"TWELFTH NIGHT"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 34, Issue 874, 4 May 1956, Page 5

"TWELFTH NIGHT"

Sir-In the early thirties, an eccentric producer named Terence Gray gave at Cambridge, England, a series of productions of Shakespeare, whose oddity has tnshrined for them a permanent place in theatrical histories. In As You Like It, Rosalind wore jodhpurs and Celia was dressed as a Girl Guide; in Twelfth Night, Sir Andrew and Sir Toby were on roller skates; and the end of Henry VIII was made an historic occasion by the stage revolving at high speed, the infant Elizabeth finally being flung into the laps of the audience. One would imagine from Dr. Pocock’s letter than Mr. Campion and Terence Gray are brothers under the skin. I suggest that, if we are considering Twelfth Night alone, this view is a calumny which I must rebut with some vigour. For Twelfth Night, as done by the New Zealand Players, seemed to me to be a considerable advance on their production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and in unity of conception and rhythmic flow, perhaps their most distinguished achievement. I did not find the evidence of "ersatz poetry of the theatre" of which Mr. Bertram \complained, though I have found it in several other productions, and have pointed it out in this and other journals. It is therefore my duty to say that in Twelfth Night the text was primary throughout, and technical effects subordinate. There were at least three highly individual performances, Dr. Pocock, from a position which can hardly be termed a vantage point for viewing this production, has been pleased to amuse himself at Mr. Campion’s expense. I would point out that in Mr, Campion’s production of Hamlet some years ago, Elsinore lacked both a goldfish pond and a wicker diving bell, and the Miserere was not heard, It was perhaps unwise of Mr. Campion to express himself in print, for his production stood as an effective rebuttal to the "ersatz" view. Let me then get in a last thrust, Shakespeare now, is not Shakespeare then. There are scenic and technical effects available now which in the 16th century had to be- suggested verbally. I see no objection to such effects if they are incorporated into the shape of a text, and do not dominate or distract. In his production Mr. Campion, in my view, achieved this delicate relationship.

BRUCE

MASON

(Wellington).