Two Excellent Plays Well Received

Chronicle (Levin), 5 July 1949, Page 2

Two Excellent Plays Well Received

"Fr&hk VOsper's very successful £ thriller,? "Loyq .From A Stranger," i was -pkesfented .fiy th'e' Otaki Players ; recently to an audience which. well filledthe ipruids' Hall. ! The winning oi' a sweepstake prbmpts Cecily Harrington to seek a postponement of her marriage to Nigel, who is returning from. coloniaPsefvide to' a London appointment... The advent of Bruce Lovell as a prbspective t'enant of her flat results in a change of her affections. Her precipitate marriage to Lovell reveals the fact that he is mentally unstable and gradually identifies him with a notorious wife murderer. The third act produces a denouement in the form of Lovell's complete mental unba'ance and his attempted murder of his wife. Her sudden realisation of the position prompts the adroit manner in which she played on his diseased mind to bring about a complete physical breakdown to save her 'life. This play, which, cahs for dramatic capacity of no mean order, was rea-d with considerable ta'ent and a fine sense of tbmpo and the change in? emphasis -required to establish •;,fhe climax in the third act. The principal roles were read bv Mrs. Rv Buxton, „as Cecily, and Mr. Blackburn, ras Lovell.: Their- realistic ihterpretations well merited the 'enfhusiastic; applause of the audience. * Miss B. Jarman, as Auntie Loo Loo, - g?ve a very convincing reading, * and Mr.' Henderson, as Hodgson, the gardener, excellently sustained a character role throughbut the play. Minor parts played by Mrs. A. G. Kirkwood, as Mavis, Miss Millwood, as the mai'd, Mr. N. Anderson, as Dr. Gribble, and Mr. Kirkwood, as Nige1, all contributed their quota to whai may be considered the Otaki Players' most successful .production. Comedy Presentation. Earlier in the month "The Importance of Being Ernest," by Oscar Wilde, was presented and proved an excellent type of comedy for play reading purposes. Its clever cynicism and apt phrasing, coup'ed witfc a plot of sufficient prbbabihty to hol'd one's attention without strain.ing,t. the.- imagination beyond ' its horlki^rilfmits3>v?as- typical of this tcelebrated playwright at his best. ; Mr. John Sams, as Ernest Worthlpg^gay(° AfeiA character the required hesitancy covering a restrained' 'earnestness appropriate to the' roTe • of 1 fou'ndling aspiring to the hand of a daughter of the aristocracy. Mrs. P. Simeox, as Lady Bucknell, a dominant grande dame of the RbBpd was*p!ayed'-with conviction t understanding of the character. ,, Mr. C. Henderson,, as Algerhon;1 a London man about town,y gave a carefree characterisation approprjate - to the role, while Mrs. F." Wjlson, as the daughter, sustained ah excellent contrast to Miss. P. Fogden, as the ward. The mihbr parts played -by Miss Hull and^Messrs P. , 'Simcox and Blackbtiff fitte.d. ■ -their readings rto the atmospheTe of , the period " with creditahle success. The play was well received with keen interest by the audience.