ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 101, 30 March 1925, Page 6

ROTARY CLUB ADDRESS.

The drama and the revival thereof, was the subject on which Roto.fian L. F. de Berry spoke at to-day’s meeting of the Rotary Club. The president, llotarian Nathan, was in the chair, ami there was | a good attendance of members. At the outset, the speaker said that 1 right from the beginning of things the j dra'ina had always iiad a close connection j with tho life of the people. The Egyp- j tian Book of the Dead and everything in | connection with Grecian religion were based upon dramatic principles. When \ organised Christianity was introduced into j England and Western Europe, thoso responsible found it easiest to present religion by means of dramatic representa- j tlon. That was the beginning of the j drama as it was known to-day. In early times the drama was part of the community life; every person was bound to take his or her part in dramatic representation. As time went on people formed themselves into groups for the continuous carrying on of dramatic work, this marking the commencement of professional acting. Certain standards and traditions were set up, continued the speaker, with the result that before long there were quite definite ways of doing tilings. Even today actors were bound by these certain set principles. Tradition, moreover, still governed tho writing and production of plays. In past times tlicro was none of the elaborate scenery of to-day. Sliakespeavo presented his jdays in the costume ot his time for instance, togus woro not worn in the production of Julius Caesar, but S inferely ordinary Elizabethan costume. Shakespeare had said that the province of the drama was to hold a mirror up to nature. In the early days of the 19th century the drama had fallen into a bad position, but in 1879 a great Norwegian arose to ; give it fresh impetus. Ibsen was the fore- ! runner of everything that was fine in j modern drama. ] The speaker then proceeded to detail the theme of The Doll’s House, stating that in this play Ibsen represented society las he found it. The author was one of i the precursors of freedom in its widest '• sense. Thereafter Ibsen wrote many plays I representing the varying phases of society, ! but nowhero did lie attempt to give a solution of the problems presented, mainmaintaining that it was his duty only to draw attention to tho problems. Those ideas of 1879 were vuiy radical, and Ibsen, consequently, found himself very unpopular, with the result that he was forced into exile for 25 years. During that period he became the leading dramatist of the time, and when he returned to hia country lie was accorded high honour.

Ibsen had been responsible for a great revival, und the new drama differed from the old in that it dealt with naturalness in speech and in situations. Ibsen was also responsible for the destruction of conventional types which had prevailed up to his time, anil, further, wus instrumental in soliloquys becoming looked upon with disfavour. By ending Ins plays unconventionally he also broke away from tradition. Tho .speaker then dealt with tho works of the more modern playwrights anil the revival of the drama.Muring the past 40 years. One feature of the revival, he said, was the production of pugeants, incidentally mentioning that Palmerston North offered plenty of scope for the presentation of one. In Shakespeare’s time, he continued, the pluy was the thing, not the scenery. Now there was a reversion to this belief, and scenery as scenery was going overboard. The modern tendency was toward symbolic representation. In conclusion, the speaker stated that the revival of tho past 40 years was tending to bring he drama back into the lives of the people. The modern drama was producing a body of literature which had never been excelled.