VANBRUGH—BOUCICAULT

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 555, 7 January 1929, Page 12

VANBRUGH—BOUCICAULT

HIS MAJESTY’S NEXT MONDAY If proof were required to demonstrate the fact that Miss Irene Vanbrugh, who, together with Mr. Dion Boueicault, and a new English company is to make her reappearance here in “All the King’s Horses” at His Majesty’s Theatre on Monday night next, is as popular in London as she is in Australia and New Zealand, the following extract from a leading English paper should be conclusive evidence of this fact: “Three years is not a long time for most people to be away—it is, indeed, too short a period for many—but it is too long for Miss Vanbrugh, and I trust, now that she has returned to us, that she will settle down in London and not go gallivanting about the remoter parts of the earth again. If Afrikanders, New Zealanders and Australians wish to see her act, they must come and see her. The parent nation cannot always be lavishing rich gifts on the children nations; it must be allowed to keep something for itself. For my part, I say that Africa and Australia and Canada and New Zealand can have all we possess, provided they let us keep Irene Vanbrugh. What an actress she is! How easily and deliciously she takes the stage and holds it! She is a born comedienne.” Mr. Dion Boucicault has delighted us in a large number of wonderful characterisations and he. too. is said to be in his element as Wilfred Everett in “All the King’s Horses.” Miss Vanbrugh and Mr. Boucicault will be supported by a very strong combination of English comedy and dramatic artists. Only three performances can be staged of “All the King’s Horses,” and on Thursday, January 17, Frederick Lonsdale’s brilliantly clever comedy, “On Approval,” will be produced. It will be followed by three presentations of “The High Hoad,” on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, January 21, 22 and 23. The season is strictly limited to IS nights, and during this period will also be staged “Caroline,” “Nell o’ New Orleans,” “Belinda” and “Mr. Pim Passes By.” The box plans for the three first productions will open at Lewis Eady’s on Friday morning at nine o’clock. A queue will be formed from 7 a.m.

Warner Bros/ picture production, “The Crimson City,” is a melodrama, and, like the melodrama of old, contains many thrills and surprises, but it is different inasmuch that it contains excellent story value, and is away from anything hackneyed. It is unusual, inasmuch that the atmosphere is 90 per cent. Chinese, and it deals with the love and devotion of a Chinese girl for a European. An excepuonan.v cast has been chosen for the production, including Myrna Loy, John Miljan, Leila Hyams, Bathew Betz, Anna May Wong, Anders Randolf and Richard Tucker.

The cast of the screen version of Thomas Hardy’s masterpiece, “Under the Greenwood Tree,” upon which Harry Lachlan will start work at the British International Studios at Elstree immediately, is completed. The leading parts will be played by Margaret Allen and Nigel Barry. To insure the accurate Thomas Hardy atmosphere, an English research expert has been engaged to supervise this important aspect of the production. “Under the Greenwood Tree” will be released by Cinema Art Films during the coming season.