STRONG MEAT

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 176, 15 October 1927, Page 24 (Supplement)

STRONG MEAT

LONDON AUDIENCES ARE | NOT DISTURBED BY [ STRANGE WORDS ON THE STAGE WOMEN’S LAUGHTER “You yellow-bellied, lop-sided logworms.” This is one of the comparatively mild things which fall to the lot of Sam Livcsey, who plays the leader of the snarling, shouting, cursing pack in “The 'Wolves,” at the New Theatre, London. SEEMINGLY the big majority of theatregoers like this sort of thing. At any rate, “The Wolves,” “Potiphar’s Wife,” “The Father” and “The Fanatics,” four of the most outspoken plays running in London, are four of the most popular. Audiences, with a few exceptions, appear to be unshockable and very little disturbed by what the censorship permits to be said in plays now. A matinee performance of “The Wolves” was mainly attended by women, and one violent remark made caused sustained laughter. Other volcanic phrases and words in this play are accepted quite calmly by the audiences. At a recent performance of “Potiphar’s Wife” (whose pyjamas caused such a stir when the play was produced), an elderly woman did try to persuade her young companion to leave after the first act, so the author, Edgar Middleton, said. “We don’t want to listen to this,” said the older woman. “Oh, yes, we do,” replied the younger and had her way. When Strindberg’s.“ The Father” was, being played at the Everyman Theatre, Hampstead—it is now at the Savoy—a member of the company said that one evening a woman stood up in the audience and exclaimed: “Stop this play!” “Madam, you are at liberty to leave the theatre if you do not like the play,” retorted Robert Loraine, who plays the chief part of a father tortured by doubt regarding the paternity of his daughter. He was loudly cheered, and at that the interrupter subsided. “The Father” contains some dialogue at which most audiences of a few years ago would have gasped. Nowadays very few playgoers seem inclined to gasp at this sort of thing.