Strangely Compelling
AVE the Russians (I mean the preRevolutionary Russians) some particular affinity for radio? The power of The Seagull and A Month in the Country to bring into focus for us a piece of universal human nature (another country, but the same mores) cannot be the same power that won me to The Pistol Shot, an adaptation by Jon Manchip White of Pushkin’s melodramatic short story. There is little recognisable common ground for the listener to dig his toes into, The time is 1830, the setting for the most part a Siberian village in winter (I remember a hot sultry Wellington evening being such an aid to comprehension of A Month in the Country), the cast largely male and concerned with horses, duelling, dicing and drinking (little possibility of self-identification here). The hero, Count Silvio, is by modern standards a couch-case, and his triumph over his rival (my hero) I found despicable. But in spite of this the play was strangely compelling, and was presented with such conviction by the talented NZBS cast that I have difficulty
in believing it’s fiction,
M.
B.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 766, 26 March 1954, Page 10
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184Strangely Compelling New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 766, 26 March 1954, Page 10
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