Three One Act Plays (1959)

Determined to find out their strength in producers...

Determined to find out their strength in producers, the newly-formed Wythall Dramatic Society have adopted a novel method.

Recently they staged their full-length play and from the cast three members volunteered to produce a one-act play, though without previous experience. The offer was accepted.

The result is a mixed bag which includes a Noel Coward (“Fuming Oak”), an all-woman comedy-thriller, “Something in the Attic” and a straight thriller, “The House in Fern Road.” It is a bold experiment which may produce interesting results.

Discussing the advent of television in this column last week, I undertook to give some good and sufficient reasons why the preservation of the live theatre is a necessity, with the amateur stage, at all events, playing a vital part.

I submit that the theatre enriches community life, bringing large numbers of people together for a common emotional experience, and occasionally for an intellectual experience as well.

I believe without a theatre a community is not fully alive. Primitive societies have communal dances and festivals (from which the art of drama derives), and more advanced societies must have some similar form of communal activity to enable many people to share imaginative experiences.

If that is accepted, surely the best-qualified to inspire and maintain enthusiasm is the on-the-spot amateur, that is, the lover of art for its own sake.

Unknown, Local Paper