"THE SPORT OF KINGS."

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18888, 31 December 1926, Page 16

"THE SPORT OF KINGS."

A FARCE OF THE TURF.

A BRIGHT PERFORMANCE. "The' Sport of Kings," the second production of the Joseph Cunningham English Comedy Company, which was played in tho Theatre Boyal last night, is in a different class from "The Unfair Sex," with which the season was commenced. Whereas the initial production was a comedy in which the dialogue was snappy and frequently subtle, that of "The Sport of Kings," while certainly snappy, contains no subtleties, all its points being readily intelligible and consequently more provocative of spontaneous laughter. The playwright, lan Hay, has made clever use of racing terms to bring out the humour of the piece, which commences with the opening lines and is maintained until the fall of the curtain, being altogether quite the funniest of its kind that, has yet been produced in Christchurch. ! Ames Purdie is a country Justice of ' tho Peace who holds extremely narrow views on racing, and it is a great source of annoyance to him to know that his house is within a stone's throw of a racecourse. He is also a man of a niggardly disposition, and in order to assist himself to pay income-tax, resolves to tako into his house two paying guests. These gentlemen it happens, are devotees of the turf, known to the initiated as punters, a fact which when he learns it causes him to order them out of the house. But his greed proves too much for his principles and consequently the guests are allowed to remain. One of them, Algernon Spriggs, soon gets Mr Purdie's interest, when he shows him that by the use of a certain code he can carry out profitable financial transactions with a wellestablished firm of commission agents, and thus make sufficient to enable him to pay his taxes. Once started, he goes on and on until heavily involved, his troubles being increased by the fear that the members of his family and household staff might by accident learn Of his dealings. Had he only known it, all under his roof except his timid wife, whom he treats very badly, are all keenly interested in tho turf, each having a quiet "flutter" on the sly. In spite of his cunning his betting transactions are discovered by the butler, formerly a bookmaker's clerk, who is not slow to take advantage of his knowledge. Denounced as a hypocrite and threatened with exposure, he throws himself on the morcy of the butler, imploring his assistance in the direction of recovering some of his losses, which have by this time grown to large dimensions. The result is that master and butler, in disguise, go to the course as bookie and clerk, teeling sure that they will have a successful day. Unfortunately for thent, the favourites come in at frequent intervals, and being unable to meet their obligations, they are attacked by an angry crowd of bettors, from whose attentions they escape with considerable difficulty, being badly handled before they reach the shelter of the hou.se. Mr' Purdie makes a lightning change and is called on in his capacity of J .P. to issue a warrant against himself for the fraudulent impersonation of an irate bookmaker, whose name he had taken. Credit ia due to the author for the clever manner in which he extricates Mr Purdie from an apparently hopeless position, and plans an ending that is satisfactory. In "The Siport of Kings,'.' Mr, Joseph Cunningnain makes his first ap-' pearance during the present season, and shows that he is as good an actor as he waa a producer iu "The Unfair Sex." A heavy proportion of the comedy work fell on his shoulders as one or the paying guests, and he did it with complete success. Miss Zillah Bateman enhanced the reputation she made earlier in the season, her acting as the secretary being most pleasing, and fulfilling all the needs of her part. Mr Campbell Copelin supplied comedy touches in an easy, bright style, and Mr Frank Bradley, as Amos Purdie, came through a heavy performance with flying colours. Miss Henrietta Cavendish did justice to the role of Mrs Purdie, Mr Norman Carter was well placed as the butler, and Miss Vera St. John did excellent work as Purdie's flapper daughter, Kate. The remaining characters were also well-sustained.

"The Sport of Kings", will be replaced on Tuesday evening by "Eliaa Comes to Stay."