CLEM DAWE REVUE COMPANY

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21288, 6 October 1934, Page 22

CLEM DAWE REVUE COMPANY

__—* "THE LAUGH I'ARADE" Clem Dawe and his New Revue Company have by this time probably become accustomed to the large audiences they are able to draw to the various theatres where they have performed in Australia and Nev,- Zealand, but it is to be hoped that they are not altogether so unimpressed that they failed to notice that last evening, for the opening of their third programme for the season, they had the usual full house. The audience was the sort that the theatrical manager must dream about, because there was not one turn in the long programme that did not meet with the greatest appreciation. The new programme is called "The Laugh Parade," and the title has been well chosen. It is unfair to call it a parade, because the word has a flavour of dignified progression rather than the riotous speed with which the new show proceeds. There is hardly a second from curtain to curtain when there is not somebody on the stage amusing the audience in some way or other. The brightness of the production relies to a great extent on this, but the dressing and the staging are so good that even with a slower tempo the show would still be a great success. The hub round which the whole thing revolves is Clem Dawe. a favourite with Christchurch audiences for many years, and no less well liked for having been away for some lime. His is the gift of the purest kind of comedy, comedy of the old unsophisticated kind, where a funny appearance and funny property clothes go to help in making the laughs. In the new programme he is, &s good as he has been in the two previous ones, and no more need be said.

He is very ably assisted this time by Dorothy White, who is outstandingly the best comedienne of her type to have been in Christchurch for many years. She has a comedy style that is peculiarly her own, and is now a hot favourite with the public. The whole show is outstanding in that it hangs together very much belter than similar shows were wont to do in the past. There is not one performer who is below the high general standard, and because of this there is never a dragging moment for those who see it. It is very difficult to pick out from the maze of good things offered any one that is startlingly better than the rest, but perhaps for tasteful decorativeness the "Two Little Bluebirds" scene was outstanding. One cannot point in the same way to one of the humorous turns, and say that it was better than the rest. They were all so good. The ballet went particularly well last evening, and not a little of the success of the show is due to the cheerful dancing. CLEM DAWE BIKE HIKE Local cyclists are arranging for a big "hike" on Sunday, October 14, to be called the Clem Dawe Bike Plike. The cyclists will assemble in Victoria square at 9.15 a.m.. and Mr Clem Dawe will personally start the hike. The management of the Clem Dawe Revue Company are offering a series of trophies for a treasure hunt on arrival at the rendezvous, Kairaki beach. The trophies will be presented at a Big Bike Hike theatre night at St. James' Theatre on Monday, October 15.