REPERTORY SOCIETY PERFORMS WILDER’S ‘OWN TOWN’

Evening Star, Issue 26137, 26 June 1947, Page 5

REPERTORY SOCIETY PERFORMS WILDER’S ‘OWN TOWN’

The Dunedin Repertory Society s production of Thornton Wilder’s 1 Oui Town,’ which opened at His Majesty s last night, had much to commend it. Wlmt the reaction of the public to a most unusual type of play will be is hard to predict—the play is one which will be either liked or disliked —hut the initial house was encouraging. " . The work’s uuorthodoxy lies in its very ordinariness. There is not much plot; the characters in the little New Hampshire village of Grover’s Corners just grow up, marry, and die without anything much to disturb the evenness of this biological cycle. Thanks also to Mr Wilder, "there is.no scenery, or “ props,” bar a few chairs, a couple of trellises and stepladders, and an odd table or two. The play is, in fact, an exercise in simplification, the argument being that scenery, properties, and synthetic plots are artificialities, and to compensate for the absence of these there is a generous measure of philosophy, expressed, of course, in simple village style. « The thought that the play might in many respects be compared to Coward’s ‘ This Happy Breed ’ probably occurred to some. The analogy would be dangerous if pressed too far, for the English folk were involved in more intricate problems than the simple American villagers. J. B. Priestley, reviewing Coward’s production iii an English weekly, complained that it glorified little mediocrities with no desire or natural urge to improve their lot. The same might hold good of AVilder’s ‘ Our Town ’ in general, hut for the fact that the philosophy expressed by the American is more profound and more universal in application. Nevertheless, it is felt at times that the principle of simplification has been carried a little too far. To twist the tail of an old cliche, the absence of tea cups, milk bottles, horses, and so forth makes those objects more- conspicuous. If there were a real, visible cup of tea for George Gibbs to . stir the action would scarcely be noticed, but as it is, one watches the operation with almost morbid interest, and in speculating about how much imaginary sugar he takes, the beholder might miss the significance of the dialogue. However, this, is enough about the play. The production was well acted by everybody. One thing which the producer, Miss Bessie Thomson, can be commended on is its conversion to something • like a New Zealand scene. Some of the Americanisms in the dialogue have been taken out, for example the farmhands who ‘‘ hollered ” in the script just “ make a noise ” in Tlis Majesty’s,- the bobby is equipped with a New Zealand policeman’s helmet (although he swings a baton!)., and similar changes have been made which really improve the play for presentation to a New Zealand audience. The sdiall amount of cutting has been done with discrimination. As' the stage manager Alec Graham was excellent. The character is the principal one in the play j his interpolations r.nd casual intrusions on the action for explanations and comments have to be well timed and' expressed, for the audience is getting something out of the ordinary, and in such circumstances distrust is natural. Mr Graham never faltered. As -Dr Gibbs, Douglas Dali played a quiet part with competence," and Dora McPherson as Mrs Gibbs expressed the character well, and some occasional hesitancy may disappear with subsequent performances. Mrs Webb was played by Jane Griffiths, who gave a satisfying performance. The part of George Gibbs was taken by Ronald Smith, who gave the right touch to the rather dull, but forthright young man. Gwenvth Froude as Emily Webb had a difficult task. A tendenev to over-emphasise small points could be detected at the beginning. hut aji the play developed this was less noticeable, and her lines in Die curious final act were excellent. Mr Webb, the country editor, was acted well by Campbell Begg. The lesser parts wove: Joe Crowell (Neville 'Madden!, Howie Newsome (Dennis Brickell!. Rebecca Gibbs Mune Wilson). Wa>lv Webb (Ronald Cain). Professor Willard (Maurice Joel). Simon Stimson (John Gordon), 'Wrs Soame« (Hp'en Cowie). Constable Warren (Ray Wallace). Si Crowell (Ted Clark), Sam Craig (George Ritchie). and Joe Stoddard (William Prvor). The performance concludes on Saturday.