Jane Mander's Novel

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 724, 29 May 1953, Page 10

Jane Mander's Novel

OLIVER: A. GILLESPIE’S adaptation of Allen Adair, by Jane Mander, for radio, which was heard recently from 4YA, proved an interesting if not wholly successful experiment. On the debit side, Allen Adair showed too clearly its origin as a diffuse and rather’ rambling novel to make a good "play," and the incursion of dramatised "scenes" into Adair’s narrative gave it too much of an episodi¢ quality. It was good, on the other hand, to be given the story in one piece, lasting approximgtely 70 minutes, and unusual to hear such an extended piece of New Zealand writing which had historical, even. more than intrinsic, interest for New Zealanders. Serious Listening "\/7OU cannot please all of thé people all of the time" is probably the motto engraved on the hearts of all programme organisers, and Saturday evening entertainment must provide a4 particular problem. The occasional stay-at-home is apt to be as furious about a light and frothy programme as is the occasional gad-about who finds he is missing something he would have liked to hear, Single, topical programmes, such as Lookout, stand by themselves, and can be missed without destroying continuity; but when a station embarks on a whole series of talks with a wide interest, as 4YA has done with its programmes setting out to examine the Welfare State from different angles, the listener must prepare to abandon his social life for a period, or, more probably, lend only an occasional, convenient ear to pick up a fraction of an investigation, the great merit of which lay in

its thogoughness.

Loquax