Good Players Discounted By Poor Plays

The first one, variously advertised as The Perfect, Wonderful and Lovely Miracle, is not fundamentally a good play. The dialogue abounds in vague romantic adjectives which attempt to capture a "fey" atmosphere. The performance did not make up for deficiencies in the script. It appeared to be under-rehearsed. Mary Rose Miller as Elisabeth Tennent gave good interpertations of their matter-of-fact character parts, but the two romantic figures missed somewhere. Edith Hannah has an excellent voice for drama, but she over-exercised it here. She made the atmosphere uniformly tense, instead of fanciful. Kerry Jordan, as the vision of her future son, seemed a little self-conscious in his part The staging was simple but adequate. The play itself was the real handicap. Neither the cast nor the audience were really at home in the atmosphere of fantasy which it tried to create.

The second play, "The First and the Last," was in many ways excellent. The theme was strong with a conflict of emotions as well as characters. Robin Cooke interpreted the part of the hard-headed lawyer—a disciple of opportunism, the family name, and convention. Godrey Wilson, as the "weak" younger brother, easily swayed but adhering to his principles, was emotional without being melodramatic. Edith Hannah, as Wanda, was far more convincing than in the first play. The tenseness of the situation warranted her taut, highly-strung manner and—a technical but important detail—her "Polish" accent was consistently maintained. The producer's arrangement of his stage was unusually good. His characters never drifted in haphazardly. The armchair position of Larry while he told his brother of the murder and the suicide scene were particularly effective. The main criticism of this play is purely mechanical. Four breaks in a one-acter is too many, especially with a hand-pulled curtain and long intervals. The atmosphere built up languished in these desultory conversation periods.

The third play was certainly appreciated the most by the audience. Set in an air-raid shelter (ex-public convenience) of the 1970's, "All's Quiet in the Air" had plenty of novelty and comedy relief (though the producer was heard to remark sadly, "It was meant to be a tragedy"). The non-matrimonial customs which the play treats as inevitable provided slightly bawdy amusement for a large section of the audience. The players succeeded in creating an atmosphere. Pat Girling-Butcher gave a very smooth performance as Helen, Cath. Gosse was neurotically "bitchy" as Margot, Dick Wilde reflectively British as James. Bill Ord played Bobby, a bouncing young modern; Noeline Edwards made a convincing Joan and Godfrey Wilson was caddish as the loungelizard, Osbert. The ending was dramatic and interest was sustained throughout. The sound effects were particularly good. There was an atmosphere of versi-militude and vigour during the whole play.