WHAT A LIFE!

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 57, 4 September 1937, Page 10

WHAT A LIFE!

THE COMPETITIONS

THE OFF-STAGE BUSTLE

PITY THE JUDGES

Activity more hectic than occurs there at any other time of the year has disturbed the Town Hall for the past fortnight, during which it has been the focal point of interest for thousands of people directly <and indirectly concerned with the work of the Wellington Competitions Society's festival, which will conclude its season tonight with the presentation of prizes by his Excellency the Governor-

General.

To those who attend the competitions the organisation that keeps the festival going is a commonplace, despite a vastriess of scope and an. intricacy of detail that are surprising to the newcomer. As soon as each festival finishes preparation for the next one starts, and for twelve months it continues steadily, but at an ever-increasing rate, until the next festival.

Number one committee-room in the Town Hall is the headquarters from which all is directed. There the secretary, Mr.S. G. Cresswell, and his staff present to the hundreds of people who are perpetually drifting in and out an object lesson in true efficiency. There each night's Town Hall programme of some thirty items. is planned to the minute, perhaps only to be spoiled by some competitor arriving late or not at all; there the judges' books for 229 sections are prepared, and handed to the judges just before each class begins; there the results are received ■ from the judges and filed for immediate reference; there the 1120 competitors receive their stage passes; their award sheets, their instructions for evening concert appearances, and, if they are unusually clever, their prize money. THERE ARE COMPLAINTS. In between times the staff answers innumerable telephone inquiries, listens with extraordinary patience to dozens of peculiar and mostly unfounded complaints, and act as a parcels receiving, agency for the competitors, so that the room is always littered with concrete toadstools, abbreviated ballet dresses, umbrellas,.boxes of chocolates, flowers, and stage "props" of every sort. Behind the scenes in the three halls, the main Town Hall, the Concert Chamber, and the Blue Triangle Hall, the work is confined to only one objective, that of getting the performers on at the required time, but it is none the less exacting, and to the amateur stage : managers and their assistants the competitions are the most strenuous, fortnight of the year. Tempers are sorely tried at times behind the scenes; stage managers are not at all pleased by the late arrival of competitors, and the consequent wrecking of their carefully prearranged programme; artists under the strain of competition develop "nerves," and everything goes wrong. Oil for the troubled waters is provided by the saving grace of humour, and occasion for it exists in plenty, both on and off stage. CONSPICUOUS SUCCESS. The juveniles, especially "the very young" ones, cause the greatest mirth. Possibly the most appreciated ' item during ,the present festival was presented by a team of youngsters who were not placed by the judge. Technically their performance was of little merit, but in fact it convulsed the audience. They were a ballet of children who were on the, programme as "under 12," but appeared in size to be under 6. Costumed in vivid colours as fairies, elves, and gnomes, they capered around the stage with fine abandon, led by a tiny tot whose .sole attire closely resembled the leopard skin traditionally worn by men of enormous strength. The dance routine took second place to their own natural enthusiasm. ■• Gleefully they gambolled round the stage, occasionally remembering their carefully rehearsed dance and visibly making an effort to put it into practice. There were furtive glances at one another for a cue that was usually lacking, and then again the yielding to the true spirit of the dance, unhampered* by any planned routine— except for one small dancer who dashed for the rear curtains to make an exit before his time, and was kept on stage only by the fervent beckonings of his fellow ballet members. It was a hugely successful performance. Another unexpected presentation that brought a laugh, though it was no fault of the performer's, was a dance item that, according to the programme depicted "Ecstasy." Gracefully, yet sadly, the dancer portrayed the actions of one in the last stages of despair, and the -■ onlookers were amazed and amused at this peculiarly dismal ecstasy. But it was all a mistake, with a simple explanation. The title of the dance was "Sorrow." AWEARY BOUND. Judges have a nerve-wrecking job at the competitions. Daily they sit and see or. listen to an endless chain of competitors, dozens of whom often perform the same item. To every one the judge has to give some helpful comment, which is not always, alas, received in the same spirit as it is offered. Judging is a weary task, but those condemned to it do their duty faithfully, and within recent years at any rate there has been no parallel to the case in another centre where a dancing judge, with 44 competitors to! see in a Highland fling class, ordered four to "dance on the stage at a time, and so (successfully or otherwise is not known) completed his work in a quarter of the normal time. Nor has it happened in Wellington, as it did in a South Island town recently, that a judge had to make up his mind how many points to deduct from a recalled competitor whose act was helped by a dog, a white one in the afternoon and a black one at night. Public comment by the judge on the change of colour of the d6g was followed by indignant comment by the black one's owner, and a subsequent explanation to the audience by the unrepentant judge. Why the dog was changed is another story. Drapers and dressmakers must derive more financial profit from the competitions than the participants do of culture. The majority of the classes, especially for children, require special dressing, and many of the young hopefuls have almost as many fancy costumes as a Hollywood actress has husbands. And all cost money. This year the Wellington Competitions have passed without the usual storm of controversy on their value or harm. Valid arguments can be" advanced to support both sides of the question, but whether they do good or bad, the competitions have persisted here for twenty years and seem good for many more yet, despite the popularity of other forms of public entertainment that no one ever bothers to criticise.