WORK IN THE PLAY DEPARTMENT

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 43, 19 April 1940, Page 8

WORK IN THE PLAY DEPARTMENT

Repertory Artists Visit NBS Studios To Prepare Year’s Programme

tory players from all over New Zealand are collected at the NBS headquarters studios to prepare play programmes for broadcast during the ensuing twelve months. This year the war lessened the quantity of talent available, but the quality was there as usual. Augmenting casts formed in Wellington were May Macdonald (Napier), Anita Winkle (Dunedin), Alan McElwain (Auckland), Harold Shaw, O. L. Simmance, Cyril Collins (Christchurch). The Wellington players, with one exception, are incognito. ACH year at Easter reperSeven New Plays « They recorded seven plays. James Hilton’s "Good-bye Mr.

Chips" was first on the list. "Behold the Judge," by Jack Inglis, has been written specially for radio. It is a most unusual play, and unusually effective. Bernard Beeby, producer, says it is "a very strong play." Most of the story takes place in the mind of the judge. There are echoes from the court room as he watches a trial proceed, and the dialogue, or monologue, gives his thoughts as each witness makes his deposition. Cross currents of evidence and secondary plots are constructed into a dramatic and novel piece of radio entertainment. George R. Preedy, who is a woman writer, wrote "Captain Banner." It is founded on the tale of Caroline Matilda, Queen of Norway and Denmark, sister of George III. of England. She was accused of adultery and abducted to a "dark and very dreadful" castle, there to be put to death: Her lover had his head chopped off for treason. Names have been changed, but the plot follows fairly closely this old, and true, story. Child Star from Wellington Feature of the production of Rabindranath Tagore’s " The Post Office," was the performance of the main part by Rosemary Miller, of Kelburn, Wellington, aged 11 years. Mr. Beeby had believed it would not be possible to produce this play owing to the difficulty of finding a child star who could take the responsibility of carrying the whole weight of the performance. By accident, he found young Miss Miller and says she has put up a really excellent performance. She is natural, sensitive to the emotions of the play, and completely at home with the microphone. Other productions are P. G. Wodehouse’s "If I Were You," and a character sketch by W. Graeme Holder titled "A Lady of 56." Dates for broadcast have not yet been scheduled. Additional information for listeners will be published as the plays come into the programmes.