STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 721, 8 May 1953, Page 5

STRATFORD SHAKESPEARE

Sir,-I have all the admiration in the world for Ngaio Marsh as producer, actress, and writer; but I must cross swords with her as a critic, for I was shocked to see in The Listener (April

10) that the "visit of the--Stratford-upon-Avon company was the most important event in our theatrical history!" Surely Miss Marsh has not forgotten the magnificent work of the Old Vic com-pany-the tremendous power of its attack, the bravura, the inspired casting, the strict adherence to form and texture tin Jali three plays? These were the things we missed with Anthony Quayle’s compan¥ neither had the company an actor capable of giving us a Richard with the skill and passion displayed by. Olivier. Quayle’s Othello has never been described as in the first rank (Oscar Asche and Jack Hawkins are both said by contemporary critics to be infinitely superior), while his Falstaff, a delightful mixture of any multiple store’s Father Christmas, and the White Knight, had nothing in him to fill Bolingbroke with disquiet. It was Sir Ralph Richardson who first showed us something more than "the fool and jester." He showed us a man who might be capable of contaminating Henry. Let us be grateful to the Stratford company for its good workmanlike performances of Shakespeare’s plays, Let us be grateful, I say, but do not let us sit around as the critics did in Auckland crying "Holy, holy, holy," and then accrediting to the skill of the company the things which were Shakespeare’s.. Shakespeare so often got left out of the critics’ assessments because they spent so much time trying to jusify some very queer bits of stage technique. For example: after Othello, how many people left the theatre with their hearts aching at the cruel and needless murder of an innocent and lovely lady? Didn’t we rather go away worrying how Miss Jefford¢ the actress, managed practically to stand on her head for so long a period? We were not left to question this strange finale to the death scene long, because Miss Jefford told us she had invented an alphabetical game to fill in the time, The actress would have been better employed "playing herself into the scene." There were no opportunities for "fun and games" in Olivier’s productions, and we should thank him on our knees for letting us see "great theatre." His visit did indeed make history.

JUDITH

TERRY

(Auckland).

( Abridged.-Ed)