“THE WRECKER"

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 656, 7 May 1929, Page 14

“THE WRECKER"

HIS MAJESTY’S TO-MORROW There was a very la.rge demand for seats when the box plans were opened yesterday morning for the six presentations of "The Wrecker,” the thrilling railway mystery drama, which is to be staged at His Majesty’s Theatre on Wednesday night next, under the direction of .T. C. Williamson. Ltd., in conjunction with E. J. and Dan Carroll. "The Wrecker,”

which is described by Australian critics as a play full of mystery, thrills, love and laughter, is by Arnold Ridley, author of "The Ghost Train.” There are signs in New Zealand, as well as in other ; parts of the world, 1 that the taste of the public, theat-

rically, is swinging back to melodrama. Not the oldtime melodrama, when the fiercelymoustached villain did his worst in five acts and 17 scenes, but the spirit of romance and tragedy that animated the best of the plays of 30 years ago. What are all the thrillers, mystery plays and detective plays but melodrama served up with better and different trimmings? "The Wrecker” is a case in point. This piece depends, to an extent, on its wonderful effects —the realistic arrival and departure of trains at a

railway station on which the spectator is supposed to be located, and a sense of tragedy that pervades the three acts. When it comes to making an impression on an audience, it is tragedy, not comedy, that scores. Xot that well-written comedies will not always have their place on the stage; but when an intelligent public wants real theatrical food for the mind as well as the senses, it turns to the play that possesses a tragic and emotional interest, a's well as the comedy element. Wide interest is being taken in the first appearance here of Miss Josephine Wilson and Mr. Clayton Greene, as they are said to be two of London’s finest dramatic stars.