COMEDY PRESENTATION

Chronicle (Levin), 12 June 1948, Page 4

COMEDY PRESENTATION

Playreaders Give Creditable Performance « ■ — ■ ■ "The Admirable Crichton,", u comedy in four acts by J.. M. Barrie, was the play pr.esented on Wednesday night by the Levin Playreaders as their fourth production for the current season. The producer was Mr, G. A. Ball. "tp;e play is a humorous study of the 'effects of environment on class distinction, and opens in the London house of the Earl of Loam (Mr. J. C. Findlater) , where this philanthropic peer; whose one fault is that he is not sufficiently contemptuous of his inferiors, is hold- ! ing- one of his monthly gatherings at which he and the members of his family entertain the servants at •afternoon' tea much to the disgust [Df his three daughters, Lady iMary, Lady Agatha and Lady jCatherine. The only ' psr-'on !who is not uncomfort.ibieduring this scene is Lord Loam 'himself. After the various diviSions i of society, from the Earl down to |the lowly Tweeny, have been sharply defined, the curtain comes Idown as the family are about to depart on a world cruise on the Earl's yacht.

Act two opens in a very different setting. - Our haughty aristocrats have been shipwrecked and are finding life on a desert island !rather different. The only man of the party who has any idea of self preservation is Crichton, the butler, played by Mr. N. A. Byrne. It is*he who salvages various useful articie's f roni the wr.eek, _ it is he who builds a house and it is he who inevitably assumes the leadership of the party. Two years elapse and the change in personalitie's is complete. Lord Loam becomes a hanay [man about the happy home, known; 'to all as Daddy. Lady Mary, that ionce haughty miss, is almost I unrecognisable as the vital young (person who runs down goats and jdeer, and waits table so efficiently when Crichton dines. Lady Agatha and Lady Catherine have not taken so readily to the new life but, nevertheless, do their share of the work. The Honourable Ernest Woolley, having been eured of his ! habit of epigram, is no longer. the [egotistical young man about town, but a more or less useful member 3of the community. Tweeny, the [Little maid of all work, still peels jpotatoes, but now has a more l democratic outlook on life. However, the greatest change . h'as been in Crichton, known to all as the "Gov.y- He- rules the island as naturally as the Earl ruled his Lon- . ,dpn , , .hOmq- . , Hq , , has . pecome a roma'nUc ngure, -ahd it *is easy Ao. see ' y/hy all the women both adore anci'fe'ar him.'-"

Act three sees the party rescued, and in the final act everyone is back London, where ihe old order is once again in f orce. E'rnest is as self centred as ever and Crichton is again the perfect butler— but with a diff erence. He now knows his masters as nature made them, and, .in the words of Lady Mary, is the . best man among them. Of course Crichton cannot agree. He says, "On an island, My Lady, perhaps; but in England, no." The producer tackled a difficulttask in a very efffcient manner. His handling of the 15 players on the stage in the first act was exeellent, and he is to be congratulated in doing this so well in the small space at his disposal. He went to a great deal of trouble to get the .right atmosphere in the desert | island scenes, and succeeded admirably. A feature of the production was the number of exeellent performances given by the 'teen age members of the cast, John Norton as the Honourable Ernest Woolley was j exeellent. He really enjoyed himself, land carried his audience along with (him in great style. Betty Stern, ias the maid Tweeny was perhaps [the most convincing, She got right into character with voice and actions, and maintained it throughout. At times one could not help but feel sorry for her, so well did she put her lines aeross the footlights. Marie Pescini's Lady Mary was very attractively played. Sh6 showed considerable versatility in switching from the character of the noble aristocrat in act one to that of the active young Diana on the island. Audrey Nichol and Fay Potter, as Lady Mary's sisters, had less to do but, nevertheless, showed up well.

Of the more expeilenced players, Mr, Byrne, in the title role, gave an exeellent, polished performance. As the butler in London he was as efffcient and self-effacing as he was authoritative and royal on the island. ' . , ... Mr. Findlater and the cricketmg cleric, the Reverend Treherne,. played by Mr. Ian Ramsden, could have been a little more sure of themselves in the early stages, but once having measured their parts they were effective foils to Crichton. ' Minor supporting roles were well played by Mr. Peter Nichol as Lord Brocklehurst, Mrs. , J. Black (a most convincing Lady Brocklehurst who carried all before her in the final scene) and Mr. Bill Dumbell as Tompsett. On the whole the 'play provided some exeellent entertainment and was a credit to both producer and cast. At times .the dialogue lost some of its natural drive, and showed a tendency to drag, but these lapses were few and allowance 'should be made for the difffculty in maintaining action and expression while reading from the script. These monthly readings deserve more public support than they get, because much work goes into each performance and nothing is more discouraging for a player than to have to speak to a near empty hall.

?erhaps the fact that the plaY 13 ead and not memorised may deter people, but it should not. A reading can be as amusing and dramatic as a full production.