Colonel Wanted

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 756, 31 August 1929, Page 30

Colonel Wanted

CASTING A CHARACTER IN “JOURNEY’S END” WAR PLAY A WORLD SUCCESS All the London managers who rejected “Journey’s End” still ask themselves three times a day why they did not spot one of the most consistent successes in the history of the stage. At the same time Maurice Browne, its ’’presenter,” has his little bothers. The trouble is that the whole world wants to see “Journey's End,” and wants to see it in English. It has now become the hit of Paris, New York and Melbourne, as well as London. Negotiations are in progress for an Indian and Far Eastern company. And finally, Thomas Warner w e , Sti^ e clirector at the Prince of Wales Theatre, is preparing four other companies, two of which are about to rehearse together. Casting for eight companies is hard work, but hitherto Mr. Warner has managed to find all his Captain Haidys, Lieutenant Osbornes and Second-Lieutenant Raleighs The younger generation of actors seems ease t 0 manage all these roles with What Mr. Warner cannot get is colonels To a representative of a London daily he told his sad storv. i le simply cannot get an actor to do “The “mi® 1 c, Mr ‘ sh erifTs wonder play the older generation of actor” said Mr. Warner, “has only one idea of a stage colonel. That is the whitemoustached, choleric old idiot who talks about Simla and little girls he tvpTof L r ? hiSt ° riC dayS - What this SS? cSES? musr-hf ‘s ™ the^'play 8 ” So desperate has the hunt for a colonel become that Mr. Warner now makes an S.O.S. in the newspapers to any man who thinks he can do ,he part to come to him for an audition He need not necessarily have had acting experience.” says Mr. wlrner he ca “ look this part and if he given f °mal S ” eakinS V ° iCe he Will b e w ™v s a serious offer, as anybody who has seen Mr. Warner’s audition book would understand. Against the names of applicants are the fxamhmr’s “W m eSh ntS acc!nt°”° ld ’’.: “^Kknee^.” nuffv ” l ' teachable, but buH °b V’ e S-TC-r that coU COn T th^n^Ue'rl h wWch d srgnUy r hi i Those who have seen -t 5 For thl^thousands^ho'hav^not^W Warner specifies that “tu e £ , , ; must be a man V} 0 Co ’°'iel' about 45, with ,he vt medmm height. I tvar regular Arm stamp of ihe pre- ! 'veil-spoken- | rather than heavy. U ’ Wlrv -