Page 11 Advertisements Column 1

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 95, 8 May 1937, Page 11

(KRTRUDE LAWRENCE PLAYS DESDEMONA . • 2L3d Gertrude Lawrence to the/- long. Jlgfc of famousDesdemonas. The light-' Jicarted lady of mu'sieal comedy and ifarce has lately shown a prediliction and an aptitnde f or serious roles that marks her as the geimine' artisfc every0ne knew she was, hut no oue — least of frllj Miss Lawrence herself — conceiyed that the new road led to Shakespeariah jdrama. As a matter of i'act, ,she jnoved into the role ' ' like a rower— 7* backwards." It Temained for the movies to give her the opportunity pvery actor in his sotd desires. Not that Gertrude Lawrence ever jsarticularly sought to play Shakespeare— she Temains to this day loyal jfc to Noel Coward, to the vultra-modern - tdiom, to the smart set comedy and flrama that established her reputation. It wasleft to that scorner of ' precedent, Alexander Korda, to discern deeper jdramatic potentialities, to cast her first t m as the shewisk Gertje in ,'lRem% brandt," and now as the tragic actress in "Men Are Not Gods," In which. Miss Lawrence shares honours with JMlriam Hopkins. True enough, her Shakespearian role fs a hrief one; she appears as Desdetnona in the play within the play that TrmrtrR the climax, of "Walter Eeisch's comi-tragedy — or tragi-comedy,, as the tease may he. Nevertheless,t it suffices to add her name to the distinguished Toster. She is entitled now to say, as loftily as she pleases— "When I played | in Othello."' She had to -rehearse * knightily, and perform in the besttrajflitions of the role. TKsre, yon may be sure, the matter ftnds. Miss .-Lawrence is frankly pleasted to he in motion picture S — with Hollywood - quite • ayowedly her : go'al— ; but not to ' play Shakespeare. In this xespect she shares , the - opinion . of . a idistinguish'ed "actor, A. ' E. /Matthews, iwho ineidently " also * has -an importantirole in "Men'Aro Not Gods." ' Mat--"thews, strangly •enough, ■would : rather liave two yCars in ' 'Buildog Drummond" thanr twO'W.deks.as Haxnlet; And that seems ■ to , Miss . Lawrence, . too, the ftrery essence of wisdom. . Her' costittne role" in* ' 'Meh *Are -Not Bods" is a hrief one, and for- the rest fehe enacts her part' in modern dress | and in the'mpdern, manner cherished by her audiences. ' Just the same,' she has had'her shate at the rjplling'-of ,tha bravo 1 EKzshethaniphrases, ; and is entitled to "offer observations • on * the immortal ha?d and' his .works. . She thinks Lady Macheth is the, part avery actress: should-' aspire . towarde*— tho egnivalent .of- a, male. actor '» -Ham* iet — rather than * Jnliet.' , ' \