Conscience-stricken
ONE MAN IN HIS TIME, heard over 3YA, is a play of considerable skill which works out its idea in terms of a conscience-stricken hero, played by William Austin, who aptly asks the reflection in his shaving mirror, "Was this the face that launched a thousand quips?" But the heart-searchings over, he continues to launch them until, cut short in mid-career, he comes before the Judgment Seat where he pleads guilty of insincerity. Despite the build-up, the sentence comes-as a surprise. The portrayal of a witty character imposes exceptional strains on a playwright. Unless he has the mind of a Wilde or a Shaw, he must rely upon jokes that the audience might have heard elsewhere. I thought it noticeable that the playWright cut the luncheon speech to avoid its hazards. Nevertheless the play, both in its serious and entertaining aspects, was a wofth-while venture. Compromise in Art S I remember them, nearly all of Eric Westbrook’s talks on att were broadcast from 3YC late in the evening, a misfortune not only for myself but also for those country people who would be too tired to listen properly at that time. The talks were, as anticipated, better informed and more competent than most which have been given on this topic. Mr. Westbrook had a more persuasive delivery than was expected in one who had disturbed our own people down here in Christchurch. I was surprised to find that he classed himself as a typical Briton in his belief in a compromise between abstract and representational ways of painting. As though consolidating this statement, Mr. Westbrook shrewdly observed that while there were acres of dead academic paintings there was also a considerable amount of
worthless abstract painting. The talks were a survey of what had been and is being done rather than what I had hoped for: a series on the nature of aesthetic truth as comes across in paintings and sculpture, whether past or present, representational or abstract. This is what is needed, and what I hope to hear from Mr. Westbrook in the not
too distant future,
Westcliff
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 763, 5 March 1954, Page 10
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350Conscience-stricken New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 763, 5 March 1954, Page 10
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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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