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"Rope"

It is never easy to criticise amateur acting. The problem is whether to praise amateurs for their small achievements or to accuse them of the defects that must inevitably appear in all but first-class professional work. In the case of the V.U.C. Dramatic Society and "Rope," a play by Patrick Hamilton, presented to a University audience on the 14th and 15th of August, in the Gymnasium, the highest praise in my power to give is to say, quite sincerely, that it is the best-balanced University production of my memory in point of staging and character presentation, but that there were blemishes in the acting impossible to overlook in any serious criticism. The Dramatic Society deserves the compliment of having its work taken seriously.

To the man responsible for casting and production, D. G. Edwards, must go the lion's share of praise and blame. He was responsible for the splendid "underacting" of the play, a welcome relief from dramatic elocution. His cast lived their parts. Sometimes they failed to rise to the full emotional possibilities of the character, but they were never unreal or "stagey."

"Rope" is a story of two undergraduates who murder a fellow-student for the thrill of "living dangerously," and invite the father and some friends of the victim to a supper, where the supper-table is an old wooden chest. In the chest, under lock and key, is the corpse. Vanity and the discovery of a theatre ticket, the only meretricious situation in the play, pave the way to suspicion, accusation and final confession.

H. R. Bannister, as Brandon, the strong leader of the thrill-seekers, should have been the most powerful character in the play. He needed more strength, more egotism, more bravado than he displayed. It was not his acting that was at fault. It was the characterisation. His emotional surrender in the final act would have been ten times as dramatically effective if a strong, self-sufficient Brandon had been displayed beforehand. Both Mr. Bannister and Mr. Edwards are to be blamed for this.

Furthermore, this fault prevented the proper development of the play. Max Riske, as Granillo, the lieutenant of murder, was forced into complete weakness to contrast Brandon's only moderate strength. Brandon should have been strong enough to overshadow a Granillo who was susceptible and highly strung and, at the same time, virile. In spite of this difficulty, Mr. Riske gave the finest performance of the evening. He lived the part. He was in emotional contact with the audience from start to finish.

H. N. Hannah, as Rupert Cadell, poet, dreamer and man of the world, spoiled an otherwise splendid performance by failing to use the dramatic height called for by his final denouncement of the murderers. This was the gravest defect in the whole play. Both Mr. Hannah and Mr. Edwards should have prepared this climax thoroughly, so that it would have shown the unreasoning outburst of a decent man who forgets his intellectual conceit when faced by motiveless murder and the lewd, infamous jest of the supper party. Instead, it was a long, heavy speech, remembered with difficulty.

Ola Nielsen, as Leila Arden, played an important part skilfully, artistically and without effort. She fully succeeded in her representation of a "bright young thing," jolly, and empty of ideas. Her coquetry was splendid. No fault can be found with her work in "Rope."

Jack Coyle, as Kenneth Raglan, Leila's male counterpart, had no emotional heights to sustain. He was a mere well-bred, very young, flirtatious male. He deserves praise for the way he handled his part. Even his delightful hesitations and embarrassment were in character. It is a pity that Leila had to help him out of memory difficulties by skilful cue-juggling.

Dorothy Martyn-Roberts, as Mrs. Debenham, a woman of few words and no ideas, and C. G. Watson, as Sir Johnstone Kentley, father of the murdered boy, played minor speaking parts. Miss Roberts' make-up was splendid, and in the ten words of her speaking part she succeeded in portraying a complete personality. Mr. Watson's make-up was very poor, but his acting was quiet, restrained and in character.

R. B. Phillips overplayed his part as Sabot, the butler, providing a comic touch which, although well acted, interfered with the macabre theme of the story. Comedy, like drama, should be subtle.

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The Dramatic Society should be well satisfied. It has members of real ability. It has a producer who dislikes elocution. It has a stage manager, Cedric Wright, who learned his work behind the professional stage and who, with his assistant, the willing Don Steele, transformed the gymnasium platform into a real stage, by concealed lighting effects and properties. The only grave faults in "Rope" were faults in emotion and characterisation. As an amateur show it was first-class, and no amateur has a right to expect more.

—S.E.B.