NIGHT WITH GREAT AUTHORS

Taranaki Daily News, 19 October 1927, Page 9

NIGHT WITH GREAT AUTHORS

ALEXANDER WATSON RECITAL. For one man to hold an audience for two hours with nothing to help him but the strength of his own personality and his own interpretation of standard literature is an extraordinary accomplishment. Yet it happened in tho Empire Theatre in New Plymouth last (light when Mr. Alexander- Watson, the distinguished English elocutionist, submitted a programme of prose and poetry drawn from the works of well-known authors. To New Plymouth lovers of literature one of the most pleasing features of tho recital was the good house, the rapt attention accorded Mr. Watson throughout the programme, and the unmistakable enthusiasm with which he was greeted, the audience persistently demanding an encore after the last programme number had been rendered. To those people in New Plymouth inclined to deplore the taste of the modern generation in things theatrical, the evident interest in such a type of programme was most gratifying, and judging from the atendanee at similar entertainments during the last few years indicates a

swing of tho pendulum towards a public appreciation of tho quieter pleasures of home life at its best. At the same time, of course, the enthusiastic reception was a tribute to tho power of the sole performer. A little reflection on the delivery and effect of the recital leads one to believe that half its suecss depends on Mr. Watson's strong personality. Only by such an influence could an audience be

kept fascinated.by a Ijpie figure in evening dress, with no stage setting whatever, through two hours of characterisation and elocution. The success was made complete by- the use of a voice which through its own natural quality, its careful development, and its long course in the school of experience was capable of lapsing easily and convincingly into a faithful interpretation of divers styles of speech. Credit must also be given to the employment of descriptive and telling gesture.

As is only fitting in such a class of entertainment, every recital begins with either of the two immortals, Shakespeare or Dickens. Last night the opening number was an excerpt from Romeo and Juliet, the quarrel of the Montagues and Capulets, tho tragic deaths of Mereutio and Tybalt being the incident depicted. The feature of the number was the passionate outcry of Mereutio after receiving the fatal sword thrust, telling effect being gained throughout tho piece with the quick changes from the full, round sonorous voice of one character to the agitated sharpness of another. Mr. Winkle’s misadventure at night, when Mr. Dauber fell asleep, and Mr. Winkle innocently acquired an unfortunate association with Mrs. Dauber’s sedan chair, was the selection from Dickens’ "Pickwick Papers.” As in ’Hunting for Ezra” from Barrie’s "The Little Minister,” which was submitted later in the evening, Mr. Watsons faculty for description was fully demonstrated, tho sedan chairmen’s knocking in tho former, and the Scottish dialogue in the latter, being much appreciated. With the exception of a dialectical rendering of Mulvaney’s humorous adventure in Kipling’s "My Lord the Elephant,” the remainder of the programme was composed of selections of poetry. From Kipling was drawn the familiar “If,” "Gtinga Din,” "Boots,” and “Tho .Shut Eye .Sentry.” . John Masefield supplied "A Ballad of Cape St. Vincent,” "Cargoes” and the laughable "Bill’s Ghost,” and the programme was completed by "The Elf Child” (little Orphant Annie) from Whitcomb Riley, and the delightful children’s poem “Disobedience” from A. A. Milne. As-an encore number, Mr. Watson gave another children's poem describing the awful fate of a small boy who had a eraze for motor care.

John Drinkwater once wrote regarding Rupert Broom. - sonnets that the poetry that shone and fell across them in one complete wave was, ■as poetry always must be, independent of all factual experience, and came from the deeper experience of the imagination. If this may' bo generally accepted as true of poetry fulfilling its real function, it was equally typical of Mr. Watsons interpretation. Altogether, hie recital was most acceptable as a means not only of renewing acquaintanceship with old friends of the library shelf, but of meeting those friends clad in refreshing .and fascinating attire. For his second and final recital tonight, Mr. Watson has chosen another ■splendid programme including a group of famous selections from Rudyard Kipling, among them being the second - part of “My Lord the Elephant,” "The English Flag,” “Mulholland’s Contrast,” “The Smuggler’s Song,” "Be Fit,” and “The Married Man”; also “Marley’s Ghost” and "The Reformation of Scrooge” from "A Christmas Carol,” Belloc’s Cautionary Tales "Matilda,” and “Jim,” and Mark Twain’s hilarious sketch "Punch, Brothers, Punch,” The box plan is at Collier’*.