GOOD THEATRE NOT NECESSARILY THEATRICAL

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 208, 18 September 1937, Page 8

GOOD THEATRE NOT NECESSARILY THEATRICAL

JEREMY COLLIER.

It must not be tliougkt tliat tke example of 1 'good tkeatro" givcn last week is tke only possible form of tliis device — or eveii tke most important. Far i'rom it. Strongly coutrasted cliaractcrs can certaiuly.be entored in tkis category, as can suck perpctually cntkralliiig dcviccs as tbe threo caskets in tke "Merckant of Yeniee"' and Bydney Carton's spceck l'ronx tko stops of tke guillotiue. More, tliero is a quality in acting wkiek may ko described as good tkcatre, yet wkick is not tlieatrical. Hamlet must kave kad something of tkis in mind wiien lie said, "do not eaw tko air too muck witk vo ur kands tkus, but use all gently, for in tke very torrent, tempest, and as I may say wliirlwind of your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance tkat may give it smootlmess. O, it offends me to tke soul, to kear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split tke ears of the grouncllings, wko for the most part are ' capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbskows and noisc." Indeed, tke aspiring amateur would do well to read and remember Hamlet' s speeckes to tke players : for, if he can apply that advice, he will indeed be an actor. But I must, as J promised, consider some plays suitable for amateur production. Yet I cannot leave Hamlet witkout quoting kim on that most irritating of tlieatrical follies, "gagging". "That's villanous, and sliows a most pitiful ambition in tke fool tkat uses it." One wonders wkick actor kad mauled Skakespeare's precious text to incur suck wratk. Suitable for Amateurs. Last week I mentioned "Tke Circle" and "Outward Bound" as both being admirably suited for amateurs. "Tke Circle" is admittedly difficult, but, if lor no otker reason tkan tke rehected glory of kaving done tke greatest of all modern comediea, it is well wortb ivhile. "Outward Bound" is in a quite different category. yet it also is ivorth any amount of trouble. Easy to cast, easy to play, easy to produce, it is a plum 110 amateur organisation skould risk kaving taken from it by some society more enterprising. Miss Clemence Dane in . "A Bill o' Divorcement" wrote a play that is admirakle for tke amateur. It is not easy in the same way as "Outward Bound," because its tense atmosphere has to be sustained by tke actors witkout overmucli help from tke situation®.

Tkis applies in a lesser degree to Mr C. K. Munro's tine comedy "At Mrs Beam's" witk its strongly • coutrasted characters. Any producer with an actress capable of playing spinster parts could scarcely go wrong here. Generally it is advjsable for producers to keep clear of. costume plays, for tke very good reason tkat unless they are well staged — wkick is expensive — they

are better left alone. Y>t I cannot kelp feeling tkat Mr Benn Levy's "Mrs Moonlight," apart from tke difficulty of casting Sarali Moonlight, would not be difficult, and would ka.vc a treraendous appeal. It kas all tke qualities oi seutiment and comedy tkat, as far as one can judge, are wkat tko public wantj and, though it is a fragedy, yet it is paradoxically a kappy tragcdy. For tke casting, it must be remembercd tkat auy play can ko cast: some 110 doubb more satisfactorily tkan otkers, but cvcn so, if tke play is strong cnougk to carry its own weigkt, Lhe wcalr characters will probably lie carricd tkrougk by tk© swcep of tke story. Tke difficulty of casting is a bug-a-boo created by people wko do not understand tke job. Element of Bitter-Swect Tliis element of bifler-sweet comes mto Miss Dodi© Smitk's lovely little play "Autumn Crocus" j tliough kere a surprise usbers in tke tragedy — if we may call it such. Of all tlie plays 1 kave mentioned tkis is the one I sliould most willingly back as a eertain wmner. The difficulty of the exterior set lieed not deter, as any producer witk tke use of kis imagination and judicious Jigkting and masking will rcalise wkile its people, setting and pomt of .view must keep an audience on tke alert yet ckarmed into tke submissive, expectant spirit wkick is tke ideal state. 1 pray you, enterprising producer, givp us "Autumn Crocus." Aua so they go. Tkeir naine is legiou. Yet one is constantly worried ky tke lack of imagination iu tkose responsible for amateur productions. The plays 1 kave mentioned are not only good from a, teclinical jioint of view, but tliere is no apparenfc reason wky they skould not be as successful on tke amateur stage as they were on tke professional, yet they kave all been passed over for plays wkich were otten of less wortli and interest. With plays suck as tkese to kand no producer has any excuse for staging tke type we kave sornetimes seen in the past. This is not only damaging to the reputation of the living tkeatre, but to tke reputation of amateur performance, and as suck is uiiforgivakle. If I appear" to kave laid ciown tke law witk too firm a pen, it is ordv because 1 bappen to know wliat I am saving, but in self defence let me quote Dr J ohnson : ' 'The expectation of iguorance is indefinite, and that of knowledge is ol'ten tyrannical. It is' hard to satlsfy tkose wko know not wk'at to demand, or those who deinand by design what they think impossible to be done. I kave indeed disappointed 110 opinion

more tlian uiy own ; yet I kave endeavoured to perform my task witk no sligkt solicitude."

, Jnr.