Alpha and Omega
PRINCESS TURANDOT is presumably the original of Puccini’s last opera. Apart from this presumption I am lamentably ignorant of the history of the play and its author, Wolgang Hildesheimer, and my reference books give me no help; so I may be saying the obvious when I praise it. The story of the princess who imposes tests on intending suitors is usual enough, but there is a chilling atmosphere about it which one thinks of as typical of Oriental courtsand others, Renaissance European, perhaps: the mannered elegance on the surface, the horrors beneath, It is.a witty, light-hearted play, yet its effect is macabre. The Auckland studio played it with that sense of style which I find more often in their work than in that of other New Zealand studios. Naturally, even they need a play which contains the possibility of style. They couldn’t do much .with The Sleeping Partner, the story of a man who robbed a bank, served his sentence, and used the proceeds to play Father Christmas to deserving cases. I nominate this as the silliest play of the year, hoping there will be no worse; but, unfortunately, it is all too typical of the routine nonsense with which the NZBS pads
its production schedules.
R.D.
McE.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 911, 25 January 1957, Page 14
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211Alpha and Omega New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 911, 25 January 1957, Page 14
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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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