Stage Directions
N the past stage directions have had " fascination only for the few. For those who merely see a play they natur-
ally do not exist; and even for most readers of plays they are, if of any length, no more than a boring interruption to the unfolding of the plot. Too many dramatists have turned their directions into mere catalogues of chairs and tables, exits and entrances, for the benefit of the producer, or else followed the bald example of the master of their craft-‘"Illyria, the sea coast," or "London, a street." As early as Sheridan, however, a new light dawned ("enter Tilburina, stark mad in white satin’). and by this century it has become rather the fashion for dramatists to turn their , directions into literary compositions. Shaw uses them shamelessly to lecture us a little more: Barrie, sheltering behind parentheses, pokes whimsical fun at his characters. On the radio the voice of the commentator, providing continuity, gives a new and unexpected life to this literary game. I noticed Barrie’s stage directions cropping up in the play The Will from 3YA on December 6, where they lent occasional charm to a rather mediocre play, expertly put together but full of stock characters and with a mechanical plot.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19491230.2.20
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 22, Issue 549, 30 December 1949, Page 9
Word count
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209Stage Directions New Zealand Listener, Volume 22, Issue 549, 30 December 1949, Page 9
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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