"SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER"

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 49, 21 November 1919, Page 10

"SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER"

ALLAN WILKIE COMPANY'S SEASON "She Stoops to Conquer," a comedy in four acts, by Oliver Goldsmith. Cast of charactcrs— Young Marlow Allan AVilkie Sir Uias. Marlow Augustus Neville Hardcitstlc : Edward Landor Unntings Guy Hastings Tony bumpkin ilenri Dore Diggery Fred l'atey Jeremy Gerald Jlarcourt Mrs. Itardcaatlo Helen Fergus Maid Mildred Carlton Constance Kcvillo r liorna Forbes Kate Hardcitstle ' I'rcdiswyric Hunter-Watts In his dedication to Samuel Johnson nf his. comedy, "She Stoops to Conquer," Oliver Goldsmith wrote: "It may serve the interests of mankind also to inform them that tho greatest wit may 1)9 found in a character without impairing tho most unaffected piety." Like tho brilliant man he was, Goldsmith paid a very handsome compliment to Johnson, ami at the. same time enlisted the sympathy of the public for his coincdy of simple charm and manner, which has outlived a hundred and fifty years, and •is not yot allowed to grow musty on tho shelves of time. "She Stoops to Conquer," which was interestingly presented by tho Allan Wilkie Company at tho Opera House last evening, is ono of those rare old comedies which have become classics in their kind, the type of play, excellently written and of redundant wit. which takes rank with "A School for Scandal," "Money," and ".Masks and Faces," and as such is from time to time revived on special occasions by allstar casts, as something representing "the abstract and brief chronicles of the lime." Old playgoers in Wellington will recollect William Hosting and Emily Coivillo in tho comedy;.tho middle-aged will surely recall Kyrle Bellew and Mrs. Brown-Potter in it; and present-day playgoers will have the pleasure of seeing quite a sound, if not a brilliant., performance of Goldsmith's evergreen, play (which, when originally produced, was honoured by a prologue spoken by the great David Garrick) by the Allan Wilkie Company. It is too lalo a date to recall the many charms of plot and passion, wit and counter-wit. sweet deception and bucolic. fooling wliio'h the comedy embraces. Audiences for over a century and a half have lauglwd at the way the half-witted Tony Lumpkin deceived young Marlow into tho belief that his lather's friend, Mr. HardcasMe, was' a country innkeypcr, and his Ihomo an inn, and how, the shrewd but always lovable Kate Hardcastle likewise practises h?r arts of dec6j>tion on her quondam lover by posing ils a barmaid, and so finds out tbo true metal of the man who would woo and wed Iher. The courtly language and thoiiiMsuralflowery phrase have departed long since with tli-o powder and patches, but the intrinsic charm of tho comedy, ite acuta humour, humanity, and ludicrous situations preserve a flavour tlnit should even tickle modern palate-,< whilst it affords capital I opportunity for skilled mumming.

Tho Wilkie players made a creditable showing in tho coincdy. Air. Align Wilkie himself figured as Young Marlow, and whilst his stylo and manner ure perhaps too heavy and laboured to lie ideal in the role, tho character was fairly well sustained, tiie actor being probably, at big best in tho stammering stuttering scene where his modesty in the presenco "of a woman of reputation" overwhelms the otherwise gay and reckless rulfler. Mr. Wilkie'fl dialogue was rendered somewhat incoherent hero and there by his percussive articulation. Miss Frwliswydo HunterWatts made n charming Kato .Hardcastle. No one on the stage conveyed tho nir and manner of the period better than did Mr. Edward Lnndon as • Hardcastle, who is credited with a notably successful sinking of his own individuality in that of the genial old country gentleman. Mr. Guy Hustings was called upon to play his namesake in the comedy. His performance lacked voice and that element which tho Americans so aptly term "pep." An excellent characterisation was that of Mrs. Hardcastlo by Miss Helen Fergus, who was "to the manner born" in looks and action. Tho Tony Lumpkin of Mr. Henri an odd, whimsical, husky-toned character, with all the accepted laws of inflexion and emphasis set at naught. A fool, indeed, he made the famous pastoral jester, and a likeable one on the whole, if not a most uproariously funny one. Mr. Fred l'atey was broadly comical at Diggory, Mr. Augustus Neville was a dignified Sir Charles Marlow, and Miss Lorna Forbes sufficed as Constance Neville. "She Stoops to Conquer" will bo played again to-night and to-morrow afternoon. On Saturday evening "Tho Midnight Wedding" will be revived.