A HORRID WARNING

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 786, 13 August 1954, Page 25

A HORRID WARNING

Sir-If£ Mr. Bruce Mason would abstain from belittling the work of others in cheap journelese, and offer some constructive criticism, then he would deserve the title of "critic." I am indifferent to his ridicule and if my defence of what I know to be right makes enemies for me, I am.in good company. To Mr. Pocock I would say this. The theatre is a commercial undertaking, and the only test of a play, or any theatrical production, is Box Office. I have been associated with the theatre professionally, in all its branches, for the better part of my life. I come from a long line of theatrical ancestors. My experience in matters theatrical covers a wide field in four continents, and I claim to have some authority. It is too bad that most of the world is out of step except Mr. Pocock (and Mr. Mason). Mr, Pocock is apparently of the opinion that it is only the pseudo-intellectual who is qualified to judge a play, and he obviously does not believe that "vox populi, vox Dei." The

fact that Shakespeare can still draw packed houses while Ibsen cannot get a hearing proves, according to Mr. Pocock, that Ibsen is greater than Shakespeare, who writes, "Some other doses of pap," and the followers of the Bard ought to be ashamed of themselves. My abuse of the critic was not because he "pits his judgment against that of others," but because he indulges in cheap sarcasm without a vestige of criticism, couched in an offensive journalese that is only worthy of the contempt it received. Mr. Pocock’s denunciation of the majority makes me feel that because the world acclaims Edison as a genius, Mr. Pocock and his like prefer the illumination of candles and paraffin lamps. Mr. Pocock must realise the difference between theatre and amateur repertory. And let me, in turn, issue a horrid warning. If amateur repertory as _ represented by Messrs. Pocock and Mason claims the sole right to civilised intellect and despises the commercial theatre, then their intellectual snobbery will be the doom of such repertory. The first function of the theatre is to entertain-not cater for the long-haired intellectual. I am happy to say that by no stretch of imagination could I ever be called "long-haired." The sooner it is realised that the theatre exists primarily to entertain, the sooner will the theatre in New Zealand start to flourish.

L. ASSHETON

HARBORD

(Lower Hutt).