Ach, Zo!

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 498, 7 January 1949, Page 13

Ach, Zo!

IRTH of a Ballerina, an NZBS production of a play by F. W. Kenyon, was one of those unsatisfactory dramas with foreign characters. Every listener knows the regulation treatment of foreigners on the radio. They must

be made to sound foreign, therefore they must have nasal or guttural accents, even when conversing among themselves -. since no New Zealand listener could be expected to listen if they spoke in any language but broken English. No, I’m not pretending to be superior-I couldn’t

follow a foreign-language broadcast my-| self, unless it were spoken at half-speed | in a schoolboy accent, and I admit the, problem of presenting the radio | foreigner is a difficult one. But couldn't | these characters be allowed to speak | in nearly-normal English? It would be so much of a relief for the listener! This particular play was not entirely satisfactory from other aspects, at least to me. The initial situation was full of possibilities. The former ballerina who marries and gives up her career has twin daughters, one of whom inherits the gift for dancing but is a weakling, while the other is healthy but | can’t dance. This was the subject of | some strong situations, except, I thought, for the denouement, when the gifted twin collapses and dies while dancingand hey presto! the gift is miraculously transferred to the sister! The emotional | tie between twins is a good subject for | any play, but here I don’t think it was | used to best advantage.