DRAMATIST'S SUCCESS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23213, 6 December 1938, Page 11

DRAMATIST'S SUCCESS

WINS A COMPETITION WORK BY AUCKLANDER SYDNEY PRESS EULOGY SYDNEY. Dec. 5 The annual play competition .at Bryants' Playhouse was won by Mr. J. A. Coppard, of Auckland, New Zealand, with "Machine Song." This is described by the Sydney Morning Herald as an unusual and forceful play. "Lindo Lovatt," of New Zealand, was third with a play entitled "Follow On."

Beginning with writing revues for the annual Auckland University College productions, Mr. Coppard has risen to . the position of one of the leading New Zealand dramatists in the realm of the one-act play. Mr. Coppard's plays have been very successful at New Zealand drama festivals in

the last few years, while "Sordid Story" was played in Scotland two years ago' and was very favourably commented upon by the judge. Hie same play reached the semi-finals in the National Festival of Community Drama in England. Two of Mr. Coppard's plays, "The Tomb of Od" and "The Oak and the Axe" are at present being published in England. He is honorary secretary of the Auckland Experimental Theatre, a small group of players who perform his works. The winning play in the Sydney competition, "Machine Song," was produced at a club evening about a month ago by,the Graftofa Players in Auckland. It is very effective, in spite of its somewhat depressing atmosphere. The action takes place in a factory where a workman is shown to be a slave to the machine he eventually smashes.