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Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22337, 26 February 1938, Page 6

"VICTORIA REGINA" COMING

FAY COMPTON PLAY FOR CHRISTCHURCH

The J. C. Williamson. Ltd. management has made arrangements for the appearance here on Saturday March 19, at the Theatre Royt.l, of the celebrated English actress, Fay Compton, and her brilliant London company.

Miss Compton will make her first appearance in "Victoria Regina," which is probably the best and most discussed comedy-drama the stage has ever known. "Victoria Regina" has been running for over two years in London, and it is still attracting record audiences to the Lyric Theatre there, and it ran for over two years in New York. It achieved a triumph in Melbourne, where its original Beason of eight weeks had to be considerably extend. '.. Its Sydney premiere will not take place until after the present New Zealand tour. "Of all the names honoured m theatrical records, that of Compton stands out as one of the best known, best respected, and most popular. It is a name as familiar to the playgoers of America as it is to those of England and the Dominions." This was written by Sidney W. Carroll in the London "Daily Express." "The famous Edward Compton, the founder of the family, married a well-known and successful actress, Virginia Bateman. ■ Compton McKenzie, Frank Compton, Viola Compton, and last, but not least. Fay Compton, were their children, and surely a more gifted quartet, each blessed with the theatrical instinct and a real love of the stage, never came into the world. The news that we are shortly to lose Miss Fay Compton from the English stage for a period of probably 12 months will come as a shock not.only to the theatrical fraternity, of which she is so distinguished an ornament, but to playgoers of every description, young and old alike. For this actress has endeared herself to the English public in a lasting and unbreakable way. She departs on a world tour, visiting chiefly the principal towns of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, in Lawrence Housman's great drama, "Victoria Regina," which has caused a sensation wherever it has been produced." Miss Compton is accompanied by brilliant London artists, including Peter Dearing, Stafford Hilliard. Michael Wilding, Jack McNaughton, Ann Codrington, Hayley Bell, Mary Charles. Yvette Anning, and others. Playgoers are fortunate in having an opportunity of seeing Fay Compton in "Victoria Regina," as it is a colossal undertaking to produce Lawrence Housman's play outside the large centres, and it will require an army of mechanics and electricians to present it exactly as it was staged in London. Applications for bookings for the first six nights will be received at the D.I.C. So great was the success of Miss Compton in Auckland that the season had to be extended to 16 nights, the theatre being packed to overflowing at every performance. Auckland audiences nave endorsed the verdict of London, Paris, and New York, and acclaimed the star, the production, and the company.