...And Whip Her When She Teazles

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 388, 29 November 1946, Page 11

...And Whip Her When She Teazles

‘Two scenes from Sheridan’s School for Scandal were read from 3YA by Mary Hopewell and Robert Newman. The passages chosen were the two premier quarrels-there are minor onesbetween Sir Peter and Lady Teazle. These are always entertaining, but not easy to speak or, unless very well spoken, to listen to; the dialogue is what is called polished diction, meaning

chiefly that the sentences are long and periodic and possess a somewhat complex structure of internal balances, It is not a question of being natural or collo-quial-they are both--but of a flow and continuity which we would not find natural or colloquial to-day. This imposes, as I say, a considerable burden on the actor; and the artists in this programme sometimes bowed a little under it. Mr. Newman, for instance, in the attempt to convey Sir Peter’s baffled rage, panted and stammered and snorted in a manner distressing to hear, and moreover gave the impression that he was trying to force his voice below its natural tone. In consequence Sir Peter failed to do what Sheridan lets him do keep his end up quite creditably against his infuriating spouse. Miss Hopewell, though not perfect in the matter of diction, achieved the quality of maddening and infantile impertinencethe indestructible, unanswerable, invincible insolence of the Awful Child which lies at the heart of the character-al-most too successfully. Sir Peter would surely have beaten this Lady Teazle over the head with the Chippendale and removed to Jamaica. But Miss Hopewell’s voice and manner are admirably suited to this type of comedy, and on the whole the programme should receive encouragement,