SPORT AT ST. JAMES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 684, 8 June 1929, Page 14

SPORT AT ST. JAMES

PAT HANNA’S DIGGERS AMUSING PROGRAMME Twenty-five turns, ranging from good to very good, comprise the new programme put on by Pat Hanna and his Diggers at the St. James last evening. It was a splendid performance. The “Poet and Peasant” overture from the Diggers Orchestra opens the programme, and is followed by Stan Lawson and the ballet, singing and dancing delightfully. Joe Valli and his gang go -on..the* warpath, and then Ernest Kopke pleases the audience with his attractive tenor. Pat Hanna and Iza Crossley get in a domestic tangle in a short sketch, in which hair figures prominently and, by contrast, Adele Taylor, with the pretty ballet in the background, sings sweetly “Under the Clover Moon.” Various Diggers follow, until we come to a very tall story told by Pat Hanna in which “two-up” and Royalty figure amusingly. “Gipsy Love,” a romance of the Romany, gives a splendid opportunity for some fine singing by Jock Thomson and; Ernest Kopke, some glorious foolery from Pat Hanna, and good dancing. The second half of the programme opens auspiciously with an admirable ballet number in which Thelma Pittard displays her really fine talent as a dancer, while the ballet girls deploy gracefully in the background. A brief but “terribly tragic” sketch follows, entitled “The Aspirant.” With the assistance of the chorus, Pat Hanna does a little sketching—drawing, not acting, this time. And extraordinarily clever sketching it is, too. The next item is a farce which the programme admits is probably so old that it was played in the Garden of Eden. The title is “Changed Glasses,” and under the skilful handling of Joe Valli, Iza Crossley and Stan Lawson it seems quite new and wonderfully funny. Joe Valli as Muddle, the servant, who drinks the dose of strychnine, and collapses, twitching convulsively on the stage, is uproariously funny. That sketch alone makes the show worth visiting. Another amusing sketch is Pat Hanna’s and Joe Valli’s topical marionettes, in which our old friends Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Sheen come back to life. Adele Taylor and Ernest Kopke sing most movingly the Prison Scene from “II Trovatore,” and the ballet appears once more, as attractive as ever, this time in Hawaiian costume. A post-war episode, “Joe’s Girl.” which culminates in most of the chief characters fainting on the floor, concludes a most entertaining show.