THREE ONE-ACTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 838, 5 December 1929, Page 16

THREE ONE-ACTS

EXCELLENT TRIPLE BILL

LITTLE THEATRE SUCCESS Choosing a one-act play must be like choosing a Christmas present—there is such a wealth of them. The Little Theatre Society, however, has chosen wisely .and well for its last production, and last evening we were given three admirable examples of the work of three most competent British playwrights. ' A thriller which can still thrill those who are not acquainted with the Jacobs story, a whimsical tilt at pomp by Barrie and a peep into a Cockney home (and incidentally the Cockney mind), by Chapirf, constitute a good evening’s entertainment. It may have been the weather, it may have been first-night apprehension, it may have been due to a dozen causes, but the first two plays, “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The TwelvePound Look,” seemed to lack vigour. There was a certain lifelessness which will wear off as the season progresses. This atmosphere did not affect the third play. “GOD AND MRS. HENDERSON” By Harold Chapin. Joe Henderson Alan McElwain Bill Pepper ....... Rex Yates Mrs. Henderson Ailsa Hacket Emmy' Elva Wrigley “God and Mrs. Henderson” is more a subtly defined incident than a oneact play, and it was admirably performed by its cast of four players. Joe, the bargeman, unexpectedly stumbles up several flights of stairs to the tenement where his weary wife is trying to dry the clothes. The home-coming is a few gruff words on his part, half-concealed pleasure on hers, and a request for a jug of beer. Joe tells his wife that an increase in wages will allow him to stay at home in the future. Mrs. Henderson prepares to go for the beer. A little later Joe finds her on her knees in the bedroom. He is amazed when she tells him that she is thanking God for their good fortune. Mr. McElwain makes his first appearance with the Little Theatre in this admirable Chapin play, and gives an excellent performance. His natural sense of the theatre gives him a security possessed by few amateurs. His performance was beautifully timed —not one utterance was hurried—not a point was lost by Mrs. Henderson’s blind faith'and hopeless wondering were admirably conveyed by Miss Hacket. Her performance gained by its intentional monotony. Mr. Yates’s study of the Cockney was a perfect cameo, and youthful Miss Wrigley gave us one of the best glimpses of a stage child we have seen for many a day. Only once or twice she allowed her voice to slip away from the accent. “THE MONKEY’S PAW” By W. W. Jacobs. Mr. White ........ A. F. Goodwin Mrs. White Peggy Hovey Herbert Dick Hudson Sergeant Morris Zante Wood Mr. Sampson Montagu Steele Even a surfeit of Edgar Wallace and his mechanical thrillers cannot deny the supernatural element which dominates “The Monkey’s Paw,” a dramatisation of the Jacobs story by Louis Parker. Most people are familiar with the paw and its three wishes, "and the trail of tragedy they leave in the White home. This is the society’s first flight into the realm of tragedy and the effort is to be commended. Mr. Goodwin and Miss Hovey, two consistently good players, bear the brunt of this eerie tragedy, and add to their firmly established reputations. One felt that in “Bird in Hand” Mr. Goodwin was showing signs of monotony, but the signs had vanished last evening. Miss Hovey, although she has done better work, always convinces one by her sincerity and her ability to make her character live. Mr. Wood’s old soldier was true to tradition,* and Mr. Hudson was pleasantly alive as an affectionate son. Mr. Steele restrained himself excellently until his exit which, personally, seemed to lose in value by becoming a too-definite statement. ,The air of mystery in the third scene of the play was most effectively produced, and added to the suspense of the uncanny curtain.

“THE TWELVE-POUND LOOK” By Sir James Barrie. Sir Harry Sims James Swan Lady Sims ..•••«.. Ina M. Allan Kate .......... Marie Gaudin Tombes Hamish Henderson

Perhaps Sir James Barrie’s greatest effort in life will be to live down his reputation as a whimsical author. But what else can one say of him? “The Twelve-Pound Look” is certainly a whimsical play—light as thistledown and requiring a treatment just as delicate.

A pompous, bullying and recent knight is rehearsing for his accolade before a brilliantly dressed but timid wife. A hired typist arrives to prepare the answers to letters of congratulation. She is the divorced wife of the pompous knight. That is how Barrie introduces his characters, and sets them moving in a delightful little picture of an impossible husband, a woman who was not afraid to leave him to his impossible pomp, and another who was evidently making up her mind to do so. One never felt quite sure that it was genuine Barrie last evening. Mr. Swan was extravagantly pompous and inordinately vain, and one liked him for it; Mrs. Allan looked very charming and timid and one liked her for that; Miss Gaudin’s voice could not possibly compete with the noise of the rumbling trams, but she managed to convey a sense of whimsy to her part —a difficult one, and requiring the lightest of treatment. It was ail rather pretty and quietly amusing, but . . .

The season will be continued until Saturday eve*ing.