Columbus Returns
| A SECOND hearing of the NZBS production of Louis MacNeice’s Christopher Columbus (1YC) _ increased,
rather than lessened, my respect for this ambitious work and the excellence of Bernard Beeby’s production, The second time round, I noticed many things which had escaped me a year ago-the beautifully controlled shape of the play, cast almost in epic form, with the ascent of interest to:a climax in each part, the calculated dissonances of Walton’s music, portraying both conflict and aspiration, and his haunting use of Gregorian chant, the subtle variations in the choral rhythms. William Austin’s Columbus, @ performance only a gifted and highly-experienced actor could have given,* cancelled out the memory of the less rewarding parts he recently. And in the innumle minor roles, hardly anyone put an accent wrong. After hearing this play, only a triple-dyed reactionary could assert that radio drama is not an art. Christopher Columbus, like Moby Dick, is a play the NZBS can revive every couple of years or so, in the confidence that it will not date. I have personally no qualms about hearing it
again.
J.C.
R.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570426.2.49.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 924, 26 April 1957, Page 30
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183Columbus Returns New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 924, 26 April 1957, Page 30
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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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