COLLECTORS' PIECE
1EW ZEALANDERS will have a special interest in the BBC World Theatre production of All’s Well that Ends Well, to be heard next week, for one of the principal players-Sir Lewis Casson-has recently been here, and another-Barbara Jefford-is here now to play the lead in The Lady’s Not for Burning for the New Zealand Players. In All’s Well Sir Lewis has the part of the King of France and Barbara Jefford is Helena, The Countess of Roussillon is played by Gladys Young. This production of what is sometimes referred to as Shakespeare’s problem play was first heard in New Zealand about 18 months ago, but there are specially good reasons for repeating it. Perhaps the best was given by the well-known drama critic, J. C. Trewin, when the play was first broadcast by the BBC. Describing it as "still a rarity,’ he imagined "collectors" clamped to their radio to hear it. "T doubt," he wrote in the BBC Listener, "whether many cherish the play. ‘A mingled yarn, good and ill together,’ it varied between the superb (some of the speeches for Helena, a few for the King) and the preposterous -a rash of couplets and much wormeaten banter. If Shakespeare wrote it all, his inspiration must have been in the peak-and-valley stage of a feverchart. A producer is wise not to tinker with the piece, but to present it-or
the bulk of it-honestly, without adornment, trusting to its major scenes to bear the rest. Barbara Burnham took this line; confused, often sour Shakespeare made excellent radio and a collector’s pleasure." And again, he wrote that the play was "trimmed reasonably and tactfully," and that the producer "kept it moving with ease." Though All’s Well that Ends Well hasn’t the poetry of the better-known comedies, it has a well-constructed plot and presents a wonderful series of portraits, and in this World Theatre version it is presented in a style which dispenses with elaborate "businss" and effects, and allows the listener to concentrate entirely on Shakegpeare’s words, The play will be heard from 3YC on December 6, 4YC on December 8, and 2YC on December 12.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19541203.2.27
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 802, 3 December 1954, Page 15
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356COLLECTORS' PIECE New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 802, 3 December 1954, Page 15
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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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