DRAMA LEAGUE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 185, 6 August 1936, Page 9

DRAMA LEAGUE

WANGANUI AREA : FESTIVAL CONTINUED SPARKLING PLAYS PRESENTED I Three sparkling one-act plays were presented at la£t night’s session of the fourth annual festival of the Wanganui Area of the British Drama League in the Wanganui Repertory Society’s theatre. At the conclusion of each presentation, the adjudicator, Miss Elizabeth Blake, bon. adviser to the British Drama League, constructively criticised the productions. Speaking after the concluding play, Miss Blake said that she had come to some very interesting conclusions about drama in this area since adjudicating at the festival. These she would announce on the concluding night. There was some good character about the work but there were also some definite weaknesses. There was no doubt that there was any amount of acting ability, but this required development in the right direction. I The first play produced was “Black • Night” (John Bourne) by the West- ; mere Women’s Institute Drama Circle. Miss Elake said that John Bourne, who was a friend of hers, was by nature and temperament a dramatic critic and not. an author. As a consequence he expected his actors to do difficult things. The main thing about the performance was the simplicity of approach. The mother did not look old enough and her body movements were those of a young woman; she could have been stiffer in her actions. She appreciated the supreme simplicity of the younger daughter (Titiana) while the other sister (Olga) had a hard part to play. Like a piece of Russian music, the tempo of the play changed suddenly from time to time. She was impressed with the acting of this team and its right angle of approach; ability was undoubtedly there. The cast was as follows:—Alexandrof Maklevitch, James Currie; Sophia (his wife), Eleanor Remington; Titiana (his youngest daughter), Freda Parkes; Olga (his eldest daughter), Edith Smith: the Countess Sonia Alexieff, Mimosa Burns: Lieutenant Ivan Petrokov, Donald Mac Kay; a Bolshevist agent, Jim Wa tors. Scene: The living room in the house of a Russian railway worker. Time: An evening in late November. 1917. “The Conflict” (Clarice V. McCauley) was the second play and was produced by a Wanganui Repertory Society team. This little play, said Miss Blake, was a study of suppressed female sympathy without weeping. The opening scene between the two daughters and the scene between t lie elder daughter and the son ran very smooth! V. The long scene between the elder daughter and the mother was well done, but the daughter could have exaggerated to a greater degree her sense of conflict. Bess played her part intelligently and charmingly, while the other made a charming entrance and made her character stark as soon as she came on the stage. It was an entrance inside the part. In this performance there was some of the most finished acting she had so far seen at the festival. The cast was as follows:—Emelle, Mrs N. Bancks; Bess, Margaret Jenkins: Bobbie, Master lan Ralph; mother, Jean Lambert. Scene: A kitchen. The final play, “Elizabeth Refuses' (Margaret McKenna), based on Jane Austen’S “Pride and Prejudice,’’ was produced by a team from the Westmere Women’s Institute Drama Circle. Because two players had appeared in “Black Night,’’ this team was not eligible to enter in the competition and Miss Blake expressed her appreciation of the team's action in putting on the play to make up the programme. Elizabeth, she thought, took her work too seriously and was rather too tall for Jane Austens Elizabeth. Jane was a dear and played her part nicely. Mrs Bennet played her part with a delightful comedy touch while Collins was a pet. The movement of his hands, his gestures and his mentality were right.. The cast was as follows: Elizabeth Bennet. Dorothy Gordon: Jane Bennet, Bessie Dawes; Mrs Bennet, Eleanor Remington; Mr Collins, James Currie: Lady Catherine de Burgh. Jean Campbell. Scene: The morning room at the Bonnets’. The festival will be brought to a conclusicn 10-night. when Miss Blake will make an announcement of her decision. The selected team will compete in the semi-finals at Palmerston North. The plays to be presented to-night are “The Philosopher of Butterbiggins” ‘'Harold Chapin) by the Wanganui Repertory Society" “World Without Men” (Philip Johnson) by the Wanganui Girls’ College, and “Heaven on Earth” (Philip Johnson) by the Wanganui Repertory Society.