SHAKESPEARE CLUB

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23882, 9 August 1939, Page 6

SHAKESPEARE CLUB

"MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING." A SUCCESSFUL PRESENTATION The study of the works of Shakespeare and the cultivation of the art of reading aloud is the aim of the Dunedin Shakespeare Club, and if its public readings are to be taken as an indication, it is an object which the active members of the club are achieving. From time to time the public is given the opportunity to appreciate their work, and those occasions serve not only to illustrate the success of the study within the club but also, which is much more important, as a reminder of the beauty that was bequeathed to the world by England's great playwright. Last evening the club presented selections from "Much Ado About Nothing" for the appreciation of a good attendance in His Majesty's Theatre. It was a most successful evening. The selection was a good one and the cast was thoroughly competent. It told the tale of the marriage arranged between the young Count Claudio, one of the two favourites of Don Pedro, Prince of Aragon, and Hero, the daughter of Leonato, Governor of Messina, of the machinations of Don John, halfbrother to the Prince and. his creatures, and of the initial success and ultimate failure of their conspiracy. That is the main design of the play, but it is set against a delightful pattern. Benedick, the other of the Prince's favourites, famed as a wit and for his railing against the fair sex, and Beatrice, the cousin of Hero, and a brisk-witted young woman determined not to recognise the supremacy of the lords of creation, are a beautifully matched pair, and the course of their inspired romance is vastly entertaining. Then there is Dogberry, the constable "too cunning to be understood." The main romance has its painful episodes, but they are balanced by the tortuous progress of the underplot and of course, everything ends happily. The cast last evening was for the most part a well-arranged one. Mr J. W. Hayward gave character to the part of Claudio. the lover-in-chief, and Mr C. B. N. French made his unscrupulous rival, Don John, a suitably sinister personality. Mr H. Chapman read Leonato and handled a difficult role easily and competently. As Don Pedro, Mr M. Joel was adequately interested in the affairs of his favourites and invested his character with some dignity The choice for the parts of Benedick and Beatrice, upon which much of the life of the presentation depended, was a most happy one. Mr H. W. Hunter read Benedick with excellent understating and zest, and the Beatrice of Miss M. Randle was a most independent but withal a most human young woman They achieved excellent results from material that demanded brisk treatment. Hero was read by Miss A Hoseit, whose soft but c!?ar voice fitted her part appropriately to the run of the play The other humourist-in-chief, Dogberry, was made a thoroughly ponderous and unintelligible official by Mr R. Herbert, who used a big*voice and a figure that was no disgrace to his role to excellent advantage. The creature responsible for the foul plot by which Claudio was to be dissuaded from marrying Hero, Borachio, was read by Mr W B. Quennell and interpreted as the sly rascal that he is One other character was worth special mention. Mrs J T. Thomson, who read Balthasar and Margaret, '.id not have a heavy evening, but she was very appealing in the song with which she acceded to the request of the Prince and the Governor

All of the parts were read confidently, clearly and with understanding. Mr R. Bradley was excellent as Conrade, Mr B. E. Dickinson made a solemn friar, Mr French interpreted Verges as the cringing city officer, and Mr I. T. Templeton. as the watch, showed a fitting deference to the instructions of Dogberry The Sexton was read by Mr D. C Rose, and Ursula Hero's attendant gave Mist S V Seelen scope for effective co-operation in the heloful deceit practised on Beatrice by her mistress and herself Miss A. M Gapper introduced the various scenes unobtrusively and well Between the scenes Mr L. Dunbar sang two of the loveliest of Schubert's songs, "Thou are My Rest" and "Impatience.' He used his full voice smoothly in the beautiful lullaby and sang the exacting "Impatience" competently and effectively. Miss Marion Jeffery played his accompaniments.