PLAY WITH NEW VOICES

New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 918, 15 March 1957, Page 9

PLAY WITH NEW VOICES

N international flavour invaded the Auckland Recording Studios recently when the radio play Last Train Home was in the making. Producer Earle Rowell had capitalised on the presence in Auckland of a J. C. Williamson stage company to bring new and well-trained voices to the microphone, When The Listener called to see the play in production, Patrick Horgan, from Ireland, was just finishing one "cut" as Diana Perryman (Australia) was about to begin work on another. Also in the offing were Diana ten Hove (Burma and England), the Australians John Meillon and Jessica Noad, John D’Arcy (England and Australia), and the New Zealanders Ernest Blair, Tony Thompson, Eddie Hegan, Ted Brayshaw, Charles Sinclair and May Lovatt. Last Train Home is a melodrama of about an hour and a half’s duration, which will be broadcast by the YA stations at 7.30 p.m. on Monday, March 18. It was written by Frank Baker and was earlier broadcast to home listeners by the BBC. The setting is a country railway station where an assorted group of passengers await the arrival of a train delayed in a severe storm. One of the passengers (John Meillon) is* recognised as a wanted murderer. At pistol point he forces the others to judge him on his past actions. The situation appears to be .an impasse until a nun (Jessica Noad), whose wartime experiences give her a fellow-feeling for the man, persuades him to throw the pistol away. At length, the problems of another passenger, a woman unhappily married (Diana Perryman), eclipse those of the murderer, and the climax of the play revolves around the fate of these two.

Patrick Horgan, who plays the part of an Air Force conscript and one of the passengers in this production, comes from London, where he was busily winning a reputation as a television actor. A good looking and versatile young man, his early ambition was to be a doctor, and he trained for four years at Saint Mary’s Hospital. Then he changed to music studies before going on the stage at the Maddermarket. in Norwich. Before joining Roger Livesay and Ursula Jeans on their current tour of Australia and New Zealand with The

Reluctant Debutante, Patrick Horgan played small parts in films and leading roles in television. John Meillon is an actor from Sydney whose career on the stage and in radio began while he was still a boy. At 14 he played the title role in The Winslow Boy, and he has had a wealth of acting experience since. In 1953 he took part in the stage production of Death of a Salesman in Sydney, later playing in the radio production with the Hollywood star- Melvyn Douglas. In Doctor Paul he

played Johnnie Cabot, and in Career Girl, Danny Hyde. He has also had parts in Broadway Theatre and Superman. ; Jessica Noad has visited New Zealand before. A year ago she understudied Googie Withers and played a small part in Simon and Laura; and eight years before that she was here with Whitehall Productions’ Dangerous Corner and O Mistress Mine. On her present visit she is understudying Ursula Jeans. Jessica started acting in radio plays while still a child, but has since concentrated on stage work. John D’Arcy came to Australia from England with Morris Moschevitch away

back in the twenties, taking parts in the Edgar Wallace stage thrillers The Ringer and The Terror. Later he joined Leon Gordon and made his first visit to New Zealand with a part in White Cargo. In 1937 he returned to England, acting for a time at Drury Lane. He was in the cast of The Sun Never Sets, which starred Paul Robeson, Leslie Banks, Todd Duncan and Adelaide. Hall, and also made a film with Will Hay. In 1939 he returned to.Australia and served during the war with the R.A.A.F. He last visited New Zealand with the South Pacific show, in which he played Captain Bracket. He is understudying Roger Livesey on his present visit. ~