Community Drama

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXX, Issue 20165, 20 July 1935, Page 16

Community Drama

(By “Prompter”)

Sidelights on the Amateur Stage

An addition to this year’s drama festival in Dunedin was a junior section, which attracted entries from two girls’ colleges and another from the ranks of the Opportune Players. If anything were needed to make the inclusion of such a section a permanency it was forthcoming in the high standard of the work done by the young performers. The plays were excellently mounted and the quality of the performance in every case was highly commendable. St. Hilda’s Dramatic Club took first place with “The Spinsters of Lushe,” a trim little play by Philip Johnson which was given exceptionally good treatment by a talented cast of six players. The Opportune Players were placed next, their offering being a scene from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” presented by a cast of over a dozen. It was a beautifully interpreted scene, and shared with the winning effort the judge’s hearty congratulations. Archerfield School was third with Laurence Housman’s “Sister Gold,” in which half a dozen admirably trained young players set a standard which approximated very nearly to that of the winners. They, too, received the congratulations of a delighted judge.

Commenting on the Dunedin festival “The Otago Daily Times” said: “The Otago branch of the British Drama League has concluded its second festival of community drama and after four days of keen competition the year’s laurels have been won and lost. The festival is now a well organised and clearly popular institution. Last year there were about a dozen entries in the local competition. This year there were 19, and in addition to the active competitors about two dozen societies are affiliated to the League in

Otago. These figures are sufficient to prove that the League is a thriving organisation and that its work is being appreciated. Moreover, the success of this year’s festival suggests that the League has won the confidence and co-operation of a large public interested in its avowed objects —the improvement of the quality of production in amateur societies and the encouragement in audiences of a higher standard of dramatic appreciation. There is a good case to be made for the activities of the League at a time when the community has few opportunities of keeping abreast with the progress of the drama through the medium of professional touring companies from overseas. The League has certainly succeeded in widening the scope of the young actor and the amateur producer by offering them the chance of sound criticism, a wide comparison of interpretation and method, and, above all, a sense of the right relation between drama and the life of the community, all of which are considerations of value. There should be no need to insist that no form of entertainment or recreation is so rich in human education as the personal practice of the dramatic art, for it offers the player a perpetual escape into another world. It enables him, in the outworn Aristotelean phrase, to work off his emotions, be they pity, terror, care or boredom, living for a while in another personality. At the same time it brings him into the pleasantest social companionship with a body of people interested in the sameart and inspired by the same -mthusiasms. The introduction of the competitive element into the work of the League may be said to be one of its most commendable features. There are comparatively few real amateur “stars,” but immediately below them in the dramatic scale is a large mass of amateur material of a kind which it is the aim of the League to encourage and direct. The merest novice has a place in the scheme of the League, which, like Emerson, considers that “not failure, but low aim, is crime." However much some of the competitors may have failed at the festival that has just closed, they certainly did not aim low.”

Considerable interest is being taken in the drama festival contest conducted by the women’s institutes in thm Ashburton County. At Hampstead on Thursday evening the third scries of one-act plays was presented and the placings were given as follows: Hampstead, “Trifles” 1, Wakanui, “Bobby Settles Down” 2, Fairton, “My Herbe;T, Says” 3, Allenton, “The Imposter” 4. The judge was Mr C. E. Moller. Mrs F. Curtis (president of the federation) congrautlated the competing institutes on the performances. The fourth trial will be held at Rakaia and the fifth at Methven.

A .young New Zealand girl, Miss Elaine Hamill, of Taihape, who achieved some degree of Australasian fame in her portrayal of the juvenile lead, Betty, in the film “Grandad Rudd” recently, has further distinguished herself in Sydney. She has been given splendid mention by Press critics for her work as Mariella Linden, in Keith Winter's play, “The Shining Hour,” presented by a professional repertory company at the Savoy Theatre on June 3,4, and 6. This was Miss Hamill’s first professional stage role. Last year she played the lead in “Sometimes Even Now,” presented by the students of Cinesound Academy on behalf of Lady Game's fund for crippled children, when none of the artists was paid. Miss Hamill has many friends in Auckland, where she went to school for three years.

At the close of Saturday evening’s programme at the Dunedin festival the judge, Mr Bernard Beeby, of Christchurch, announced his awards, the outstanding feature of which was the granting of an A certificate to the Thespian Club for its superb presentation of Eugene O’Neill’s “He,” the performance of which excited the enthusiastic admiration of all who saw it. Principal among the performers who achieved this distinction were Miss Jessie M’Lennan and Mr Gordon Niven, who had the leading roles in an arresting and penetrating play. Their work was highly praised by the judge, who also expressed his gratification at the artistry and finish which characterised the production of the play. The A certificate of the Drama League is a very jealously-guarded award, and is given only for exceptional merit, so that the Dunedin competitors have cause to be proud of their performance. An A certificate was awarded at last year’s festival also, and on that occasion the judge stated that it was the first occasion on which such a distinction had been won in New Zealand. It is worthy of note that the South Canterbury branch of the British Drama League, does not permit the award of certificates.

The results of the judging at the Dunedin festival of community drama were announced by Mr Beeby. as under:

Thespian Club (“lie”), 89 points (A Certificate) 1 Repertory Society (“Shall We Join the Ladies?”), 82 points .. .. 2 Academy Players (“Thirst”), 79 points, and Belmont Players (“The Sacred Flame”), 79 points (equal) 3 Hampden Dramatic Society (“The Cage”), 78 points, and Otago Women’s Club ("Heard in.Camera”), 78 points (equal) .. .. 5 Repertory Society “Sentence of, Death”), 74 points, and Thespian Club “Boccaccio’s Untold Tale”), 74 points (equal) 7 Other marks announced were:— Opportune Players (“The Decoy”), 70 points. Opportune Players (“Women at War”), 67 points. Repertory Society ((“Bathsheba of Saarema”), 66 points. Optimists’ Club (“The Dear Departed”), 60 points. Y.W.C.A. Business Girls” Lyceum (“Portrait of a Gentleman in Slippers”) 55 points. Optimists’ Club (“Trifles”), 50 points. Triangle Players (“Ghosts on Christmas Eve”), 50 points.

Entries have closed for the ninth annual festival of community drama organised by the South Canterbury Branch of the British Drama League. The festival will be held in August, and the following plays will be presented* : “Villa for Sale” (Sacha Guitry), South Canterbury Women’s Club “B” team. “Women at War” (Edward Percy) South Canterbury Women’s Club “A” team. “April Showers” (Philip Johnson), Gapes Valley Women's Institute. ‘ “One Goes Alone” (Edward Williams), Wesley Players. “Number <M. and S. Box), Fairlie Women’s Institute. “The House with Twisty Windows” (Mary Pakington), Temuka Drama- | teurs. “King’s Son, Churl's Son” (Jane jCran), Temuka High School Old Girls. “For He Had Great Possessions” (D. C. Wilson), W.E.A. (tentatively). “Wayside War” (Margaret Napier), Geraldine Players. “The Monkey’s Paw” (W. W. Jacobs). Geraldine Players. "Tails Up” (Cyril Roberts), W.E.A. "B” team. “The Pacifist” (Olive Popplewell), St. Mary's Girls’ Club. “The Stepmother” (A. A. Milne), Geraldine Good Companions. “The Lonely of Heart” (Dorothy Coates). Highfield Players. “Kirkconnell Lea” (Gordon Bottomley), Timaru Reader?