Alas, Poor Sherriff!
-~OR a piece of unrelieved hokum, I com: mend to you R. C. Sherriff’s play, The White Carnation. It was, inexplicably, given the honour of a full production by the NZBS, and even less explicably, a national broadcast on YA link last week. As I listened to this tedious
story of a ghost returned to his former life for reasons he did not know, I felt sure ‘that I would be served up at least some ironical comment on human existence by this former stockbroker who had been out of circulation for seven years. Once, during the second act, I thought, "Ah, here it is." For though the stockbroker had been insensitive to the point of cruelty to his aristocratic wife, he smugly imagined that he had been a good husband. Then a neighbour
who had known them both, unwittingly gave a true account of him as he appeared to others. And what does he make of it? A fresh start in the shades? Self-realisation? Just nothing, nothing at all, until the bafflingly gooey fadeout at the end. This play had neither mind nor wit, was a waste of time to write, more to produce, and an insult to the intelligence. Alas, poor Sherriff! Was this the man who wrote Journey’s End? (continued on next page)
, an (continued from previous page) Alas, poor William Austin! Was this valiant north-countryman our best-known radio actor? And, alas poor me, listening to it. Alas, all round.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19560413.2.55.3
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 871, 13 April 1956, Page 30
Word count
Tapeke kupu
246Alas, Poor Sherriff! New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 871, 13 April 1956, Page 30
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Material in this publication is protected by copyright.
Are Media Limited has granted permission to the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa to develop and maintain this content online. You can search, browse, print and download for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Are Media Limited for any other use.
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.
Log in