DOMINION STARVING

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 62, 4 November 1931, Page 3

DOMINION STARVING

(Press A.ssn.-

ARTISTIC FAILINGS N.Z. TERRIBLY ISOLATED ] IN LITERATURE AND ART ENGLISH ACTRESS CRITICISES

— By Telegraph — Copyright).

LONDON, Tuesday. "As regards art and literature New1: Zealand (is terribly isolated," said Miss Elizabeth Blake when addressing the British Drama League. She proposed that a committee should study the immediate needs of the community drama in the Dominions and Crown colonies, and added "New Zealand is in danger of intellectual and artistic starvation. Travelling players become fewer and poorer, and the schools and colleges are baclcward in literature and drama. Many New Zealanders thought it an affectation to speak good English. She recalled that when she attempted to produce a Shakespearean play in New Zealand she was told there was an insufficient public appreciation for Shakespeare, so she left Shaltespeare's name off the programmes and posters, with successful results. The resolution was carried unanimously, Miss Elsie Fogerty offered two year's free training to any New Zealanders the committee nominated. It was proposed that- gramophone records of 30 variants of the British dialects be taken to assist writers and dramatic societies. This also was unanimously adopted. Miss Blake was an English actressmanageress, who, after her marriage to Mr. G. Natusch, of Wellington, came out to New Zealand. In Wellington she formed her own theatre societjq and produced several plays. Some time ago she went back to England.