A SHOCK FOR "MRS. GRUNDY."

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 76, 28 March 1908, Page 12

A SHOCK FOR "MRS. GRUNDY."

LONDON, February 14.

In "Diana of Dobsons," the new fotoact romantic comedy produced by Miss Lena Ashwell at the Kingsway Theatre last Wednesday evening, London seems to have found a play that will provoke a good dea« of discussion. Tl'3 authoress, Miss Cicely Hamilton, has given us a delightfully fresh, light, and sparkling comedy which should enjoy a long run, as she had the courage to act up to the principle of "Mother Grundy be hanged!" The pbty deals with a subject which intimately appeals to the great heart of the people—the conditions of employ- ! ment and the hardships of the shop assistant in the great city emporiums. True, we only get a fugitive glimpse into the life of these poor creatures, but into one short act the dramatist has crowded a vivid picture of one of the miseries of the living-in system. The scene is laid in a damp and dreary domitory in a drapery establishment, and the audience is permitted the sensation of watching half a dozen girls preparing for bed. They are in various stages of undress, and one goes so far as to actually disrobe all but a few garments, which she slips off under her night-dress, in full view of the audience. Over this scene there will certainly be "wigs on the green," and though there is a simple frankness about it that puts to shame any thought of an appeal to the baser feelings, the majority of people will, one imagines, question the motive and : taste of the authoress.

The story is simplicity in itself. A Bhop assistant, Diana Massingbred, after six years' drudgery, comes into a legacy of £300, and decides to have a good time, so she throws up her "five-bob-a--week" situation, buys an expensive wardrobe in Paris, and then goes -to Switzerland, where out of sheer devilment she masquerades as a wealthy widow. She soon finds suitors, the rich, self-made, illiterate tradesman Sir Jabez Grinlay, and the idle, extravagant Captain Bretherton, who finds £500 a year too little for his wants. When Diana comes to the end of her financial tether and announces she is leaving for England, both men propose. She refuses Sir Jabez because she can never forget the grinding tyranny which has made him what he is. and her answer to Bretherton takes the shape of a confession of E'er deception. When Bretherton says he considers he has been badly used and hints that Diana is an adventuress, she turns on him like a tigress, stigmatises him as a lazy fortune-hunter, and makes reflections on his manhood and his ability to earn his own living if- put to it. Now Bretherton, with all his faults, really loves Diana, and, having something in him, throws up his old life and makes a resolution to try and earn his bread for six months, His scheme ends in disaster, for at the end of three months Captain Bretherton is found in rags, persuading Police-constable Fellowes, who has been a private in the Captain's former regiment, to allow him and an old hag, such as Dickens might have described, to remain on a seat on the Embankment to have their sleep out. Through their conversation we learn that Captain Bretherton has not lost his six hundred a year, but has been so nettled by Diana's statement that he would be incapable of earning his own living for six months, that he has determined to do so, and that his present circumstances are the result of this determination. Then Diana, also on her beam ends, comes to the same' seat. The Captain, recognises her and begs her to marry him, as he has now discovered that six hundred a year is not only enough for one but also enough for two people to live upon. At first she refuses him but when he explains that it was not only the thought of her fortune which drew him to her at Pontresina, - she consents. The Constable returns; Captain Bretherton asks him for the loan of the shilling which he has before' refused to accept, and the curtain falls on the pair breakfasting on coffee and "doorsteps" fetched by the Captain from a coffee stall hard by. ""

The piece is splendidly acted all round, Miss Ashwell being particularly successful in her pourtrayal of the "don't-care-what-happens-next" spirit of tb* rebellious Diana.