Nothing Did It Bear

New Zealand Listener, Volume 37, Issue 953, 15 November 1957, Page 25

Nothing Did It Bear

‘To someone with a lively interest in the playwright, Kenneth White's talk on John Whiting was disappointing, neither answering his own question Acorn or Oak Tree? nor bringing the writer into perspective. He would hardly kindle enthusiasm among the unknowing nor send the Whiting lover scurrying to his bookshelf. Calling him rightly a controversial figure, Mr White failed to reveal what qualities in Whiting provoked the controversy. With its contemporary glow, its brilliance cutting through obscurity, Whiting’s work lends itself immensely to personal interpretation yet Mr White, while outlining all the facts, gave us very little opinion. ---

What, for instance, does he find in Saint’s Day that makes it "the nearest approach in recent years to poetry in the theatre’? Why has Marching Song won such favour on the Continent, particularly in Gérmany? I, who rate Marching Song higher than Saint’s Day, am naturally curious to learn why an-

other does the reverse. But Mr White gave us none of this except an enthusiastic appraisal of Penny for a Song which he has had the good fortune to see performed by the Tauranga Repertory, whose valour in choosing an unknown play deserves a special salute,

N.L.

M.