DRAMA OF TO-DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18310, 29 July 1921, Page 6

DRAMA OF TO-DAY

MISS SPINNEY’S RECITALS. Miss Dorothea Spinney gave the second of hor dramatic recitals to another thoroughly satisfied audience in the Burns Hall last right. Her choice this time was from three dramatists of to day. Hor stage equipment was oven more restricted than on the previous evening, and consisted of nothing but the green back curtains and a single chair. The task she sot herself was the presentation first of "The Hour Glass,’ by \V. B. Yeats; then of "The Maker of Dreams,” by Oliphant Down; and final-lv of Sir J. M, Barrie's '‘Rosalind.’ % All throe of these delightful little literary gems arc of a kind that, apart from Miss Spinney, the Dunedin public is not likely ever to have an opportunity of hearing from the surge. It »is a, groat thing to have had that lack supplied, as Miss Spinney is able to supply it. For over two hours, with only two brief breaks, her memory never failed and her voice never faltered, and towards the close her dramatic gifts were seen at their very best. For Yeats’s piece she was attired in a flowing white robe, in Oliphant Down s pierrot play she wore a red cloak, and m “Rosalind” a cloak of old rose shade with black veiling. Each of the plays she prefaced with a brief explanatory statement. “The Hour Glass,” as pne might anticipate from its author’s repute, is intensely Irish. Containing no suggestion of the ordinary stage burlesque of Irish character, it breathes the mysticism and the simple antique religious faith typical of the race. It is a morality play or parable of a wise man, who taught all the people in his district, and proved to them by his wisdom is no heaven, no purgatory, no hell, ‘‘nothing wo cannot see, nothing we cannot toudh. And then the Angel of God appeared, confounding his learning at a touch, and warning him that he had only one hour to live, but that if he could find one person who truly believed his soul might yet escape to heaven. The rest of the play tells of the wise man’s desperate search among his old pupils, if haply ho could find one, whoso faith he had not destroyed. At the last moment he finds faith in Tciguc, the foo.. who often hears a.nd sees tho angels. The poetry of both the thought and language of the piece was very adequately expressed by Miss Spinney, though if one had to make a criticism of her acting it would be that the wise man received the dread message of the angel with too little sign of emotion. Oliphant Down, the writer of the exquisite little pierrot phantasy, “The Maker of Dreams,” was killed at the war, and it is not known if he has left any other literary work. Certainly it is a charming little conceit, with a fragrance and delicate pathos all of its own. Its sparkling humour afforded welcome relief in laughter to an audience that had been held motionless throughout the progress of “The Hour Glass.” There are just three characters in it —Pierrot, Pierrette, and a Manufacturer. What the Manufacturer manufactures is discovered ns the play proceeds. Pierrot is fanciful, selfish, and therefore discontented. Pierrette is simple, humble, faithful, and utterly unselfish in her love. In a happy climax the Manufacturer succeeds in bringing Pierrot to a realisation of the treasures of love he has been so blindly missing. Tho philosophy of it—if anything so charming and whims; cal could bo afflicted w-ith a philosophy—is perhaps summed up in the Manufacturer’s warning: “Let every woman keep a school, for every man is born a fool.” The atmosphere of the piece, with its humour and haunting pathos, was admirably conveyed by Miss Spinney. Most, however, would agree that it was in her third choice—Barrie’s “Rosalind”— that Miss Spinney achieved her greatest triumph. She seemed to be less restrained and to make wider distinction between tho various parte. “Rosalind” well illustrates tho entrancing art of its author. It is gay, whimsical, sparkling, caustic, and yet with an undercurrent of powerfid pathos. There are just three characters in it—Dame Quickly, who keeps the quiet seaside apartmoots; Mrs Page, her lazy, middle-aged lodger, who, when she chooses, can be Beatrice Page, tho famous young actress; and Charles, the modest, clear-eyed, unspoilt youth just come fresh from Oxford. Of course, nearly all Barrie's delicious comments on the play as it proceeds arc lost in t'bo recital, but the text is quite complete and quite intelligible without them. Barrie’s “Mrs Page” is a consummate actress, and the part suited Miss Spinney admirably. Her bewildering versatility ns she toys with tho innocent, whole-souled Charles, first repelling him, then casting her old spell over him, passing in a moment from tears to laughter, and warning him .not to believe either till he is hopelessly confused, showing fleeting glimpses of her heart-hunger for a home and children, and then kindling to gay enthusiasm as tho call of the stage comes to her again, made a memorable climax to an evening of finished and refined dramatic work. It was a heartfelt expression of admiration when at the close Miss Spinney was recalled again and again. Miss Spinney has chosen “Hamlet” as tho subject for the third of her recitals, to he given in the Burns Hall to-morrow evening. - ,