"Facing the Music."

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 698, 20 October 1909, Page 5

"Facing the Music."

The popular hunger for humorous comedy and the large amount of success achieved by the Alexandra Dramatic Society in the past brought- together au audience ou Friday night that literally packed every corner of the local town hall, and which was as remarkable for its delight as for its size. " Facing the Music " is full of merriment, and abounds in numerous mirth-provoking situations. There is nothing strikiugly novel in the story of the play, or anything unique in its development, but it is cleverly written, it contains a certain pleasing spontaneity, and there is a decided originality in the treatment of the main theme and in the quality of the humor that crops out everywhere. The characters are very skilfully drawn, aud the dialogue is crisp and refreshing, aud so far above the mediocre as to possess, in itself, the faculty of making a scene hang together, and to convey many philosophic sayings regarding certain aspects of economics and conditions of life generally in a manner that makes them perfectly palatable to those who, as a general rule, avoid the obvious aud loathe the didactic. So much for the play as a play. As a comedy it refuses to sacrihee cleverness and subtle humor to banality aud the popular desire for something absurdly silly at which to laugh, and one therefore sees the curtain fall at the termination of the play with the pleasing conviction that, one has laughed, and been glad, and lias also, in some degree, been mentally refreshed. Tn measuring the success of a play the demauds it makes upon the performers have to be taken into consideration, aud, bearing this is mind, the ladies aud gentlemen filling the respective roles may fairly lay claim to have acquitted themselves with credit. At times a degree of uncertainty was exhibited by some of the performers. This may be attributed to a lack of familiarity with their parts, or it may have been that nervousness had something to do witli the hesitancy observable; but that might be looked for uuder the circumstances, and was quite pardonable. Even with these shortcomings, the performance was by no means devoid of merit, and is certainly deserving of commendation. That the stage experience of the principals had been invaluable in briugiug about the success attained there is no doubt, and it is equally certain that nothing was wautiug on their part to ensure as good a presentation as was possible, ilr J. Robinson made an admirable curate, acting his part to the manner born. Mr Dumsday was agreeably vigorous in the role of John Smith, and his caste \y;is responsible for a clever and realistic character sketch. As Smith's quest, Mr Arthur made the part convincingly amusing without effort, aud was a joy and a refreshment all the while he was on the stage. Mr iuing, as the colonel, gave an artistic aud pleasing interpretation of the caste—he was the quintessence of the kindly, obliging, honest gentleman. Mr Richardson, in taking the part of Sergeant Uuffell, was expected to keep up an appearance appertaining to, the pqsitiou and show tljat Ije was a well-intentioned oftjeer, aud he displayed excellent judgment in maintaining the proper balance. Mrs M* Cellar, as the curate's wife, acted cleverly, ami her meeting with her longlost husband produced delightful fun. She gave an exceedingly satisfactory exposition of the part. The role of John Smith's wife was naturally and capably

taken by Mrs Arthur, who gracefully filled the impersonation with distinct credit. Miss Murrell, as the actress, was equally successful in her part ; whilst the matter-of-fact housekeeper was intelligently taken bj r Mrs M'Glashan, her conversation with the curate on the evils of the turf producing loud laughter from the audience. A better reception could scarcely have been accorded " Facing the Music " even had it been played by a first-class professional company. The humor of the comedy is ready-made by the writer, who has cleverly sketched many amusing scenes throughout the piece, and it is just a question of turning opportunities for humor to the best account. In this the success of those filling the caste was verj* pronounced, and instances were indicative where they seemed to lose selfconsciousness and became identified with the characters they were representing. In such cases there was a distinct uplifting of the general tone of the performance. This was observable in the visionary fancy of John Smith (Mr Duinsday), in which there returns to him the adventure of the foggy night in Leicester Square. Applause and laughter alternated during the whole of the evening, and there is no gainsaying the fact that the production was, generally speaking, extremely funny. A strong orchestra under the baton of Mr R. Montgomery contributed delightful selections before the rise of the curtain and during the intervals.