COMMUNITY DRAMA

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 32, 6 August 1936, Page 27

COMMUNITY DRAMA

WELLINGTON FESTIVAL j

•Plenty ... pi variety „in 'the way of theatrical entertainment' was provided nlcL 1H ghtV,,and each night for the remainder of the current ■week, ; by the British • Drama League's fifth ■•annuaj festival-.; of ■community drama in the ■Wellington" area The winning team out of those competing will take'part in the North Island el£ munition festival which is to be held in^jgmerstonrNqrth. at the end of this month^, ThevSouth Island elimination festival takes place atTimaru on September 2. and the National Final Festival Dunedin two days later. The adjudicator is Miss Elizabeth Loe, and she had^four plays to judge last night «? -.2™ h- ave four more on.each ofthe, following nights. /Three of last night s plays were entered for the. junior section of the festival- only These were:—"Great Aunt Jemima/ by the Belfrances Players; "Martha and Mary," by the Wellington East Old Girls Dramatic Society; and "Thread o Scarlet," by the Rongotai College Dramatic.: Society.;. -The fourth play was, another, production by members of the Wellington East Old Girls' Dramatic Society, a play entitled "Unnatural Scene." At the close of last t"r^l^session Miss":Loe some helpful criticisms,on;the plays 'which had just beien'produced, bat naturally no announcement :as-+.tp. placings' in order of merit can' be made until siter Saturday evening's ; perfprmarices; -It Was a pity that: there i was hot' a large attendance of the;; public last night. ureat Aunt Jemima," '-presented :.by the Belfrances Players and .produced by Isabel Halligan, had.. the ; following cast:—Alice McDiarmid; Annette Martm, Nancy Butte, Lpris Webley, Shirley Moran, Mary Hart, Shirley Cains; and Patricia Coleman., ' • \ :•.- - ''■-..

The cast of "Martha and Mary,!', produced .by ;DoreenrCumragh^ played^by .the Wellington-, East: Old Girls Dramatic' Society,, .was; as if olio ws:—Dorothy Jamieson/; June 'Peachey, Miriam Cox, Betty Combs, "June Smel, >and Joyce Wflkens. ~ The second of thfe Wellington -East Old .Girls' ■Dramati*fsociety,!s.production > was "Unnatural -Scene," "the producer (being Nola.jL- Miller- and' the cast composed of, Jean Murdoch, Irene Fleming; -Marjorie.; Eberlet, , Joyce Weber, ■ Kathleen Tiambull, Mollie Chisholm, and Rae Sturrock. . : "Thread o'. Scarlet,"' the Rongbtai College Dramatic -Society's choice,, was presented by G. Dawson.'L. Grey^ W. Easterbrook-Smith, J. : Oldfleld - H Ward, and E;,Brasted, with A. S. Farquhar'as producer. .■ --. ■■, •■......-.. ..■ . !; The .four-plays, to be presented tonighti the performance* taking place in the Town Hall Concert Chamber and^beginningat i 730 p.m.; arei-^'The Pardoner's Tale" (adapted frorif Cftaucer)..by_the.RongotaiC6llege..Old.Boys' Dramatic Society; "Children in. Uniform,", by. the Marsdeh< Old Girls' Drama;:; Club; "Eleven A.M.," by. the Pandora Mmsical. and Dramatic Society; and "Slow .^Curtein," by ihe junior branch, of the ; Navy League Drama Circle.. It should be noted that those attending, the performances cannot be admitted while a play is in progress.