Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 1, No. 18 August 3, 1938

St. Audry's Fair

St. Audry's Fair.

In structure the play was sentimental. The division between justice and oppression was made on the familiar black and white formula. Most of the characters were turned in to well-worn types—so that often they lost objectivity and ceased being human. The diction was polished: the repeated phrase, the editorial simile.

Towards the end—what with attempted suicide, bomb throwings, and bogus monks—the melodrama very nearly became pantomime—and any personal identification with the plot was foregone in the interests of self-respect. The staginess and the make-believe broke through. One began to think of Robin Hood and grease paint.

Even though Elmer Rice sacrificed truth for melodrama—he could have avoided such a heavy poultice.

Still, it was well worth the seeing; understandable and entertaining.

—J.D.F.