Horse Play
HE NZBS-produced play Mazil, by Maxwell Gray, had about it an unreal and exotic flavour, due possibly to the circumlocutions of flowered speech in which the author allowed his characters to indulge. Borrowing the argot of this piece, we might say that Mr. Gray sometimes persuaded the clinging vine of over-elaboration to choke the tender sapling of beauty. It is questionable whether the desert sheiks really converse among themselves in this stilted | fashion, which I imagined to have gone out of fashion with popular translations of the Arabian Nights; but the story itself was quite believable, dealing as it did with a man who refused to swop his favourite mare for even the most houri-like of beauteous* damsels. Any hard-headed New Zealander will, believe this, for when he looks about him and sees his fellow-men placing the wife’s housekeeping allowance on a sure thing, he will realise that a devotion to horseflesh is by no means a purely Arab trait. As far as the production goes, the two Se yok ae eRe A ES AROS, GES Pens! TY)
sheiks were unevenly matched. One sounded much like a Hollywood. extra ill-at-ease in a big part, while the glorious deep and rolling tones of the other’s | voice managed to make even the decor- | ative periods of oriental speech sound possible. It is a pity that in the NZBS productions no mention is made of actors’ names: I should like to know who this particular actor is, so that I may listen for him in future productions,
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 392, 27 December 1946, Page 13
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256Horse Play New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 392, 27 December 1946, Page 13
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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