PLAYS BY AMATEURS.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 April 1920, Page 5

PLAYS BY AMATEURS.

AN' ENTERTAINING EVENip, The dramatic entertainment >wM« took place Hast night in the Work*? Social Hall has been eagerly looked f<A ward to for some weeks by the of New Plymouth, principally beefcft the programme arranged wae the pr mentation of two short plays entirely J) local_ artists, and it is safe to My not one member of the large audieitdi which packed the hall left the bviidyl With the least sense of on the contrary, praise of the work 4 the actors was on the lips of all afi the; came away. It ia doubtful if anytbill has been presented to New Plymont audiences by local actors. approtekfl the standard readied last night.- T|MH producers and all concerned are entUll to unqualified congratulations on tilt success of the effort, and the (Kit Friendly Society may count thtmieltj fortunate in having enlisted the W i those who faced the footlights last BigtQ THE BEST CORE. The first play was a short chM9«t«Pf isation of a man taking "The ReatCwtf (by Gertrude Jennings). The scene ta set in a nursing home in the heart-* London, and opened with the preMN tion of a room in the home for a. M patient (Mr. C. H. Wynyard) by tfcftti nurses of the establishment (Xl|» Florence Winfield and Jessie Htowl while the maid (Miss Dora Bedford) V) engaged lighting a. fire in the gTate. « the while receiving sundry commttu from the jiurees Miss Sybil Thorn took the part of Mrs. Seed. Mr.WyaWa carried tiie part of the "nervy autMx 1 through with considerable success, 'Wfcfl Miss Bedford, in her inimitable way, pta cd the part of the maid with coninta ous success. -The nurses playedlSy parts jvith confidence and assurance, M the play concluded witjh a conspiracy fe tween the maid and the patient to efij his escape, the bribe to the former btyjs the. privilege of being secretary to t) author with the right to use his *jn writer to write her own book.' At the fall of the curtain thewlrti hearty applause and the whole wS came on to the platform together "THE OLD LADY SHOWS HSR ) MEDALS."

The second part of the programme ml !L,? var s t° l '.v by J. M. Barrie, entitled The Old Lady Shows Her Medal*," ##* was produced in three scenes. fJM caste of characters as follows (-Mr* barah Ann Dowey (Mrs. Claud# ''Wea". ton) Mrs. Amelia Twvmley (Mm, & walker), Mrs. Emma Mickblebam (Ifrnl R. H. Hartley); all of whom were ;diir« women and caretakers, the Hamwrt* woman (Mia? Beryl Hirst), mere}* ,2 ReV ', Mr. WiUing./Ufci u Jithcrington), and Private Kenoetfc Dowey of th e Black Watch (Mr. £

The scenes were all in the rooms o£ Mrs. Dowey, in London, and the tin! ln^ pnta portrayed wag the year! lle Haggerty woman ,k ! a - -much inferior" character W the others, and it may be said that tW costuming 0? these women left n» doutt on that point. As a matter of fact Mrt Dowey, who has no son, has been prW tending to her friends that ahe has % son, though in reality she has no on# belonging to her. She has seen the name of Pnvatc Kenneth Dowey in thai newspapers and conceives the idda ofl imagining, for her own gratification, flui lie 13 her son, because, as she 'sars "t£2i war was everybody's," yet it was *o*3 hers, because she had -no one in It. Whilaa engaged m exchanging their views women are interrupted by the Rev. Uri killings, who brings the glad thnt ho has found Mrs. Dowey'a aon< Kenneth just home on Ave davati leave, and has brought him lno second scene shows the cftoSl women in the room, awaiting thtt return of Mrs. Dowey and Private W "?w e - y a " °f them discussing what their position will be after thaD war as they will never be able to turn to being the "worms" they wera J once considered. On her return Mm} each woman offers a present of elgui'i 0 ,5 to Pl ''i'ate Dowey, who before t»k£ mg leave of his "mother" arranges to' nominate her as his "next-of-kin," an 4 : * M,V%v f ? OWe w!th & atthe thonffi Mis Weston carried out perhans tlifci most difficult net of the whole avenWjj it was timed one month after PrivitU ""'77 r f. turn . the front, and con 4 fisted, in the simple act of an old wo*i ? s !' rt ";?. °»t the personal effects of) a i-.oldier and placing them awatf'"i a draw, in dead filenee, the wbflgj pressing each garment to her heaving Wltl > a ffrief too full for tears/! Hie acting of all tin- Indie, ,vas m o»| than worthy of the warm applause,! which was frequently given. The "tttU'' up was excellent, and while the other*'* were of a rougher. type, the gentility of i --Irs. Dowey and the soft Scotch accent] hi her conversation stood nut in splen-3 did contrast, .she, vi;h "her son", of ij 'vvnrl- 0 ' P r V^ <l th ° " ln,or P° rt lon Of th« j work, ami it can only be Raid that in'l the part, of Private Dowey, Jfr. Andre# I • with took the house ltv storm. i and stWeS" 9 ' PlCndid "

< ' onsistin 2 "f Mrs Oeora»' fimno), Mr. Roy Miu-pliv and Mr HtiMr Boswnrth net.) "itr -'ll h n""!' (,irflotor ' c '"lVi V / Hed,e y (por »et), and Mr nets 10 (Ce " o) ' pl * vetl bet 'w the

Tlip 'entertainment will lie repeated 7?I"' ' j , rloors wi " 1)6 onened at L•' ?? , lc '' ,ers arc »9k«d tohn m attendance at that hour.