SUCCESSFUL PLAYS
FAMOUS PLAYS OF 1954, published by Victor Gollancz Lid.. English ptice 15/-[PRE-WAR readers of plays owed a debt to Gollancz for his economically priced volumes of current successes; in 1953 he published a volume of four relatively good plays and the current volume_ indicates .4 series. This time there are five interesting and varied plays which, at 3/- to 4/- each, is not bad buying (Divide the tota] by the number of plays — that you would really buy individually, don't be fooled by mere quantity.) Agatha Christie turns out an adroit thriller in Witness for the Prosecution, though there is no real indication in the character drawing of the double twist surprise ending. J Am a Camera is John Van Druten’s play based on Christopher Isherwood’s short stories; consequently it lacks coherent story in spite of some good writing and characterisation. It is an excellent acting vehicle, well made but at the same time, curiously enough, desultory,. A useful portmareau description of A Day by the Sea is Chekhovian; but it is definitely English. Gossamer thin and delicate. subtly etched characters. worthy of production in New Zealand. Clifford Odets’s The Big Knite is strong meat in the current tradition of modern American play-writing, with startling characters. I suppose that people in Hollywood, where the play is set, are megalomaniac. alcoholic, murderous, suicidal and schizophrenic as depicted here and elsewhere: certainly there is never a dull moment. and while (continued on next page)
OHS (continued from previous page)
believable on the stage it reads as a little unreal. Dorothy and Campbell Christie have given us a spit-and-polish court martial in Carrington, V.C, and since court scenes are always surefire theatre (remember Madame X?) this should be no exception. The drama is well sustained even to the playing-fields-of-Waterloo-old-school-tie-of-the-regiment anticlimactic finish, but there is no cheating here, no artificial dénouement as with their namesake Agatha, and there 1s considerable sincerity. If I may say this is today’s best theatre buy, don’t blame me if tomorrow they are as dated as last year’s slang; theatre is ephemeral
John V.
Trevor
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 822, 29 April 1955, Page 13
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348SUCCESSFUL PLAYS New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 822, 29 April 1955, Page 13
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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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