MISS SPINNEY'S RECITALS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLII, Issue 12823, 15 April 1916, Page 1

MISS SPINNEY'S RECITALS.

THE 'IPHIGENIA IN TATJRIS."

The fable:—lphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, spirited away in Aulis hv Artemis from her father's hands when he would have purchased a fair passage to Troy by her sacrifice, has been transported by that goddess to the Tauric peninsula, or Crimea. Here she noiv serves as priestess in the temple of Artemis, whom the savage,natives worship with human victims. She is charged to immolate two Greek strangers who have just arrived. They are her own brother Orestes (wander, ing about after his matricide and charged by Apollo to steal the Tauric image of Artemis) and his faithful l'vlades. An ingeniously-contrived reco<nrition follows. They decide on a plan' by which all three, with the image of the goddess, may reach the Greek ship awaiting them. But their ship is driven back upon the coast, ana recapture seems imminent, when suddenly Athena, 'appearing ex machina, stops the ■;; pursuit, and announces that the ship has got free again, adding as epilogue, instructions to the now far-off. Greeks which were the traditional origins of several Attic cults. .-..■•-:>=■:■■ We doubt if any of those present at St. Luke's Hall last evening expected the intellectual treat which they received. Miss Spinney had,- on a, previous occasion, shown her ability to interpret Greek drama, .and was highly suoccssful in the 'lHippolytus." Butthe second "Jphigeriia'' seemed to" lend itself even better to the performer's peculiar talent.' The most remarkable thing about the play was the clearness with which all the-characters Stood out. Iphigenia;;'. Orestes, i'ylades, Thoas, and the two Messengers were each so plainly outlined, that one often ior^bt-t;nat.there l! was ; only one person on the stage to interpret"them. This was "especially true in the rapier play of dialogue, "where the lines, 'distributed among two',-ami, at times, three speakers, were never blurred overj but stood out quite distinctly. The celebrated contest between Orestes and l'ylades? "as"To *wKfcE of them shouldundertake the task of conveying the letter to Greece, was a fine piece of •work; audi the recognition between Iphigeniu and her brother was a scene iull ot tender pathos. Again, Miss Spinney exhibited her wonderful descriptive powers in the tales of two. Messengers, and enabled one. to understand how : easily the old Greeks could ,dispensc with so much of the "action" that has become a necessary part of modern stage-craft, particularly in what is known-as melodrama. Then the unsuspecting way in which King Thoas fell into the trap prepared for iiim was simply delicious, the guileful Greek showing up in sharp contrast against the unsophisticated savage. Last" nighfej' too, saw another example of the use of'Tdie chorus. Here they entered into _ the action _of the drama; and it was highly diverting to observe how women tried to bluff the Messenger into believing that the king had left the temple—and failed. The whole play, which has been well described as full of "action, excitement, suspense, dread, and uncertainty, was keenly followed by the audience; and . -when the goddess Athena appeared and straightened out the tangle, in which the characters found themselves, one felt a distinct satisfaction that all had turned out happily. Could, the interpreter of the play wish for a finer compliment ? An an introduction to last evening's performance, Miss Spinney, in appropriate costume, gave a number oi poses, based on the figures that appear on Greek vases, being accompanied oy music played upon the flute. The attitudes assumed and the movement* I whereby one pose was changed into another were exceedingly graceful, and afforded pleasure to those blessed with I a sense, of the sesthetic.