REPERTORY WIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 16, 18 July 1940, Page 13

REPERTORY WIN

DRAMA FESTIVAL

CLAIM TO CUP WAIVED

Although adjudged winners of the Wellington elimination contest of the one-act plays festival organised by the British Drama League on behalf of the National Centennial Music and Drama Council, the Wellington Repertory Theatre asked that the Sir Michael Myers Cup, the prize for the area competition, be given to the second team, which was the Peter Pan Players. The winning production, announced by the adjudicator, Mr. Bernard Beeby, at the conclusion of the festival last night, was "Soundings," written and produced by Francis M. Renner. "The Patchwork Quilt," by R. L. Field, was the play with which the Peter Pan Players took second place, and third place was taken by the Pioneer Club Play-Reading Circle, who presented "A Rogue, in a Bed," by Ronald Elwy Mitchell. The cup was presented by, Mrs. H. G. R. Mason. The Wellington provincial final will take place in the Town Hall Concert Chamber next Wednesday, and the national final will take place here on the following Friday.

Three plays were presented last night. The Lyceum Club Drama Circle presented "Behind Lace Curtains," by Esther McCracken, produced by M. E. P. Ahern. The players were Edith Kinniburgh, Patricia Ahern, Lucy O'Donoghue, and James Fitzgerald. There was no tense drama there, said Mr. Beeby, but it was a play of quiet emotions. Generally, interpretation was good, and there was real sweetness of character. The play, however, was just a little marred by the even tempo, although the general standard of individual acting was fair.

"Her Affairs in Order," by Mada Gage \Bolton, was presented by the Waterloo Fabian Dramatic Society, produced by Mrs. P. Dowse. The-players were Mesdames M. Burrell, M. Bell, J. Williams, Z. Addis, R. Staples, R. McKelvie, and E. Suters. The best piece of work in the play, said the adjudicator, was the death scene by Mrs. McKelvie. The characters were not exactly as they should have been. He urged the performers to cultivate repose on the stage.

The Peter Pan players presented "The Funk Hole," by Harold Brighthouse, produced by Kenneth Aitken. The players were J. Morgan Davies, Edith J. Wakelin, Sarah Tickner, Mollie Newman, Percy W. Cousins, G. P. Williams, Margaret Tyer, and Ronald MacWhirter. The play was comedy, to make people laugh, said Mr. Beeby, and the players were successful in their, efforts. He complimented the producer.