PLAYS AND SHORT STORIES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 445, 2 January 1948, Page 16

PLAYS AND SHORT STORIES

Five New NZBS Programmes

IVE new NZBS productionsthree recorded new plays and two short stories — are scheduled for broadcasting by the Commercial stations in the next two or three weeks. Of the plays, one will be The Waters of Lethe, an unusual piece of drama, written for radio by an Australian playwright, G. Murray Milne; another is The Man Outside, by the English writer Norman Edwards, and the third is The Well of Youth, by another Englishman, Frank Weston. The short stories are Rust, by an Australian, Myra Morris, and The Last Day, by W. Glynn Jones, a well-known Welsh author. The Waters of Lethe has for its central figure a man named Smith who wakes up one morning in a strange hotel bedroom, in London with a slight headache from a crack on the skull and a

erst PRR SSS 52 Teee complete blank in his memory. In the ‘mirror he sees himself as a not badlooking fellow of about 35, possessing good clothes, some money, and, most disturbing, a loaded revolver containing five good rounds and one empty cartridge case. In his overcoat is a small package and in his wallet a message to telephone a certain Mr. Worthington. Smith reads in the morning paper that an unidentified man has shot and seriously wounded Detective-Inspector Fraser of Scotland Yard, who tried to arrest him. Smith resigns himself to what is apparently his criminal character and makes an appointment to meet Worthington. On his way he is shadowed by a burly map in a bowler hat, obviously a plain-clothes policeman. In a Shepherds Bush hotel, romantically called The Green Man, Worthington asks for the package, which turns out to contain drugs. In come the Man in the Bowler and three others to arrest Worthington. In a scuffle Smith gets another crack on the head which has the effect of dispersing his condition of amnesia. But what ‘Smith’s real identity was listeners will have to find out when they hear the play. The players taking part are William Austin, Harry Painter, Desmond Lock, and Selwyn Toogood. The aythor, G. Murray Milne, who ‘lives at Cremorne, New South Wales,

was born in Yokohama, of Scottish parents, and spent his childhood in Japan. He went to Scotland via Siberia to be educated at Merchiston Academy in Edinburgh. After leaving school he worked in London for several years for an oil company which eventually transferred him to its oilfileds in India, just before World War II. During the war

he served as a captain in the 10th Gurkha Rifles, with whom he fought throughout the Burma Campaign. Comedy Laid On The Well of Youth is pure comedy, concerning a publicity stunt by a young man, Hugo Mortimer, to retrieve the fortunes of a slowly-decaying town. He has discovered a disused well under the floor ‘of the local town hall, pipes the water to a convenient drinking spot, and boldly announces its curative value. Foreign royalty, jaded film stars and people imagining all sorts of ills flock to take the waters and to become rejuvenated. The well dries up, so there is nothing left to do but pipe the. ordinary town water supply. The good work goes on with astonishing results. Beryl McMillan plays the female lead. The Man Outside is the tale of a man about to be hanged for a crime which, he maintains, he did not commit. Sitting with his gaolers in the condemned cell, he relates the events leading up to his arrest and sentence. The climax is distinctly unusual. Main roles in this production are played by Harry Painter, Lawrence Sweetapple, William Austin and Bernard Beeby. : Of the short stories, Rust is narrated by Norman Ettlinger, formerly of Aucks, land and now on the professional stagey: and The Last Day is told by William» Austin. These productions will be heard at weekly intervals, starting on Sunda January 4, at 1ZB and’ 2ZB (9.15 p.m.), and 2ZA (9.30 p.m.). The starting date at 3ZB and 4ZB will be Sunday, Janu-" ary 11, at 9.15 p.m. TR sai