WORKERS AT PLAY

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 301, 6 December 1922, Page 6

WORKERS AT PLAY

The performance of '.-Peer': Gynt" at the Leeds Industrial Theatre, this week, .writes Jehu Arn'ott, in the British Labour Party, "The Labour Press Service," October. 5 last, is fit once .a .justification •of 'the movement for popularising drama, and a reSectfon upon the ordinary theatre. "Peer Gynt" was written in 1867, and nine years later, in 18<-6, Grieg composed" his wonderful Incidental music. That rmisic soon made its. way on the concert platform. Gr?ieg : has written nothing for tho orohfisti'a that is more widely known pr more highly appreciated. Yet. artistically, the music is one with the poem. They should not be divided. It says, little for the culture of the managers of our theatres or of their opin'on of the taste of their patrons that this' mrLSterpie.ee of iw o men of genius should, up to tlio present clay, have . been pract'caljy excluded -from the British stage. A CO-OPERATIVE EFFORT Under enthusiastic leadership, a few factory workers in Leeds are now producing drama fer their ovjn consumnt'on. They provide, upon cooperative principles, actors, , musicians,' scenery, costumes and *iudience. The workpeople from a .number of firms' are enrolled, in groups Of fifty each group appointing a representative on the general commit* e£; every member subscribes .threepence per week during tho waiter, unci* for lhat is admitted to all the, performances. The Leeds Art Club, Dramatic Section, assisted by the Leeds Symphony Orchestra, give one or two. performr.nces during the season, as does a Huddersfield society of a similar k;nd, but tho remaining plays of tlio season are performed by the employ oca. m certain- factories. . Last year these societies porfonaed sketches, light comedies, land the more familiar Shakespearean plays. " This year they seem ready: i'oi* anything. Th© "Simcett" Players, the employees of Simpson and . ►perambulator . manufacturers, ..who. have opened- the - (Syrit,'- , -' are also advertised. Tα "play"Fantastfcs" (Rostand), "The Cemd" (Shelley), "Rome o and Juiier,," "Measure for Measure," and a Christmas pantomime. WORKERS' ORCHESTRA In "Peer Gynt" they were assisted by the Leed.3 Workpeople Symphony Orchestra, a Laud of some forty players, selected from employees of all the firms concerned. This symphony Society has been formed this year, and its separate programme includes six lecture concerts, at which the conductor gives short addresses on the orchestra and.a \>vl&t explanation of e>acb movement of. the symphony"'or any other composition, before it is played. __ And here it ought to be said that the orchestra played the "Peer Gynt" music splendidly. Mr. Mason, the conduc:.oi% is exceedingly fortunate in securing so many efficient instrumentalists, and he got the best cut of them. FINS ACTING The Part' of Peer Gynt \v,as taken by the producer, Mr. J. K. Gregson. Peer Gynt is not the part for a novice, and it was clear from the beginning that Mr. Gregson was an old hand at the jol». He tlKi not rsut, o.s many do; it was always possible, to hear what lie said, Ti'h'cli one cannot trathL'uily cay of some leading- professionals; above'iill,-ho gave & good Interpretation of & iflost complex cliaracter—idealist, poet. egoiß'f. .. and .?coirJd:ve! —yet kept him a credible human Ij-eing throughout. Miss Muriel M. Clarko < v.lio took t.bo part of Antira, was -also, responsible for the training of tho Mow iivul again a few of the actors showed & l.itlle solf-consciousness, but tlilsv- v« T as not at all general. AN APPRECIATIVE AUDIENCE The audience itself was interesting, working men. and women, most o v them v«sry yqting men and women anything but highbrows. What they felt of the poetry and fantasy or of the finer satire who can say! They were interested in the performances oil their friends, they en-' Joyod the dancing and music and the display, they laughed at the jokes and the broader humour, and Ibsen snakes ;isc of both. Tlioso who were really Interested in the work as a whole had the path made easy for them by means of an excellent, synopsis. The programme :ilso included an account of the-com-position o" tlie incidental music. ~, J The performance lasted three and. a half liours, and included five acts and nineteen scenes.