PRODUCER'S PROGRESS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 933, 28 June 1957, Page 14

PRODUCER'S PROGRESS

OET’S PROGRESS (1YC) is not * only the most impressive play the Auckland studios have turned out since Moby Dick; it marks an important stage in the development of Earle Rowell as a radio producer. Mr Rowell’s productions have always been characterised by a meticulous attention to detail, a careful regard for character, and polish without superficiality. Even when the scripts have been trivial, the result has always been workmanlike. But I have felt in his earlier work a certain lack of dynamism, of throbbing creative drive. Poet’s Progress triumphantly demonstrates that to craftsmanship, Mr Rowell can now add that element of energetic feeling. For here is a production that grips both by its perform-

ance and by its lively rhythm. All the scenes-riotous, stark, pathetic-were handled beautifully. A conversation between Dr Samuel Johnson and the ageing Mrs Anne Brett held together and added depth to the story of Richard Savage, Mrs Brett’s illegitimate son. As we owe almost all we know of Savage-poet, drunkard, sponger, murderer-to Johnson’s famous "Life," Robert Gore-Browne’s use of Johnson as narrator was almost inevitable. Perhaps the result was a much more sympathetic picture of Savage than the facts warrant, yet the pathos, human understanding and lack of sentimental sediment in the play, justified the liberties. Much of the credit for the success of Poet’s Progress must go to the gifted Australians, members of a_ visiting theatrical company, who played leading parts. Diana Perryman gave a splendid performance as Mrs Brett, as convincing in her intransigent old age as in her youthful rejection of her child as revenge on her lover. John Meillon as }Savage showed a wide range of tone and feeling as the bewildered young man, the brawler, and the wreck dying friendless in prison. Professor Musgrove’s Sam. Johnson, somewhat unexpectedly wearing a provincial accent, had the gravity and the robustness of the original. Among the many Aucklanders who measured up to the Australian challenge, I noted especially Jock Allen as a hanging judge, Noeline Pritchard as the treacherous Tane and Athol Coates as "that devil Wilkes." All these things make Poet’s Progress a landmark in NZBS productions. Its appeal, I believe, extends beyond the circle of those interested in literary odd bods. It certainly held me and members of my family from beginning to end, And not only did it make me mentally withdraw some unkind things I’ve said about NZBS plays, but it made me wonder if the BBC could, in fact, do so

very much better.

J. C.

R.