“Gate Theatre production withdrawn”, Belfast Newsletter (25 May 1955) [cutting in Sybil Le Brocquy Papers; held by family].

CHANGES in the programmes of the Gate Theatre company at the Grand Opera, House, Belfast, were announced last night.

Elmer Rice’s "Not for Children" will be taken off after to-night’s performance. It will be replaced during the remaining three nights of this week by Maura Laverty’s " Liffey Lane," with which the company opened its present visit to Belfast.

“The Masquerade”, by Pirandello, which was to have been presented next week has also been withdrawn. It will be replaced by Maura Laverty’s “Tolka Row”, which the company presented when in Belfast last year.

Arrangements are being made for the "props" for "Tolka Row" to be brought from Dublin by road.

Referring to the changes in programmes, Mr. George Lodge, managing director of the Grand Opera House, told the "NewsLetter" last night that "Not for Children" had been "very badly received in Belfast.

"We have had walks-out galore," he went on, "and I do not want the public to have to stand for something that they do not want."

Mr. Lodge added: "I have no objections to experiments in the presenting of plays, as long as John Citizen wants to go and pay to see them."

"Too early"
Speaking on the history of the Gate Theatre at a meeting of the Young Ulster Society in the Union Hotel, Belfast, last night, Mr. Hilton Edwards, Gate Theatre producer, said:-

"If people walk out to of "Not for Children" they are going to be bored stiff with Pirandello’s play," which he described as a very obscure play in difficult prose (translated by Michael MacLiammoir from the Italian).

Mr. Edwards said that when he founded the Gate he set out to create a theatrical conscience in Dublin. "I do not know to this day whether I was right or not," he continued.

"I tried to do it in Belfast this week, but was slain for it. I realise that I am far too early, and that is why I am not putting on the Pirandello play next week.

"I tried it with Michael MacLiammoir’s play last week, and people were bored by it. I have tried it again this week, and they are even more bored." he said.

Success in Dublin
Mr. Edwards said that "Not for Children " had failed in New York. It had never been played in London, but it, had succeeded enormously twice in Dublin. "In the South," he went on, "we have a well-fed man who wanted a tit-bit, but here you have a hungry man who wants a hunk of beef[.] You must not offer him a caviare sandwich."

"Thank God you are hungry," he declared. "I have made the mistake of inviting you to afternoon tea instead of dinner. That was a mistake on my part. It is nothing against Belfast for not liking the play."

Mr. Edwards said he pleaded guilty to a suggestion that he had made a mistake in bringing the Elmer Rice play to such a large threatre [sic]. "But, I am pleading, not to defend myself, but Mr. Rice."

What they had always tried to do in the Gate was to experiment and change, Mr. Edwards said.

"Why should we pay money to see your experiments? you may ask. I do not know. Why should you pay to see people repeating themselves over and over again, like somebody with the hiccoughs," he added.

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