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Tanya—an alluring,
Ivivacious Portia
TELEVISION — FILM GOSSIP & REVIEWS — STAGE
By NAN MUSGROVE
• Drama sensation of the year in TV circles is the casting of Sydney
A.B.C.-TV's personality-plus presentation officer Tanya Halesworth as
Portia in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice."
"THE MERCHANT
OF VENICE" will
be telecast live in Sydney
on September 13 at 8.30
p.m. and will be seen later
in all other capital cities,
It lasts for two hours.
Tanya's Portia still has to
be heard, but she certainly
looks the part—alluring and
beautiful as Portia—the rich
heiress of Belmont (see our
cover); astute and compelling
as Balthasar, the lawyer who
fights the Jewish money-lender
Shylock in the famous pound-
of-flesh court case.
Producer of the play, Alan
Burke, has very definite ideas
about "The Merchant of
Venice" and its characters.
"I see Portia as a beautiful
debutante," he told me, "the
darling of the deb set of her
day.
"I wanted a beautiful girl
for the role, one with wit,
astuteness, vivacity; but one
with a little bit of edge to
her tongue.
"Tanya has all these. She
also has a mezzo speaking
voice, which is unusual in a
young girl and is most im-
portant for the court scene in
'The Merchant.'
"Before she came to the
A.B.C. as a presentation officer
she had a reputation as a
dramatic actress with Sydney's
Independent Theatre.
"When I thought of her she
was playing in 'The Women' at
the Independent, and I went
and had a look at her.
"She played the part of a
woman much older than her-
self, and did very well. It was
so far from herself that it was
obviously an acting perfor-
mance. As soon after that as
I could, I got her to read for
the part. I signed her up im-
mediately.
"I feel she has the capacity
for Portia. Portia's qualities
suit her. As well she is im-
none Help
Owen Weingott, who
will co-lead as Shylock in
"The Merchant of
Venice."
mensely attractive and has a
very sound sense of words.
Her first reading of the part
was very penetrating."
Tanya is delighted with the
role. When I first interviewed
her almost two years ago I
asked her what her main am-
bition in life was—the one
that to her was most impor-
tant.
She didn't hesitate. "To
act," she said.
Tanya always impresses me
as a young woman who knows
her own mind, and I am quite
sure her ambition to act will
be worked on with the same
thoroughness that marks her
work and other interests.
I was going to say she is
lucky to get her big break in
such a rewarding role, but
there's not a great deal of luck
in it. Hard work and talent
have really won it for her.
The luck is in playing in a
drama written by one of the
world's best TV writers —
William Shakespeare.
I was a very reluctant fan
when the A.B.C. first began
their Shakespearian telecasts;
now I wouldn't miss one.
There's no doubt about
Shakespeare. Back in the late
1500s he was so clued up
as a TV writer it's hard to
believe he wasn't endowed
with foresight.
"The Merchant" is a won-
derful blend of a pick-a-box
show and Perry Mason court-
room drama, and ends in a
riot of romance, with every-
one getting the right girl.
It's a good story. I've
been reading it again to ap-
preciate what Tanya really has
to contend with.
It starts with Portia — the
rich prize for what surely must
be show business' first pick-a-
box contest, called by Portia
"the lottery of my destiny."
Portia, an orphan, has been
left a rich heiress by her father,
who died leaving her his for-
tune, but not the right to
choose her husband.
Her suitors (and anyone
with the money seemed to be
able to dub himself such)
have to come to her home at
Belmont, near Venice, to pick
a box.
Three suitors
Portia's three suitors, who
get to the finals of the contest,
are the Prince of Morocco (a
dark gentleman), the Prince
of Arragon, and Bassanio, an
impoverished Roman noble-
man, who is played by Ron
Graham.
None other than John Uni-
comb (lately Captain Henry
Antill of "The Outcasts")
plays Antonio, the merchant
of Venice. He arranges the
finance of Bassanio's courtship
of Portia that leads to the court
case with Shylock (Owen
Weingott, co-lead with
Tanya).
Bassanio picks the right box
and gets Portia, but Antonio
can't put up the security and
the court case starts.
The play goes on then to a
courtroom scene that's never
yet been bettered, even by
Perry Mason.
Portia herself plays Perry
Mason, disguised completely
from her husband and friends
by the simple expedient of
pushing her pretty hair under
a legal cap and wearing a
court robe.
In the end, Shylock loses
everything—the case, all his
worldly goods, his beautiful
teenage daughter, Jessica
(Annette Andre), in marriage
to a gentile; Portia and Bas-
sanio are reunited at Belmont.
It is a wonderful play, with
the light romance of one plot
interwoven with the other real
drama — the serious and un-
happy picture of the Jew in
society even in those far-off
days.
I'm sure there will be a
tremendous added audience of
Tanya fans the nights "The
Merchant of Venice" is tele-
cast in Sydney.
There has never been a big-
ger gallery of fans watching
when Tanya posed for staff
photographer Ron Berg for
the picture at right and our
cover. Generally there's no
one about, but on this day
scene-shifters, technicians,
cameramen, and every male
who was free at that moment
at Channel 2 seemed to be
watching.
Alan Burke, directing her,
turned round to ask for a bit
of shush for the photograph.
"Sorry, Mr. Burke," one of
them called out, "we know
she's your leading lady, but
she's our friend."
none Help
TANYA HALESWORTH in her role of Portia
makes her famous courtroom appeal to Shylock for
mercy: "The quality of mercy is not strained; lt
droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the
place beneath . . ."
$