THE BOOKSHELF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22250, 26 October 1935, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF

SMALL DRAMA GROUPS A NEW ZEALAND HANDBOOK It is pleasant to be able to accord high praise to a book by a New Zealand author; but indeed within its selfimposed limits, " Play Production for Amateur Drama Groups," by Mrs. A. M. Spence-Clark, could scarcely have been better done. It has no ambitions of high-sounding purpose, but is meant to give practical assistance to the many small-town drama groups which are springing up and fumbling somewhat blindly for direction.

in doing this well it cannot help ful- ; fdling the needs of the many young | producers who are actively participatI ing in dramatic work in larger towns. I Everyone connected with the amateur stage will find something here for him. Especially valuable are the chapters on j stage furnishings, with special instruc- | tions on making stage sets, casements, j doors and furniture out of boxes, I screens and brown paper; on make-up; j on off-stage noises and how to make I them; on costumes, with details of the | changes which hare taken place every , decade during the last couple of cen- | turies. j The whole note of the book is severely practical, leaving nothing to | the imagination. " Suppose your drama I group to be attached to a church under a fussy fat little vicar, with a large, j bossy wife, it would be imprudent to ! choose a play which called for these j characters in the cast." Imprudent, ; perhaps, but it might do a power of good. j " Farce is easy to play," says Mrs. Spence-Clark, who apparently has j never seen .our universities disporting j themselves on the stage. Farce is most j difficult of all to play well, and as a ! rule requires professional talent. Her j observations on production are thorough and very sound. It is worthy of note and imitation that she sends the producer to the back of hall much earlier in rehearsals than is usual, and advocates most interruptions henceforth coming between acts. A concise and excellent book, which should fulfil its chosen purpose. The ink in the review copy is not always black enough. " Play Production for Amateur Drama Groups," by A. M. Spence-Clark. (National Magazines, "Wellington.)

A COMPELLING STORY ELIZABETH BOWEN'S VIRTUOSiTY Miss Elizabeth Bowen's readers will he delighted with " The House in Paris," in which her individual talent, with its apparently complete understanding of human nature, flourishes with amazing brilliance. The actual house in Paris is strange | enough to give an atmosphere to a j much Jess exciting story. It is a tiny | place, wedged between imposing buildI ings; a house which obviously belonged to another century, but retained its position as a private residence with a kind of sternness in spite of the business value of the site it occupied. In this house, which belonged to Madame Fisher, a passionately unresigned invalid, two children happen to meet. Henrietta, a sedate little girl, on her way to the south of France, is detained between trains, while Leopold, a highly-strung little boy, has arrived from Italy because his mother whom he has never seen has decided to see him. The children discuss the situation. Old memories stir in the house, and the tragic and little-known story of Leopold's parents is revealed. 'The reader cannot but admire Miss Bowen's skill. She writes with certainty and with an understanding of the motives of her characters that is nothing less than exciting. There is the authority of a mind richly patterned with episodes from life, but of her story of Leopold she tells no more than enough for complete understanding of the central theme. Her method wins an almost strained attention from the reader, and when „ the story is finished there is still an urgent curiosity concerning these people. T\hat of that ultimate meeting between the child and his mother? a And Madame Fisher, whose storr it was rather than Leopold's? The reader needs must dwell on these characters, which is the reward of Miss Bowen's quit© frightening brilliance. " The House in Paris," by Elizabeth Bowen. (Gollancz.)

THE DAILY GOAD AN EPIC OF UNEMPLOYMENT The story of unemployment has never been told with more poignancy or more sympathy than by Mr. Walter Brierley in " Means Test Man." Well it might be, for Mr. Brierley himself was an unemployed man when he wrote the book, and knew the gradual enervation of body and soul which grew out of the careless pinpricks of everyday existence. The effect of the book is all the more telling because it deals with pleasant, decent people, who might have been a happy contented family if justire and unselfishness were honoured in the world. It traces the course of a week in tho life of an unemployed Derbyshire miner, a man on the Means Test, a happy.i likeable fellow, easy to get on with. His wife—poor soui, it wasn't her fault had expected better things, and she had not the happv knack of adjusting her outlook. The iron enters deeper into her soul. She expects to be as good as her neighbours, and is driven frantic by their pitying glances and charitable overtures. She slowly becomes a nagger. | handing out bitter answers to her husband and too severe discipline to their , seven-year-old son. ( The husband cheerfully enough does ( the household chores, and longs for the \ time when his self-respect can bo re- i stored a little by the man's work of getting the garden into shape. The | imagination is continually brought to i see the boy going about liis simple bits < of pleasures; his pcnnv tovs; a walk in the park with his father, and the , promise of a picnic on the common on i Sunday, and wondering what lies ahead t of him in the grown-up years. ( Thus, amid these pleasant scenes, in c a countryside which might have been I so happy, grows this unemphasised f picture of useless and hopeless exist- c ence, its only certainty a dwindling t bank account, and the hated visit of f the Means Test Man. The absence of s violenco and bitterness and the con- k trast of pleasant place and grinding a poverty makes this an outstanding r book of revolt against social conditions. " Means Test Man," by Walter Brierley. (ilethuen.) u