No Brilliant Playwrights Discovered

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 21, 26 January 1937, Page 6

No Brilliant Playwrights Discovered

Radio Competition Winners Announced GENERAL LACK OF ORIGINALITY. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Last Night. The National Broadcasting Board's radio play competition has resulted as follows: “The Time Factor," William Holder, Auckland, 1. “Not Without Honour," Ralph Hogg, Wellington, 2. “A Door Open 3," Alice J. Waldie, Lower Hutt, 3. Other prizes have been conceded as follows:—“When the Twain Have Met," Charles H. Box, Dargaville; “A Dreamer Passes," Mrs Isobel Andrews, Wellington; “The Fourth Factor," J. Wilson Hogg, Wellington. The judge's comment stated that the number of entries, nearly 400, was gratifying but the quality -was disappointing. Very few competitors had a clear idea of what a radio play should be and the ability to put that idea into shape. The technique of radio drama in plot construction and dialogue had its own particular problems and most of the entries did not show an adequate realisation of this. In general there was a marked lack of originality in ideas. A common weakness in construction was looseness in style. Many competitors wrote not radio plays but short stories in dialogue. Poverty of the comedy element bears out the experience of radio organisations everywhere that good comedy is difficult to find. Use made by competitors of New Zealand material was disappointing but several of these entries showed merit.