LINK WITH BRITAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26774, 18 May 1948, Page 9

LINK WITH BRITAIN

DRAMA LEAGUE FESTIVAL By C. R. Allen The British Drama League is now a hardy growth in New Zealand. It is essentially British because of its democratic nature. Though its founder, Lord Howard De Walden, was a peer, it is a people’s movement, and it came into being just about the time that Bernard Shaw, Granville Barker, and others were waging war against the theatre of their time, which they stigmatised as the “ commercial theatre.” In Dunedin the British Drama League has carried on its activities side by side with the revived Repertory Society for a number of years. Some may remember two meetings held in Miss Bessie Thomson’s rooms in York place within a week or so of each other. Out of one sprang the Repertory Society, out of the other the Dunedin branch of the Britisli Drama League. The uninitiated may ask, “What is the difference between Repertory and Drama League?” The difference lies in the twofold nature of a Drama League festival. One not only follows a play at a Drama League festival; one follows an adjudicator. Miss Betty Blake, the first to act as judge at a Drama League festival in Dunedin, gave a performance comparable almost to that of Ruth Draper. There is an art in criticism of this sort that is readily appreciated by all those who. like Budge and Toddy in “ The Heavenly Twins,” want to see the wheels go round. Perhaps no one who has succeeded Miss Blake as adjudicator has infused into the part such a wealth of personality, though, of course, Miss Ngaio Marsh, Miss Helen Mrs Neill, and others had their particular appeal. For this centennial festival the Dunedin branch of the British Drama League is particularly fortunate in securing the services of Mr Frederick Farley, who has recently arrived from Great Britain, where he won a considerable reputation as judge and producer. Mr Farley shares with Miss Blake the distinction of a British background. There is a particularly strong list of entries for this year’s festival, and it is confidently anticipated that not since the.clays of Miss Blake will there be a happier union between the judged and the judge. We are told that Mr Farley has already had one big success in Christchurch as a producer. He will bring with him, no doubt, a breath of the Old Country, where, in spite of everything the drama continues to thrive.