The Moon and Sixpence

New Zealand Listener, Volume 26, Issue 658, 15 February 1952, Page 15

The Moon and Sixpence

ENIUS is not a common subject among authors. But Somerset Maugham’s modern classic, The Moon and Sixpence, deals with that subject almost exclusively in. portraying the life (not to mention the "hard times") of a fictional painter-genius, Charles Strick-

land. Despite the wide knowledge of this novel its recent adaptation for radio by Mabel Constanduros and Howard Agg should present Maugham fans with an opportunity to hear the _ master story-teller of the century in a form

no less entertaining than his movies. The programme will be heard from 1YC at 9.39 p.m. 'on Saturday, February 23, with Kenneth Firth (Strickland), Frederick Farley (Dirk),

Peter Varley (storyteller) and Maureen Fitzgerald (Blanche) in the leading roles of this NZBS programme produced in Wellington. Maugham was fond of the first-person narrative. and his fame as a "story-teller"-a title distinct from the broader one of novelist-was gained largely through such style as he used in The Moon and Sixpence. The story-teller in the play relates the amazing history of Strickland’s career from his sudden desertion of his wife and family to his death in Tahiti from leprosy. But the deft touch of the author has not been lost in the radio version and the dialogue retains the mark of the master. It is a story about genius, about an artist of those habits which make ordinary people wonder if art is of this world or the next. But for those who find it difficult to grasp the motives of artists. or the judgment of art-lovers who laugh at Strickland’s works while he is alive and pay phenomenal prices for them when he is dead, there still remains the intriguing story of the man’s life and the many paths he crosses-marching ruthlessly onward with a care only for his art. However, the report does not do Maugham justice-he must be read, or listened t@