“THE WOMEN”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 April 1939, Page 2

“THE WOMEN”

A leading topic of conversation in Australia for a month or two has been the controversial play, “The Women,” and the attempts that were made in some quarters to have it censored. In Sydney an Inspector of Police was sent , to see it, and made a report to the Chief Secretary. Thereafter the management waited with bated breath to ( see whether the public would be allowed to go on seeing “The Women.” in its original version, or whether the dialogue must appear in expurgated form. “Had the Inspector been repelled and shocked by large sections of the dialogue the actors would have been forced to leave those passages out of the play,” states the “Sydney Morning Herald.” “Clare Boothe’s scintillating comedy, which points the moral that jealous gossips are no company for a self-respecting woman, might have been reduced to a mangled ruin. In actual fact the results of the Inspector's night out were negligible. He gave the comedy a complete testimonial as to its decency. Nevertheless, eliminations have occurred in the dialogue. Considering the general character of “The Women” one can only describe them as absurd and petty. Dozens of other lines are equally stark . One wonders what Clare Boothe will say to it all when the news reaches her in America. In London the Lord Chamberlain told her he would licence a production if she ’altered a line or two. She refused. As the result “The Women” has never been, seen in England.' “The Women,” with its cast of forty women-players, headed by the celebrated American stage and screen actress, Irene Purcell, will be staged at Wellington, commencing on April 29. The New Zealand tour is under the direction of J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd.