“RING ROUND THE MOON”

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27147, 17 September 1953, Page 11

“RING ROUND THE MOON”

the stage

New, Zealand Players’ Production

Both the New Zealand Players and * u ng •^ the Moon,” the play with which they opened their second South Island tour, received the warmest of welcomes from a large and enthusiastic audience in the Theatre Royal last evening. The New Zealand Players are now known as individuals, and as a company they have proved their quality. Hence the warmth of their welcome.

“Ring Round the Moon,” as the New Zealand Players present it, evokes enjoyment and irritation in almost equal parts. Richard Campion’s production is polished, the dream-like winter garden setting by Raymond Boyce is delightful, and Anna Quann’s costumes, while indecisive as to period, are in keeping with the intention of the play. But Mr Campion appears to have decided that Christopher Fry’s translation of “Invitation au Chateau,” which is one of the lighter works of Jean Anouilh, one of the most original French playwrights, should be played more for its comedy than its enchantment. The laughter of the audience may support his decision; it does not justify it. What Anouilh has written, and what Fry has managed to preserve to a large extent in his translation, is a witty and sophisticated fairy tale, which is charming, sentimental, and mocking by turn—when Mr Campion allows it to be. But most of the time the mood which some of the players work hard to establish is destroyed by tmdue emphasis on the comedy, over-acting, excess of gesture and movement, and distracting background music. The result is that the play irritates where it should command attention, and the comic scenes, amusing as they are, scarcely compensate. Fairy tale figures and situations are the substance of “Ring Round the Moon.” There are twin brothers, one modest and gentle, the other heartless and assured, a rich girl, a poor girl, a vulgar and slightly pathetic mother, and a witty old aristocrat, who plays wicked fairy and fairy godmother from the eminence of her bathchair, and firmly steers the play back to the happy ending of the fairy story, which was predetermined when the first curtain rose. In the beginning the heartless twin decides to engage a poor ballet dancer, who is given a fine dress, and coached to be the belle of the ball at the chateau. The hope is that the gentle brother will be drawn away from the calculating daughter of a melancholy millionaire. Of course nothing goes as intended, the lovely little dancer is bitterly humiliated, and at last the witty old aunt, who is wise as well, 'arranges everything to the liking of herself and the audience.

In the dual role of twin brother John Carson-Parker does his best to hold the play together. He acts with grace and style, he has the lightness of touch for the light-tongued comedy which others handle in pedestrian fashion, and his swift changes from the handsome and intellectually ruthless Hugo to the quiet and diflfident Frederic were excellently done. There were times when he was difficult to hear—a fault which others in the cast had to a greater extent because they moved too much—but generally his acting was impressive. Another player who endeavoured to bring cohesion to the production was Gay Dean as the indomitable aunt, Madame Desmermortes. The warmth of her voice and the assurance of her acting gave pleasure to all. Her ability to remain still when the play demanded that she should was in marked contrast to the excess of movement and gesture by other players. Diane Rhodes endowed the little ballet dancer, Isabelle, with charm and pathos in the correct proportions, and the sultry rich girl, Diana Messerschmann, was well played by Ruth Alley. Most of the comendy scenes in “Ring 1 Round the Moon” were overplayed, and in consequence the play was thrown out of balance. Edith Campion was amusing at first as the ballet dancer’s passe mother, who is a teacher of the pianoforte, but her cheerful twittering, and her efforts to outdo Billie Burke as she might play such a part, became tiresome long before the end. Delme Hope as Geraldine Capulet, the old aunt’s companion, was another excitable twitterer, who caused much amusement but did not contribute much to the play. Her excessive movement was another irritant. Some of the players were handicapped by the interpretation of their parts by the producer. Michael Cotterill played the millionaire’s private secretary with skill, but insufficient re-| straint. The millionaire’s mistress, with whom the secretary was having an affair, was presented by Rilla Stephens as a character apparently from the pages of “Flaming Youth,” and so exaggerated as to be fantastic. Barry Linehan played the ageing butler, Joshua, with skill, but Roy Patrick spoiled the amusing part of a slightly stupid butterfly hunter, who is the dancer’s patron, by too violent gesture and too quick speech. “Ring Round the Moon” is a well presented play, which audiences will find enjoyable if they are not too demanding. But the New Zealand Players’ production suggests they are not entirely at ease in fantasy such as Anouilh has written, and fear New Zealand audiences will not accept it kindly.