REPERTORY SEASON ENDS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 29, 28 October 1937, Page 6

REPERTORY SEASON ENDS

Final Evening of One-Act Plays at Napier VARIETY AND QUALITY With the champion play and players, fresh from their. success in the New Zealand Drama Festival at Rotorua, as th nucleus of the programme, the Napier Repertory Players provided entertainment of a high standard to the audience at the Foresters' Hall, Napier, last evening for the final oneact play evening of the season. Four plays were produced, the standard of the two main efforts being high, while two shorter sketches in the earlier portion of the programme were not lacking in dramatic merit. The attendance, despite somewhat inclement weather, was quite good, most of the available seating accommodation in the hall being occupied. With comedy and melodrama mingled equally in the programme, a delightful ba'lance was obtained, and the variety appeared to be appreciated by the audience, which demonstrated its enthusiasm by prolonged applause, particularly for the •final play "The 30Ofch Performance," and the farce presented by the Hawke's Bay Little Theatre Society, "The Babes in the Wood." t At the conclusion of an enjoyable programme, members of the audience were entertained to supper, followed by dancing. , 0 Following is the programme presented:—. "PEACE AT HOME." '(By George Courteline.) Trielle, an author Briton Chadwick Vaientine, his wife ... Annette Chadwick A comparatively short pieee, this comedy set the ball of the evening's entertainment rolling in fine style. Two experienced members of the Players were in the roles, and the playlet was presented in faultness style. The voices of botk players were clear and easily heard, and the effect of the play could. be read frqin the happy buzz of comment that followed the curtain. "THE SPELL." " (By Mary Kelly.) An Old Woman ............ Valerie Lewis Her Daughter :...... Valmia Clothier . Of a very different stamp was this sketcli. Portraying a" section of tlio life in ancient • times of a Devonshire village\ the stojry was built around the primitive belief that -Certain people have the ability to bring evil upon their fellows by "iil wishing.". The play was a cleVer one, acted by two younger uiembers of tho Players who have been prominent in minor parts in recent productions, and they made a good job of the piece. At times lines were lost to parts of the audience by indistinct enunciation. "THE BABES IN THE WOOD:" (By V. C. Clinton-Baddeley.) .Fairy Foxglove, Eust-ace, Gertrude, Wicked Uncle, Filthy Fred, Cock-eyed Lionel. (Produced by Leon Fail.) The scene js a woodland glade, and the players in the piece maintain the atmosphere of humour created by their odd-sounding names. With the same cast that gained liigh praise for the play at the Hawke's Bay Drama Festival in August, there was nothing uncertain about the production from start to finish. The acting was good and, altkough the atmosphere of the farce was successfully maintained, the players kept well away from the dangerpoint of exaggerating the piece. "THE 300th PERFORMANCE." (By Stepken Barnett.) Sir Julian Rossiter Hale Spencer Viola Rossiter May McDonald Tony Kingscote Ron Kennedy Daphne Kingscote Marcia Hart Harry} Sir Julian' s dresser Gordon Madigan Muriel, Leslie and Maud (members of the cast) Judy Ruddock, Jack Twigg and Marion Hindmarsh 1st Stage Hand Dick Tyler 2nd Stage Hand Gordon Johansen (Produced by Miss May McDonald.)

The reception of this play by the audience left little doubt that the final for the evening had eclipsed the high standard of the preceding plays. "A play within a play" was the basis from which the story of the -performance was derived, the curtain rising upon the conclusion of the 300th performance of a ratlier unpleasant play in which Sir Julian, a famous author-actor, Iiafi Just finished for the three-hundredth time, the pretence of strangling his wife? The remainder of tho plav, tlie scene of which ' is a London theatre, shows the reactions of tlie players after incesBant repetition of a trying play. Word-and-action-perfect, their voices clear and penetrating, their costuming good, tho players presented a rcally good sliow^