MELODRAMA REVIVED
LONDON THEATRE NEWS
Old melodrama has been revived in trie West End of London and Auckland theatre lovers will be interested to hear that there has been a lusty version of "Maria Marten, of the Murder in the Red Barn." This play was presented by the Auckland Repertory Theatre last year. Another of these melodramas is "Sweeny Tod." which this year celebrates its centenary. The Orpheum Theatre at Golders Green has put on Dion Boucicault's "The Streets of London," and the Arts are to do "The Drunkard," complete with rousing temperance ditties. Jack Buchanan is shortly to revive "East Lynne," now 70 years old. "And I shall present it seriously" he says, "with a cast of West End stars in the dresses of the period." Meanwhile, Dame Sybil Thorndike, Britain's leading tragedienne, is starring 'in a new piece by her brother Russell, which is as melodramatic as any of the old favourites. She plays a missionary of the 1880's, imbued with the spirit of the notorious Judge Jeffries who, after practising a spot of cannibalism in Africa, returns to London to continue her misdeeds, while practising the trade of a respectable book publisher.
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Bibliographic details
Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 82, 7 April 1943, Page 5
Word Count
195MELODRAMA REVIVED Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 82, 7 April 1943, Page 5
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