DANGEROUS CORNER'

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 11, Issue 9, 24 March 1947, Page 5

DANGEROUS CORNER'

ARRESTING STAGE PLAY APPRECIATIVE LOCAL - AUDIENCE “I want to thank you all on behalf of the players, for the reception you have given us tonight. We have enjoyed playing to you, and I want to tell you that Whakatane has lived up to its promise to remember us on our return visit better than any other place in New Zealand. Priestley has written this play in order to make for thoughtful reflection, and though tvhen you go away you may not think of any point in particular, you will find that as time goes on parts of it will stick in your mind and provide you with plenty of food for thought.” In this way Mr Richard Parry, producer-player in J. B. Priestley’s three act play ‘Dangerous Corner’ which was presented in the Grand Theatre last Thursday evening addressed the audience at its conclusion.

The theatre was packed to the doors, and the audience throughout was attentive and deeply sympathetic. The company presenting ‘Dangerous Corner’ were the now wellknown ‘Whitehall Production’ group, which did the town a signal honour in staging a return season, following the 'successful staging of ‘Love In Idleness’ in Whakatane late last year. The new dramatic play, was handled as the play-wright undoubtedly intended it should be. From situation to situation the tenseness of the plot was accelerated as the story steadily exposed the lives of six seemingly happy people. The main parts presented most difficult acting, though it would be hard to single out any one individual in a play which afforded fairly equal division of the honours. Local playgoers quickly recognised Miss Kathleen Robinson who handled the tragic role of Olwen Peel in convincing and capable fashion, while Mr Richard Parry whose blase characterisation in the previous play was well remembered, was likewise another favourite in his clever handling of the forceful but undesirable personality of Charles Stanton. The heights and depths to which both these parts gave scope, were fully exploited by the principals. A powerful presence' is developed by Mr Rod Douglas, whose portrayal of the truth-loving Gordon Whitehouse was excellent. His appearance on most occasions dominated the scene, and his forcefulness lent a root of continuity to the unfolding of the plot. Unfortunately his climax, failed to ring as genuinely as his earlier performance. As his wife, Miss Daphne Winslow was consistently good, her mixture of the practical with the sentimental as created by Priestley being first rate.

The ill-matched Whitehouses played by Gordon Chater and Jessica Noad lent yet another slant to the amazing human intrigue which the play unravalled. Both personalities portrayed fluctuating characters easily influenced by stronger ones, and the work of these young players was extremely sound. As the novelist Miss Mockridge, Miss Minnie Love made the most of her short appearances at the beginning and end of the play. As a typical modern writer with a nose for intrigue and gossip she was convincing and entertaining. The play may be best described as an education, with a lesson in it for practically every man and woman who sees it. Based on a modern plot, forthright and arresting, it is the work of a playwright who has proved himself a careful and faithful observer of mankind at large and in his clever stage-play he has sought to involve something of the major issues which confront the whole world today in its search for stability and understanding.