Antidote for Humidity
T might have been that the debilitating effect of a scorching Auckland summer Sunday afternoon made me unresponsive to anything but the lightest of light plays, but I enjoyed the NZBS production of He Who Laughs Last (1YA) as much as any play I’ve heard for a long time. It was a very fragile and quite predictable piece, based upon a story of Gerald Kersh, "Fairy Gold," which is considerably less sardonic and tough-minded than his usual run. I listened to this story of a practical joke played by a life-of-the-party type on a struggling couple, which involved sending them a bogus notice of a legacy, with the certainty that it would all come out right in the end. And it did. The play, breezily acted, took me back to the years B.E. (Before the Existentialists) when people like Leonard Merrick wrote stories by which life, far from kicking young people in the teeth, showered them with legacies, winning doubles, and such. A good cast, with William Austin zestfully playing the triumphant victim, gave this pleasant dollop of day-dream all that was needed to forget Auckland’s humidity for a brief hour.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19550311.2.18.1
Bibliographic details
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 815, 11 March 1955, Page 10
Word count
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194Antidote for Humidity New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 815, 11 March 1955, 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.
Copyright in the Denis Glover serial Hot Water Sailor published in 1959 is owned by Pia Glover. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this serial and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the Listener. You can search, browse, and print this serial for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Pia Glover for any other use.
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