“RIO RITA”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 714, 13 July 1929, Page 8

“RIO RITA”

An interesting triple bill was chosen to close the third season of the National Repertory Society, Wellington. It comprised “He,” by Eugene O’Neill, “The Farewell Supper,” by Arthur Schnitzler, both for the first time in New Zealand, and “The Dark Lady of the Sonnets,” by George Bernard Shaw. “lie,” which is an intensely dramatic piece, was played by Miss Mary Cooley and Messrs. Vivian Rhind, Nelson Isaac, Vernon Oswin and Maurice Rogers. “The Farewell Supper,” one of the amusing “Affairs of Anatol,” gave good opportunities for comedy to Miss Pauline Shotlander and Messrs. W. S. Wauchop, A. D. Priestley and Alan Hebb; and “The Dark Lady of the Sonnets,” with its sparkling dialogue and picturesque costumes, was presented by Misses Kate Stocker and Alison Grant and Messrs. P. B. Broad and A. D. Priestley. CRUDE STUFF COSMO HAMILTON TALKS ABOUT THE “TALKIES” In an address to the English-Speak-ing Union luncheon in London, Cosmo Hamilton, the dramatist and novelist, while admitting that the talkies were revolutionising the film industry, which was making more money than Hollywood ever dreamed, declared they were at present as crudely embryonic as the British Socialist Ministry.

People talked too much and too badly. Instead of living up to the standard attained in the silent films the companies had returned not only to “Sally the Chewing-gum Queen,” but to her six-year-old brother. They were temporarily devoting themselves to crooks, vaudeville and crude backstage stuff. Definite theatres would eventually be provided for the talkies, silent films and stage plays. There was room for all.