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. 11, No. 11, September 22nd, 1948

Drama Festival All the Stage's a-Whirled

page 5

Drama Festival All the Stage's a-Whirled

"Ile," by Eugene O'Neill, was the choice of OU's Drama Club. By the time the curtain went up, the audience was probably in too happy a mood, thanks to the efforts of some enthusiasts with balloons, for the emotional drama presented to them, Frederick Farley, the judge, remarked on the lack of responsiveness by the audience, particularly in the tense scene between Captain and Mrs. Keeney (played by W. A. Walton and Jocelyn Shann); in this scene Mrs. Keeney begged her husband to take the ship in which they had been held in the ice, back to England. The captain is, however, determined not to return without a full cargo of whale "ile" and ignores first an incipient mutiny and secondly, after a momentary weakness, the entreaties of his wife. The climax of the play, when Mrs. Keeney went mad, fell a little flat, probably owing to the scarcely adequate handling of the part of Captain Keeney. The remainder of the cast, at times good, at others succeeded in making a very good play bad melodrama.

Play With a Message

"This play obviously had a message. I wasn't quite sure what it was, but I'm all for messages!" I trust that the audience were not quite as vague as to the meaning of "Though Storms May Break," by Harry Evison as Mr. Farley. Certainly the majority of those present listened far more happily to it than to the one preceding it; Chris Pottinger's performance as the drunk was received with acclamation. Paul Treadwell as Hank. Baska Goodman as Sue, and Gilbert as the rebel captain put over their parts very well. Huddy Williamson's arrangement of the stage drew a little adverse criticism.

Conversation Piece

Bernard Shaw's conversation piece. "The Dark Lady of the Sonnets,". Canterbury's choice, won the contest. It was a definite contrast to the others, all of which were very drab and "message-full," with brilliant lighting and Elizabethan costumes. The set was of the simplest but the characters were capable, again in contrast to the earlier actors, of using the entire stage—although the Dark Lady did ruin her exit by falling over her skirt while hurrying up steps.

Second Place

"Everything's Just the Same," by Vernon Sylvana, although meeting with the" least favour of the audience, took second place in the judge's favour. The almost complete lack of movement, with the absence of elaborate setting gave the cast every opportunity to show its ability. The part of the man, although particularly difficult in that he was on stage during the entire part of the play, was done extremely well by Ivo Joyce. The secretary, too, was a model of refinement.

The play suffered much in the place it took on the programme. The programme was too long [unclear: for] the majority of the audience who voiced their boredom loudly and says such for the cast that there was no visible indication of having noticed the interruptions.