BOOKS OF THE WEEK

Taranaki Daily News, 4 March 1933, Page 13 (Supplement)

BOOKS OF THE WEEK

DRAMA: ON AND OFF STAGE

(By

U.S.)

Plays of 1932-1933 ? i six in one volume: Victor Gollancz Ltd., London. New Zealand price 9s. The Egyptian Cross Mystery; Ellery Queen: Victor Gollancz Ltd., London. New Zealand price 9s.

The average New Zealand’s know-: ledge of the, English theatre, still the centre of the world’s stage, can come only from the reading of the productions he sees. Yet probably not one play in a hundred of those staged in London is played before New Zealanders. In fact only a small proportion of the very best—and quality is judged from the box-office point of view—struggle as far round the world, as the Dominion. But the opportunity of reading them has been given by Victor Gollancz Ltd., who for several years has published collections of the six best, plays of the year.

This year’s collection, “Plays of 193233,” is a valuable addition to the series of handy volumes. It is thoroughly up to the moment, for one of the pieces contained in it was still being played a month ago in London. None have yet come to New Zealand, or even been promised. Whether the epithet “famous is justly deserved, will be a matter of opinion, for only the perspective that the passing of years gives can reveal the true values of the present-day drama. Nevertheless, the collection is truly representative of what are considered by the theatre-goers of the world to be the most outstanding of contemporary plays. One says theatre-goers of the world deliberately, because though all the plays are selected from those played in Britain three of them are importations from other countries. Two came' from the pens of German authors and one of the two is given pride of place in the collection. It is “Children in Uniform,” .which is still running on the London boards, and which- has already been- filmed. It is a translation of Christa Winsloe s “Madchen in Uniform,” itself an adaptation of another German version, and it has aroused great interest wherever it was played both in England and on the Continent of Europe. Of the other two importations one is a translation of a play by Hans Chlumberg and is' entitled “Miracle at Verdun." It is a novel conception altogether. The reader wonders whether it would play any farther than the first act in France, against whom, bitter words, which rather break away from the unity of the play, are spoken. The other play is “Counsellor-at-Law,’’“which hardly needs any recommendation,, since it .is by the well-known American, “Elmer Rice, author of “Street Scene,’’ which had such a’ phenomenal run in New York and London. With the' two plays already mentioned it shows there is still progress in the modern .theatre,, and that the “legitimate” stage has not been overwhelmed by the film. - , . C. L. Anthony’s “Service” bears some similarity to Rice’s play in that it goes to the business world for its story of slump days. John Van Druten’s name is already well : known with “Young Woodley.” His contribution- to the collection is “Behold, We Live,” another story of the eternal triangle that bears little promise of permanency in the annals of the theatre. The sixth play is Rodney Ackland’S “Strange Orchestra," a strange play that one would rather see on the stage before attempting to judge of its merits.

The second volume chosen for this week’s notes is drama off the stage. The “Egyptian Cross Mystery” is Mr. Ellery Queen at his best, and his best as a teller of detective stories is very good. Mr. Queen is no copyist. He creates not only mystery but a host of characters concerned in its elucidation, or otherwise, all of whom are' interesting; while the solution of the “Egyptian Cross” tangles is guaranteed to stimulate the most jaded appetite for detective yarns.

When an author can draw upon ancient Egyptian rites, a blood feud in the Balkans, village life in the United States, more sophisticated society from New York at play in one of the retreats where only the very wealthy can lead the “simple life,” throws in a douple of English international “crooks,” a little love story, a more sordid romance and three or four murders of a peculiarly revolting nature, the searcher for thrills must be hard to please if he is not satisfied. Mr. Queen has the' art of summarising his characters for the benefit of his readers. The description of the inquest at Arroyo, a little village in West Virginia is a clear but rather pitiless sketch of local importance and futility in the face of any extraordinary occurrence. He can draw another kind of picture, too. Here is the comment upon the finding of the third crucified victim “I’m not a religious man,” said Ellery, “but for God’s sake, Professor, don’t blaspheme. Yes, it’s hard to believe that is all that was that vigorous warm-blooded man who spoke to us a bare twelve hours ago. You read the old stories, history—of Caligula, of the Vandals, of Moloch, of the Assassins, of the Inquisition. Dismemberments, impalements, flayings . . . blood, the pages are written in blood. You read ... But mere reading doesn t begin to give you the full, the hot and smoking horror of it. Here in tne twentieth century, despite our gang-wars, the Great War, the pogroms still raging in Europe, we have no clear conception of the true horror of human vandalism. . . Mass Madness is never so directly sickening as the orgiastic satanism of individual madness.”

The extract will show that the "Egyptian Cross Mystery” is a gruesome story in parts. It begins with the discovery of a decapitated, crucified body, and there is more than one such happening before the tale is finished. The search for the perpetrators takes the investigation over many parts of the United States, and the contrast in people and methods in the small town, the big city and an esoteric community which seems to include cranks of various degree, from nudists to a mere confidence man and woman, is vividly portrayed. “Harakht, the god of the midday sun,” Dr. Temple and his wayward sweetheart, the übiquitous Professor Yardley and the higher and lesser lights of the United States police are but a few of the figures Mr. Queen brings into his story. The first visit to “Old Pete’s cabin in the hills, and all that came of it. is one thrill among many, whilst the final analysis of the crimes and their motives leave the reader agreeing that Mr. Queen's imagination is. to use his own word, cataclysmic.

When you want an inexpensive volume of standard literature, ask fi’-t for the Everyman’s Library edition—2/9 per volume. All the new titles arriving as published. Obtainable from Messrs. A. J. Fyfe, Ltd., Booksellers, New Plymouth.*