DELIGHTFUL ENTERTAINMENT

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 193, 30 July 1932, Page 9

DELIGHTFUL ENTERTAINMENT

THREE ONE-ACT PLAYS. PERFORMANCES OF RARE MERIT. The performance of three one-act plays by Miss Moana Hawthorne’s pupils in the Municipal Theatre, Hastings, last evening, was extraordinarily good. Not only was the acting excellent, but the dancing and tile orchestral accompaniments also. It is seldom that one is able to enjoy amateur performances of such merit. There was not the slightest evidence of that extremity trying stagiuess of speed} posture that is usually so common among the class of people who “elocute.” It was all very natural and simple acting; so natural and simple, indeed, as almost to make one forget that those qualities can be brought out only by tile most able teaching. Xu is perhaps a test of an amateur performance that it delights one who has no acquaintance with any of the cast, or any prejudice of affection to induce a pleasure that one would hot otherwise reel , We are sure that the most complete stfangef, coming in to Miss Hawthorne’s entertainment last evening, would have felt thoroughly pleased with every part of it, and that it was something quite above the ordinary. There was only one weak spot, and that was the slight self-consciousness of two or three of the men. In “The House With the Twisty Windows,” a really fine little drama, their lines sometimes lacked energy and forcefulness, and were not uttered in the tone of urgency and intenseness that was obviously due to them. If it is fair to criticise the players, it may be assumed to be fair to criticise tho audience — or at least that part of it which, by persistent and quite incomprehensible tittering at much of the dramatic utterance, did a great deal to spoil the pleasure of the remainder of the audience. What there was to giggle at was difficult to discover. The words and situations at which some of the people appeared to be amused were on the highest plane of dramatic sentiment; the words were well used and becomingly spoken, and the situations becomingly put into action. It was finely dune; extraordinarily finely. But nevertheless it seemed to do nothing more than induce some of the audience to give what was a very disagreeable display of bad taste. The bright star of the evening was Rao Sanders, and fvena Pothan was little less worthy of praise. Rae Sanders acted' and spoke with the utmost naturalness, and with a delicacy of manner and a clearness of speech that stamp her as a little girl of real genius. Little girls ate not always agreeable little people in the' atmosphere of the footlights, but the precocity and unnaturalness that so often characterise them were not even in the slightest degree present in the manner or in the speech of the little girls in these plays. All of them were thoroughly agreeable, but of Rae Sanders and Ivena Pothan it may be said that they were exquisite to a degree, and showed a most uncommon ability. The young women ill all three plays were excellent, and showed the men, for the most part, an example in how to take a grip of their parts, and how to put life and spirit into their acting. Mr D. I. Hawthorne was the best of the men, and as Charlie Clive in “The House With the Twisty Windows” he gave a convincingly good interpretation of his part. The female parts were all acted with such even merit that discriminaton was hardly possble, but it may be said that the acting was in every instance quite above the usual amateur standard. It has already been said that the dancing and the orchestral work were ■unusually good. The dancers were taught by the Max Studio, and originality of thought, a rare sense of daintiness, and a real appreciation of the artistic purpose and appropriateness of the dance as an interpolation into drama, were obvious in every step and in. every movement. It is seldom that we have seen anything of this sort better done even by young professionals. It was so good as to be beyond criticism and a refreshing change from the too frequent incongruousness with which dancing of sorts is dragged in willy-nilly and without artistic logic. The music was tip-top, and Miss Ruby Shattky’s piano-playing was quite a feature of the entertainment. The whole of the' work of the orchestra was marked by delightful gusto and liveliness, and was in itself alone a most pleasing evening’s entertainment. The theatre was very well filled, and it is a matter for regret that Miss Hawthorne did not repeat the entertainment. It is not often that one sees and hears anything so genuinely good. The programme was as follows Overture, selected. “Columbine : prologue, Valerie McCombe; fairies, Phyllis Armer and Nola Thear; Dan’l, Donald Davies; Nathan’l, Graeme Elliott; Columbine, Ivena Pothan; harlequin, Jean Olsen; pierrot, Rae Sanders. “ ’Op—O’—My—Thumb’ : Celeste, Maud Holmes; Clem (Mrs) Galloway. Laura Christison; Rose Jordan, Olive Cook; Madame Didier, Marian Whimp; Amanda Afflick, Elva Kearney. Entr’acte, selected. “The House With the Twisty Windows : Charlie Clive, D. 1. Hawthorne; James Roper, D. K. Agnew; Lady fronting, Sadie Agnew; Heather Sorrell, Betty Pcrves; Stepan, D. G. Agnew; Anne Sorrell, Irene Oliver. The members of the orchestra were: Piano, Miss R. Shattky; violins, Miss Vogtherr, Mr Kitchen and Mr Warren; cello, Mr Widdup; flute, Mr Fite; eornet, Mr Albiston; clarinet, Mr 0. Shattky.