“SCANDAL”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 431, 13 August 1928, Page 15

“SCANDAL”

ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY For the last time that dramatic novelty, “The Trial of Mary Dugan” will be produced at His Majesty’s Theatre this evening, after a very successful and extended season. This play breaks new ground in drama; there is no curtain and no orchestra, and the audience becomes the jury which tries Mary Bugan for the murder of a millionaire, found stabbed in her flat. “Scandal,” the daring bedroom comedy which is to be presented by Mr. Leon Gordon and the J. C. Williamson, Ltd., dramatic company, which includes the acomplished actress, Miss May Collins, at His Majesty’s Theatre to-morrow night only, is one of the most successful plays ever staged. It was originally intended to stage “Scandal” for a fortnight in Sydney, but so successful did it prove that its season had to be considerably extended, and it had then to be withdrawn while still attracting record audiences in order that Mr. Leon Gordon might fulfil his present New Zealand contracts. “Scandal” keeps the audience “on its toes,” because it provides those scenes and conversations not generally presented to the public at large. Much of the reputation of the play has been based on the daring of its presentation, but all the merits of a performance are not on the words or the staging. Mr. Gordon and the present company have attained an independent reputation for superb acting, and this counts in a play like “Scandal.” Mr. Gordon is welcome in any character, and as the much injured Pelham Franklin he is said to be at his very best. “He is particularly fine,” wrote a critic recently, “in the bedroom scene, where he humbles the pride of the proud self-willed Beatrix.” The character of Beatrix gives Miss May Collins much better chances to exhibit her histrionic capacity. It is said that she fills to perfection this arduous role. Her clever acting allied to her fresh young beauty and unusually charming personality has greatly assisted in making the revival of “Scandal” in Sydney an unqualified success. Miss Henrietta Cavendish is at her best as Honoria, and others in the cast are Leyland Hodgson, Daphne Bairn, Frank Bradley, John Fernside and Nancy Atkins.