Elmer Rice Play to be Presented

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23067, 18 June 1938, Page 14 (Supplement)

Elmer Rice Play to be Presented

THE PEOPLE'S THEATRE The People's Theatre will produce "Judgment Day," by Elmer ltice, at the Town Hall concert chamber on June 25, 27 and 28. Banned on the Continent, this play had a long and successful run at the Phoenix Theatre, London, at the end of 1937, and was well received by critics. Following is a report of the production published in the English drama journal, the Theatre World: — "Mr. Rice is a satirist and a reformer. There is pungency in what he has to say and the manner in which he says it. Being a shrewd dramatist

of experience, he realises' that ' his theme will be acceptable to audiences only if wrapped in the guise of ordinary entertainment! And so it con)es about that 'Judgment Day.' is, on the surface. a melodrama of the most lurid jwrsuasion., But ■ beneath the melodramatic surface,, there is. stark brutality and truth in every phase of the story. , "Even the most fantastic eVent that occurs has its parallel in the contemporary ' European scene. It is propaganda of the most violent order, yet we are not asked to take sides against any particular regime. The facts are there for all the world to see. There is no need for the playwright to stress the injustice and brutality of the trial which forms the basis of the play. The events speak for themselves."