Good Material

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 492, 26 November 1948, Page 9

Good Material

WONDERED what Playhouse of Favourites would do to Dostoevski’s Crime and Punishment, but surprisingly enough, apart from necessary shortening, it suffered not too badly. The main theme of the novel, the gradual and relentless crescendo of guilty fear, and remorse, still made itself felt in spite of difficulties of cutting and with undoubted aid from the star, Lloyd Lamble, This play came over 4ZB, and I imagine there might be many listeners to that station Who didn’t know the novel and were hearing a great story for the first time. I hope its effect was to draw the attention of such listeners to the novel itself-a thriller, if ever. there was one, owing its thrills to the genius of an author who was able to place his readers in a murderer's shoes and make them feel as though the crime were a per-" sonal one. For the proper and fullest enjoyment of Crime and Punishment it goes without saying that no half-hour play is adequate. «Neither is it adequate for a novel by Dickens or Herman Melville. But Playhouse of Favourites, although often it annoys lovers of such books by its attempts to dramatize them, has the merit of presenting the best authors; and if it converts even a small proportion of listeners into readers of good books, apart from entertainment value, it is achieving a worthwhile purpose. ;