

ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL NIGHT.

FOUR PLAYS PRODUCED

SOME VERY GOOD WORK SEEN

That the district possesses promising material in the dramatic art was made evident by the plays produced during the St. John's Drama Festival, which had its final session at Leeston on Tuesday evening. Five one-act plays were produced by local I groups during the two nights of the festival, all of diverse nature and each presenting difficulties of some kind, yet each was tackled in fine style and entirely satisfactory interpretations given in every case. It is true there were mistakes and weaknesses, and places where improvement could be made, but in spite of all this, the performances given were very good indeed and no group has any cause to be ashamed of its effort. Preparation for even a one-act play entails a lot of hard work, the devoting of much time to rehearsals and many details have to be attended to before the play is ready to be presented to the audience. All this is undertaken for the pleasure and satisfaction derived from achievement, of something attempted and something done. Beyond all these, important as they are, there are greater results, such as learning the proper use of the voice, of proper movement and gesture, of improvement to mental powers, of a wider outlook on life and also of the pleasure derived by the audience in listening to a good, wellproduced one-act play. Essentially it is a type of recreation which is deserving of every encouragement, especially in these days of nervous strain arid anxiety and the members of the different groups should take courage from their experience and go on to greater and better efforts.

The hall on Tuesday evening was well-filled and the programme was a long one, four plays being given. The audience enjoyed every minute of it, the bright comedy being much appreciated. j "Mrs Biddlecombe and the I Furriners"

Many and devious are the ways of doing business with tourists, but it was left to Gran Biddlecombe to evolve the crowning achievement, at least from her point of view. Motors usually travelled fast past her cottage but a long-dead hen placed on the roadway at the right time and the sight of a griefstricken old lady mourning for the of her favourite, never failed to reduce the "furriner," to a state in which he was responsive to the suggestion of compensation, whiki on the present occasion a skilfully directed talk on old furniture led to quite a good business deal; with honours resting with Mrs Biddlecombe. \

The play was staged by the Leeston Night Circle. Miss R. Bowden took the part of Mrs Biddlecombe arid made quite a sprightly old lady. The bulk of the work fell to her and she did it very well indeed. It was not easy to impersonate an old lady but Miss Bowden maintained the part to the end. Her speech was clear and her acting natural. Mr J. A. Scott and Miss S. Martin, as Mr and Mrs Rowland Montague were also entrusted with important parts, he is a self-important business man and she as an American who was so keen on old things that she wanted everything she saw. But Gran was equal to the occasion and profited thereby. Other parts were taken by Miss P. Rasmussen (Mrs Springwell, a neighbour), Miss J. Mercer (Elsie Saunders, granddaughter), Miss I. Manson (Beatrice Bland, another granddaughter) and Miss M. Gwatkin (Mrs Green, Gran's sister). The play was well produced and staged and was altogether creditably done.

"Way to his Heart* Proceedings in a cooking school in a prim and proper suburb were considerably enlivened by the unexpected arrival of the artist friend of the instructress, a girl

from London who was as temperamental as an artist could be. The exercise of satirical, if good natured wit and the exhibition of a ultra-blase outlook on life produced different reactions on the pupils of mature age and fanned the rivaling between two of them almost to striking point.

St. John's Play Reading Circle produced the play and Mrs Hanria was the irresponsible, happy-go-lucky artist Jane Dash, who produced such a bombshell like effect in her friend's cookery school. The friend was a woman of opposite temperament and Mrs Felton as Primrose Penfold, provided a perfect foil for the lively Jane. Of different types were the pupilsMrs Gudge (part taken by Mrs Ford) the severe and downright church warden's wife, whose outlook on life was severe and narrow, Miss Cooper (Mrs B. Brown), as a timid fluttery spinster; Miss Prince (Miss C. Cooke) also of uncertain age but as aggressive as the other was shrinking; Mrs Naughton (Mrs Whitham) who preferred music but was goaded to take cookery lessons by fear of her husband's caustic comments. This play was all comedy and the dialogue bright and snappy. All the characters were very well done indeed, each requiring a different interpretation which was given with considerable ability. The parts were fairly even and each player contributed her portion towards the success achieved. The stage mountings were good and the play went with a swing which was suggestive of good team work. This and the previous play were produced by Mr J A. Scott.

"In the Dark" The third local group to provide a play was the Southbridge Players, and its offering was "In the Dark." Algernon Cuffe (Mr J. Curnow) was in the act of proposing to the lady of his heart in a ballroom when the lights failed. He made His proposal, was accepted and kissed a girl, but when the light was restored found that his lady love had disappeared and he did not know by whom he had been accepted. The mental distress and distraction which followed almost produced a form of dementia, much to the concern of his friend Lewis Ward (Mr H. Bennett) and his valet Beket (Mr V. Wilkinson). He was a guest at a house party so in desperation, resolved upon a process of enquiry arid elimination but the consequences were that his efforts were misunderstood and he found himself engaged to two more girls, Kate Munroe (Miss Noeline Bennett) and Bessie Lampton (Miss Shirley Sandford), while he is rescued from a similar misunderstanding with Theresa Hill (Mrs Gouch) by the arrival of a telegram from his fiancee, explaining the mystery and the scene ended in Algernon demonstrating his relief in an exuberant manner. This play, which was produced by Mrs T. H. Bennett, was also very well done. It went with a good j swing. The work of the central character was good and he received good support from the other characters. On the whole the play \ was very good and enjoyable.

"Widows" As on. the first night, members! of the Canterbury Repertory Theatre Society also presented a play, this time entitled "Widows." The cast contained only three characters, Mrs Pink (Florence Dalton), Mrs Yobb (Beryl Windsor), Mrs Smith (Ddris Davies). They were widows and the dialogue was in the cockney dialect. Three splendid characterisations were given. Two were widows and glad of it but the third was full of self-pity and lamentations until there was a possibility that her husband was not dead after all. Then her true self asserted itself and she was determined not to have him back. The news proving false, she slipped into her old mourning manner but had to bear the barbed shafts of her friends' comments on her behaviour. Mrs L. G. Pocock produced the play in which a well-finished performance was given. After the plays, Professor L. G. Pocock briefly addressed the audience. He said that in amateur acting it was advisable to choose good plays but it was not an easy

thing to do when it came to oneact plays. Another thing was to cast it well; so that the right types and personalities received parts suited to them. When; it came to acting there were one or two ""basic rules which should be observed. One was to speak out well. The audience, had the right to fcear every word and where they had to strain to catch what was being satd they would not enjoy the play so well. Another thing was to pick up the cues quickly, even if the actor took his time afterwards in saying what he had to say. Gestures and actions must be natural, if not it would be better to avoid them. The acting must be sincere and realistic. Most modern plays aimed at realism, and acting should be realistic and natural.

Rev. E. Hanna acknowledged the services rendered to the drama festival by those who had staged plays which had meant long: hours of work in preparation, by the members of the committee in charge, by those who provided supper, by the proprietor of the hall and by those who had helped in any way to make the festival so successful.

During supper, Miss R. Bowden presented to Mr J. A. Scott, gifts on behalf of the Leeston Night Circle anci St. John's Playißeading Circle, in appreciation of the time he had given and interest shown in producing the plays and in coaching the players.