CENTENNIAL FUNCTION

Evening Star, Issue 23500, 14 February 1940, Page 5

CENTENNIAL FUNCTION

PAGEANT AND PLAYS REPERTORY SOCIETY’S EFFORT To usher in evening entertainments during the period of local observance of the Dominion Centennial, the Repertory Society will next Saturday night stage a pageant and two one-act plays. The pageant will depict scenes in the development of Otago in the last 100 years, while the plays have been selected because of their suitability to the period under review. Members of the society have willingly devoted much lime to making these presenta-

tions successful, .and they have been assisted by two well-known outside performers, Miss Jessie M‘Lennan and Mr Peter Dawson. The pageant will be a full-dress sequence of scenes representing events which have occurred from time to time, and they will be linked together by a commentary which will be read by Miss M'Lennan. This commentary will cover the gaps between the staged interludes, most of which, it is worthy of note; have been written by members of the society. The costumings for the scenes are in most cases to be originals as worn by the pioneers and later settlers, and in every case are treasured by descendants of these settlers The pageant is to open with a Maori canoe song and poi dance staged by a group of younger girls. This will be followed by a depiction of the arrival of the earliest settlers, who will bo shown just after they have disembarked from the ships. The gold rush will

form another interlude, and a speical effort will be, a reproduction of the ball staged in 1869 in honour of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh, the first representative of royalty to come to the Dominion. Another will be a “ sitting room scene,” in which an attempt will be made to outline family life and home costuming in the earlier days. The Boer War will come in for attention in a further scene, and this will be followed by a ball of the 1910 period.. Special effects are to b e introduced in the scene representing the Great War period. The ‘ Marseillaise ’ wOl be sung, and certain popular songs of that era will be included. A postwar scene will be laid at, the 1925-26 Exhibition, Other events of importance will be touched upon in the commentary to be given by Miss M'Lennan. The entire pageant will terminate with a special tableau, in which all the performers, in the costumings worn during its presen-

tation will group together. ‘ Land of Hope and Glory ’ and ‘ God Defend New Zealand’ will provide the musical themes for this tableau, and the" solo for ‘ Land of Hope and Glory ’ will be sung by Mis Bertha Rawlinson. The first play to be given will bo •The Trollop’s Triumph'',’ a burlesque melodrama of the type which had a great vogue in the latter part of las* century. This is said to be a most hilarious affair, and has already been presented, with signal success, at repertory social functions on more than one occasion. It is in this play that Mr Dawson will appear as • ‘ V lie \ ernon, the Venomous Villain.” The second play (both are one-acters) is ‘ Family Comedy,’ a play set in the Victorian era, and chosen to stress the life led in the home at that time. The production of the evening’s performances is in the capable hands of Me*dames Wakefield Holmes, O. C. Stephens, and Miss Anita Winkel.