Breadth, Depth, and Length

New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 439, 21 November 1947, Page 11

Breadth, Depth, and Length

Y the time the plays in the World Theatre series reach 4YA, they have already been heard elsewhere and commented upon by various enthusiasts, so that there is liftle new that one can say about them,~ One thing I am surprised at is that listeners apparently find it necessary, in commenting upon these »plays, to mention the fact that they didn’t find them too long. I ask in perplexity, why on earth should they? Why should it be considered that an hour-and-a-half is too long to concentrate on the radio? The plays I have heard, Man of Destiny and Dr. Faustus, seemed to me, on the contrary, far too short, When each was over, and the customary monotony of the regular programme; resumed the even tenor of its way, I switched off with regret that the programmes were not longer-but switch! off I did, and firmly, for fear of anticlimax. The suspicion that listeners may find the plays too long is due to, the fact that we have been fed constantly on short snatches, and the general idea behind the programmes seems to have been that a quarter to half-an-hour of continuous listening is the utmost of which the adult brain is capable; in particular, the Commercial stations, with their fifteen-minute serials, have encouraged this idea. This timelimit has never been applied in the case of longer musical works, the NZBS evidently supposing musicians to be an exception to the general rule. It is a stride ahead to have the World Theatre plays accepted with interest and alacrity by so many listeners, and with this indication that there is an educated public ready to listen to such adult entertain- | ment, the Service may go ahead and present us with as much of it as they like. I for one would welcome BBC, presentations, not only from the Home Service, but from the Third Programme; better still, let us attempt something of the same sort ourselves, strictly | New Zealand management. 3