STAGECRAFT FOR AMATEURS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 451, 13 February 1948, Page 10

STAGECRAFT FOR AMATEURS

Hints to Country Listeners

N response to a request from a South Island listener the NZBS has arranged a series of talks on the subject Stagecraft for Amateurs. The purpose of these talks is to provide help for small amateur drama groups, in country districts, who want to produce their own plays but who lack ‘experience, are not in touch with the major amateur theatrical bodies, and have to work with the imperfect facilities provided in many small towns. Stagecraft for Amateurs was written by Elsie Lloyd, of the Productions Department of the NZBS. There are five talks in the series. The first deals with the person who is "the most important member of the team"-

the producer. Mrs. Lloyd shows why the producer must know more about the principles of stagecraft than all the rest of the group. He has to fuse together his actors, dialogue, costumes, colourschemes, and everything else into a whole that is not finally complete until the play reaches the audience. Each step that the producer must take in his work-the first reading, the assigning of parts, arranging rehearsals; getting prompter, instructing the electrician and the carpenters, and a whole host of other things-is carefully explained in this first talk. The Acting Side The second deals with the acting side, mainly from the point of view of common pitfalls to be avoided by amateurs, Attention is drawn to faults such as the wrong use of personality, untidy acting, selfish acting, "upstaging,"’ and the incorrect use of gesture. Other problems which beset the amateur player, how to make the most effective entrances and exits, for instance, and pace, audibility, posture and moyement, are all discussed in a clear and straightforward manner. Of the remaining three talks, one goes into the question of "Make-up," and the others give some general advice on

"How to Select -Plays,’ and "Rules Governing the Production of Comedy and Tragedy." Since these talks are not intended to form a complete guide to amateur theatricals, or even to cover the whole field in such a complex subject, some drama groups may find parts of them superfluous. Those who will find Mrs. Lloyd’s talks most useful are the actor who is just beginning and the members of a group that is in process of being formed. Stagecraft for Amateurs will be broadcast at weekly intervals from 2YH, 3ZR and 4YZ. The first talk has already been heard from 2YH (on Tuesday of this week), and the remainder will follow at the same time on succeeding Tuesdays. From 4YZ the series will begin on Thursday, February 19, at 7.15 pm., and from 3ZR on Sunday, February 29, at 4.15 p.m.