LATEST CRIME PLAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 4031, 16 June 1931, Page 66

LATEST CRIME PLAY.

(From Our Own Correspondent.) xr t> T LONDON, May 7. Mr I aul Longuet (Invercargill) is ap. pearing at the St. James’s Theatre in C, Forester's adaptation of Jeffrey Dell s novel, “ Payment Deferred,” and he has been specially complimented by the theatrical critic of the Daily Telegraph. He has the minor part of Jim Medland, a rich young visitor from Australia, whom his uncle, William Marble (Mr Chai les Laughton)_ kills, because he needs money, lhe cast is a very strong one, and it is generally conceded that no one can play such parts as can Sir Laughton, who rnakes his audience shiver for fear with lum. Other notable people in the cast include Miss Louise Hampton (Annie Marble), Miss Elsa Lancaster (Winnie Marble), Miss Jeanne de Casalis (Madame Godins). The play is described as a masterpiece in ghastly naturalism. Imagine “The Bells,” (says the Morning I ost) without a trace of glamour or picturesque relief, without any limelight or haunting sound effect, and with Coquelin s reading of Mathias in place of Irving s, and you would get the nearest classic precedent. He is Mr Marble—a middle-aged, stout, vulgar bank clerk, livmg in an ugly villa in Dulwich with his wife and daughter, and oppressed by financial difficulties. A rich young nephew from Australia, who arrives with a wad of notes, has seen nobody else, and lias no other friends or relatives. After having attempted to borrow £lOO in vain, Mi Marble puts some cyanide of potassium m his whisky, and buries him in the garden. Having some information on the value of the franc—it happened some time ago —he gambles with his gains and makes £30,000 out of a “ forward operation.” Despite his sudden prosperity, Mr Marble’s nervous condition goes from bad to worse. He starts at every sound. He is afraid to leave the house a moment. While his wife and daughter go for a holiday he has Madame Collins, a neighbouring modiste, to live with him. His daughter, sent to a “ swell ” school, runs away to become, euphemistically, a professional dancing partner. His wife, learning the truth about the murder and the modiste, who is blackmailing heavily, poisons herself. In the irony of things, Mr Marble is convicted of having murdered her. His hysterical laughter rings through the darkness. Mr Laughton, in the opinion of t’ae Daily Mail, adopts no half measures with a part of this nature.

His William Marble is a profound pathological study of the deepest interest, and, while watching it, one is able to forget that the play is a mean and sordid little tale, told without any very notable distinction. Mr Laughton is no “ type ” actor. He really gets himself into the skin of each part that he plays, and this Mr William Marble of the suburbs is, in his wretched way. a terrific, tragic figure. Conscience doth indeed make cowards of us all ... .

In Edgar Wallace’s “ On the Spot ” Mr Laughton had a part where he was taken to the gallows for a crime he did not actually commit—though he had been responsible for many other deaths; and this time the same thing happens—the death nenalty is paid by. an innocent husband, but he had been guilty of another’s death. Mr Longuet, a recent arrival from New Zealand, is fortunate in being able to appear so soon in a play with so many notable actors.