STAGE "FLOPS"

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 106, 31 October 1936, Page 9

STAGE "FLOPS"

FOUR LONDON PLAYS

LIGHT FARE RUNS THE BEST

NOTABLE REVIVALS

(By Nelle M. Scanlan.) LONDON, October 6. Hecently four plays, with four distinguished stars in the lead, flopped. Not one of them ran more than a week, though they had been launched with much preliminary flourish of trumpets, were staged by experienced managers, and had all the advantages of a star name to draw the crowds. Yet several plays, and not very good plays, with practically unknown actors and actresses, and little publicity, go on and on, month after month, drawing large and satisfied audiences. The secret of theatrical success is still unknown. . . .

One critic who recently analysed these four failures found one feature present in each of the plays. 11l health took a prominent place. May we conclude that people who go out for an evening's entertainment do not want to be reminded of sickness and pain? Is the theatre a means of escape from life's sorry realities?

Probably there is no actress with the same drawing povver as Diana Wynyard. She has a big cinema public as well. But- even she was not able to keep "The Ante-room" alive. Mary Ellis is another favourite, but she could not sustain a disappointing play more than a week. ' And Lucie Mannheim, the distinguished German actress, was among the flops.

. Aspiring playwrights are always complaining that they cannot even get their plays read by a manager. Managers are always lamenting that they cannot get plays. Actors and actresses sit up half the night reading plays in the hope of finding something in which their genius may shine. Then a play is chosen, representing the joint wisdom of writer, manager, actors, and producer; they all agree that it is a sure winner. Money is found, backers write cheques, and thousands of pounds are expended in its production. Society puts, on its best clothes,1 its ermine coats and jewels, and dinner parties are arranged beforehand. Crowds of the poor block the streets .outside the theatre1 hoping to get a glimpse of the distinguished audience.. Gossip writers hang about the foyer, jotting down Lady This in red, and the Countess of That in pink, and Press photographers snap here and snap there, as self-conscious beauties, and the not-so-beautiful, drift before the eye of his camera, and then he rushes off, and you may see it all in the morning paper. And then they go on to the Savoy or somewhere else for supper / afterwards. And everyone says: "Marvellous, marvellous, my dear." Candid criticism comes from the first-nighters in the gallery, who may have waited in queues for twentyfour hours or more. If it is a success, the "Libraries," which is a term used for theatrical agents, make a deal. That is, they buy large blocks of seats for several weeks or months ahead, thus assuring a run of the play. If the "Libraries" hold off, the play may have to fight for its life. Word-of-mouth recommendation goes a long way in supporting the theatre. The critics may kill a play with bad notices, but even a,show that has been condemned, provided the condemnation does not mean.that it is dull and boring, may survive. But usually it means that the actors' salaries are cut, the front jtalls and circle are "papered"— that is, shoals of seats are given away free to distinguished people, to give the impression - that it is a howling success, and so delude people into going. Sometimes, after a play has been bolstered up in this way for weeks it has taken a turn, and run for many months. But the four recent failures could not be kept alive, despite all the props that were supplied. They simply died, and the managers decided it was cheaper to cut their losses and take them off. GREEK PLAY REVIVED. One of the events of the theatrical world has been a revival of the Greek play "Oedipus Hex," the classic drama of the man who married his mother, with Sir John Martin-Harvey in the title role. This production is having a fortnight's run at Covent Garden. It is twenty-four years since Sir John achieved what is regarded as his great acting triumph in Reinhardt's production' of this play. At first the Censor refused a licence for it. I saw Sir John in the part in New York about twelve years ago. He had not played it since, I understand, but the veteran had a fine reception this week when he opened. The production cost £15,000. At the last London ■->performance, nearly a quarter of a century ago, it is related that one dramatic critic, coming in late, was swept into the "crowd" which swarms up through the auditorium on to the stage, and cut a sorry figure among them in his tail coat, till he could fight his way clear and. escape. As one of the supers remarked after a long rehearsal, "Martin-Harvey is Oedipus, but we're the Wrecks."

Another big success at the moment is the revival at the Old Vie of Wycherley's Restoration comedy. "The Country Wife." ' It is said to contain some of the most outrageous situations in English comedy, but they are so frank and .unblushing that no.one seems to mind. Among the cast is Edith Evans, our most brilliant actress on the stage today, and a distinguished American, Ruth Gordon. Society is going south of the River in droves to enjoy this really fruity performance.

The play with the longest run at the moment is Dodie Smith's "Call it a Day," which has nearly a year to its credit, and is still going strong. St. John Ervine's "Anthony and' Anna" runs it very close. Of the seventeen new shows that opened last month and survived, most are very light fare.

Two English Hamlets have gone to New York. John Gielgud opened this week, and Leslie Howard follows a month later. And Cedric Hardwicke is off to New York next month to play in Henri Bernstein's "Promise."

A new lan Hay comedy "The Housemaster" goes into rehearsal shortly, and Helen Jerome's "Limelight," a play dealing with life in Hollywood, starts at Birmingham on Saturday.

Pans for Christmas pantomimes and plays are already well ahead. Charles Laughton is to play "Captain Hook" in "Peter Pan.",

The play "The Boy David," which Sir James Barrie wrote for Elizabeth Bergner, is again mentioned. It was postponed some time ago owing to Miss Bergner's illness. There have been rumours that it has been abandoned, but it keeps cropping up, though the date is not yet fixed for the opening. And once more we have ;a season of ballet, but this time it'is the lesser stars at Sadler's Wells, not those of international reputation, but they do some admirable work. The dancers are young, the seats cheap, and the audience is madly enthusiastic. It is a fine training ground for talent and taste.