THEATRES AT HOME AND ABROAD

Evening Star, Issue 23189, 11 February 1939, Page 25

THEATRES AT HOME AND ABROAD

BRITISH DRAMA LEAGUE FESTIVAL During her 12 months abroad Miss Bessie Thompson has naturally spent most of her time in the theatres, either in front or behind the scenes, and for her the West End theatres in London

were full of absorbing interest. “ When I left,” she said in a short interview with' “Diana” yesterday, “ the most popular success was ‘ Dear. Octopus,’ with Marie Tempest and John Gielgud as principals. ‘ Robert’s Wife,’ al-

though it has already run for over a year, is also still very popular. “Another play that interested me very much was ‘ The Island,’ by Merton Hodges, which was still drawing large houses, when it had to be withdrawn for ‘ The Flashing Stream,’ in which Henry Ainley was booked for the lead.

“ ‘ Corn Is Green,’ by Emlyn Williams, a play in which the writer also plays the lead with Sybil Thorndike, is one of the most successful plays of the year. Emlyn Williams was himself a Welsh miner, before he went to the university, and the play breathes the very atmosphere of Wales. Although I did not see our New Zealand actress, Marie Ney, on the stage, i met her several times, and each time was struck by her beauty. She looks only twentyisii, although wc all know she won’t see 40 again.’’ Theatres Abroad. “ In Verona wo saw opera in a wonderful open-air theatre, in perfect weather. This theatre was built on the scene of an old Roman arena. It seats 30,000 people on the circular tiers of seats that have been restored, and it is quite usual to have 2,000 people on the stage at one time. This, I consider, was one of our great experiences. “ We also saw opera in Paris and at Covent Garden.’’ Repertory Societies. “ Wo saw marvellous repertory pro ductions at Kew, Croydon, Hammersmith, and also the famous Birmingham company. At the last-named town, Barrie’s ‘ The Boy David ’ was a great success, although it had proved

quite the reverse in London, when Elizabeth Berguer played the name part. In England, the repertory companies change their plays every week, and this entails a tremendous amount of work on the actors, who, of course, are all professionals. With such frequent changes, little attention can bo given to scenery and production, and everything depends on the acting itself.” British Drama League. “In Glasgow we saw the 'winning play for all Britain, ‘ Count Albany,’ which was exceedingly well done, but, while travelling through the smaller towns and villages, we saw some plays that were very poor, as well as some that were surprisingly good. The Drama League is very popular, and every little village has its branch. _ The revival of the drama in England is, in fact, largely due to the and the amateurs generally. Among its other amenities it has excellent libraries, from which sets of plays can be borrowed cheaply, and at the London headquarters there is a splendid reference library, with all the best books on production, lighting, etc., which proved a positive treasure-trove to me.

Verse Speaking. “ Just a final word on verse-speaking, which is very , popular at all the big drama schools. While in London 1 went to the choirs competition, with

Laurence Binyon as judge, which was quite a revelation of what can be done in this fascinating branch of drama.”