LITTLE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 282, 27 August 1942, Page 8

LITTLE THEATRE

Wellington’s Need Emphasized

DEVELOPMENT OF DRAMA Writing in support of the Little Theatre movement in Wellington, Air. Alan Mulgan considers that with the provision of better accommodation the drama and music could be made to help each other, specially in finance, for a Little Theatre would be in great demand for concerts of various kinds. "Accommodation for repertory work in New Zealand is highly inadequate. I served for ten years on the committee of the Little Theatre in Auckland," says Mr Alulgan, "and the worst handicap we had was always the place of performance. AVe were always driven back to the Concert Chamber of the Town Hail, which for performers and audience (specially audience) was about as unsatisfactory as it eould be. The experience was heartbreaking. It is much the same in Wellington. The Concert Chamber, like the hall in Auckland, was not built for drama; it is inadequate behind the curtain and in front. The very marked increase of interest in the drama and play production in this country has been accompanied by hardly any improvement ui accommodation. Repertory societies have . to take what they can get, and that is pretty poor. It is plain enough we have little to expect from the commercial thea.tre, even when peace comes. We shall continue to be dependent on repertory societies for drama, and, judging by experience in days gone by, those societies, in the face of serious difficulties, have given us far better faro tn choice of plays, than the commercial theatre would have done if the cinema had never risen as a rival. AVe have only to look at the range of plays produced by the Wellington Repertory Theatre and the Thespians in the last few years to realize the debt we owe to the repertory movement generally. But no one knows what the community has missed in drama ami music by reason of inadequate facilities. Many a plan for entertainment has gone no further than the idea, simply because a little thought showed it to be impracticable. "A basic principle I wish to emphasize is that the drama is an integral part of culture, and in our city planning should be recognized as such. It may be said that private enterprise should supply what is wanted. If it will, well and good, but it shows no sign of doing so. AVe set on foot a project for a Little .theatre in Auckland, where there seemed to be ample demand by various bodies, dramatic and musical, but capital just wasn t iuterested. It would have responded better to a proposal to extract gold from sea water. If private enterprise won t help we are justified in asking the municipality Lu do so. ' „ . “This country tends to adopt tne -tsritish official attitude toward the drama, where it is generally placed lowest among the arts. That this feeling is still potent is seen in the policy of the British Government which cheerfully pays large sums adding to the country’s already vast Wealth in Old Alasters, but won t spend - money on the drama. A recent investigation among a number of drafted soldiers in England showed that over 90 per cent had never been inside a “legitimate theatre. Yet in the last 50 years or so Britain has developed a finer drama and a wider and deeper interest in the theatre than in any period since the Elizabethan. The country tnat boasts. the greatest dramatist in all history is, still without a national theatre. . We should not let ourselves be influenced by this tradition. Wellington has a worthy Art Gallery and a worthy Central Public Library. Let it resolve to furnish worthy homes for drama and music. "I urge everybody concerned to unite to work out a comprehensive scheme. e mav not be able to get all we want at cnee, or even soon, but tve can at least lav down principles and make plans tor the future. I suggest that the first principle is that the municipality should acknowledge responsibilify for encouragement of drama and music.”