PRODUCTION OF RADIO PLAYS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 21, Issue 540, 28 October 1949, Page 5

PRODUCTION OF RADIO PLAYS

Sir,-It seems a pity that when the NZBS do put on a good play over the air it should be spoilt*by faults in production. On Sunday evening, September 18, my wife and I were listening in to a play by Clifford Bax — The Shrouded Candle. Like hundreds of other listeners, we look forward to hearing plays on Stations 2YA and 2YC. When it happens to be a BBC production we know we are in for something worthwhile. But in The Shrouded Candle we were disappointed, not in the play (which was good), but in obvious production faults, The lady who took the part of Arabella Stuart in the play had a deep contralto voice, in my humble opinion .unsuitable to the part. Her voice boomed, and her diction became indistinct. Her enunciation was so faulty that it was sometimes impossible to catch what she was saying. It seemed also as if she was standing too close to the microphone. In addition to these faults she often spoke too rapidly and failed to pronounce hen consonants distinctly, dropping her voice at the end of her sentences to the detriment of clearness of the last important syllable. Hard, distinct consonants often modify faults of poor pronunciation, especially in low-pitched voices of the "booming" breed of_contraltos. The BBC production of The Show Must Go On, which finished last Wednesday week, was a delight to listen to, not only. on account of the perfection of the production. Enunciation, pronunciation, choice of voices representing the different characters, the truth and reality

of the presentation, the finished handling of every part of the play, all helped to make it a notable performance in all its eight parts. But how much delight can be got from ap NZBS production? And what can be said of a poor, thin New Zealand play, inadequately produced with poor voices and faultv enuncia-

tion?

H. E.

G.

(Palmerston North).