Good Out of Nazareth

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 942, 30 August 1957, Page 31

Good Out of Nazareth

AN there any good thing come out of Nazareth? I asked myself-or a good play about the Fourth Crusade out of New Zealand? And when I listened dubiously to John Dunmore’s Masque for Old Bones I was so taken aback by the confident opening that the reminiscence.of Saint Joan which suggested itself did not seem wholly incongruous. The reminiscence was not accidental, I should think. There was a familiar air about the conversations between churchman, general and prince, and about the epilogue pointing (in this instance) a rather obvious 20th century moral, But there was no Saint Joan and this was not Saint Joan either. What argument there was amounted to little more than a statement that holy wars tend not to remain holy: the world of reasons and consequences remained largely unexplored. This was pointed by the failure to realise fully the one historical character, Dandolo, Doge of Venice, whose resemblance to the conventional villain weakened the point. Yet the fact that the play raised such comparisons and demanded such criticism was a startling enough achievement. The language was almost all the time eloquent and evocative, the picture of the times vivid enough to convince the listener it was true; the NZBS production was vigorous, and escaped from too many familiar voices without sacrificing ability; the music was appro-.: priate and attractive. Altogether something to be proud of.