WITH THE PLAYWRIGHTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 76, 29 March 1924, Page 18

WITH THE PLAYWRIGHTS.

Part of the better understanding ol Shakespeare that our time has developed is a much more critical attitude towards some of his -work, which breaks out now and then in what an oldei generation might consider sheer irreverence. "The Merchant of Venice," foi example, before which so many personE have boon wont to prostrate themselves, has been pierced with shafts of wit and insijrKt by Sir Arthur Quiller-Coueh and others. Mr. St. John Ervine, playwright and novelist, has joined in this game with a play that is a sequel to "The Merchant." The scene of "The Lady oi Belmont" is laid at Portia's home at Belmont ten years after her marriage The romance of the great play has faller to disappointment and sordid selfishness and intrigue. Baseanio, who in Shakespesire docs not strike one as very admirable, has dissipated most of Portia's fortune and is carrying on ,an intrigue with Jessica. Gratiano, his friend, if similarly light-minded. Antonio has become a eelf-centrcd and intolerable bore, whose dominating memory is tht part he played in the trial scene, whicl: experience he thrusts upon tho notice

'of high and low. Jessica is still beautiful, and remains, in Mr. Ervine's pleasant words, "the mean littio sweep sho vvaa when sho ran away with Lorenzo." Incidentally one of the reasons why she is tired of her husband is that ho will persist in talking about the moonlight. The fine characters in the play are liie disillusioned Portia, and Shylock, who in his old age has become prosperous again, and, having sought refuge in I Portia's house, is befriended by her ! against her caddish and brutal husband. ! The play may shock some, yet, unless 'we except the lino taken by Portia in ! exposing her husband's infidelity, thoro jis nothing important in it that i.i iniTwlI ible. Humour and seriousness are well mingled in this strange venture. Allen and Unwin are the publishers. Mr. Sutton Vane's "Outward Bound" I (Ohatto and Windus) is one of the most I original plays that the modern movement has produced. Stated baldly, the theme may si-em hopclvi-a as 111-.iiila.LlC i material. The whole action takes place in the smoking room of a liner, and it is not until the voyage has begun that most of the characters)—u pair oi lovers, a worldly middle-aged woman, a lively young man, a charwoman, a hard-fisted business man, and a clergyman—discover that they are dead. The life of the ship goes on on conventional lines, except that the crew consists of one man, a steward, who plays an important part in the action. When the ship reaches the other side it is boarded by an inspector in tlie form o£ a clergyman, clothed in the usual tropical dreas, who questions the passengers before they go ashore. It will be gathered that the line between the serious and the ridiculous is fine, but the inherent sincerity and high purpose of the author carry off the daring experiment. The value of the play lies in its delineation of different types, and their behaviour in changing circumstances. At first the passengers behave as if they were on an o'dinary voyage, and gradually the knowledge comes to them that they are dead. With penetrating irony Mr. Vane makes the bu'eineee man call a meeting to consider what is to be done when they reach the next world, and conduct the meeting as if he were presiding over a gathering of directors. The two lovers, who remain aloof from tho others, and because they have taken their lives, are not allowed to leave the ship, are drawn in an atmosphere of appealing mystery and tenderness. In case it should be thought that this extraordinary subject is more suited for the etudy than the stage, we may mention that "Outward Bound" has had a long run in London and Jβ being played in New York.