THREE ONE-ACT PLAYS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27375, 14 June 1954, Page 3

THREE ONE-ACT PLAYS

THE STAGE

REPERTORY THEATRE PRODUCTIONS

The first two of the three one-act plays presented by members of the Canterbury Repertory Theatre Society on Friday evening did not equal the standard of the last. Technical hitches were many, but they were looked on as trivial by the audience. In the first play the players gave their characters little warmth and barely made them real. In the second there were some convincing minutes, but it was not until the third that movements and speech became natural. “The Funk Hole,” by Harold Brighouse, is about a Blimpish couple who are driven back to London, “where all we have to fear are air raids,” by the prospect of accommodating evacuated persons. Mr Arnold Waterson (Ross McPherson) and his wife, Thisbe

(Muriel Cochrane), have only four bedrooms, and husband and wife have one each. Mr Waterson pompously announces that an Englishman’s home is his castle, but finally approves of the idea of having seven “toffs from Limehouse.” Uninvited persons arrive —a film extra (Diane Piper), a public school bandit (John Stanbridge), and the Apsleys (Clarence B. Hall and Ruth Campbell). The story from here becomes absurd. The film extra, a blonde, shows her legs, there is a holdup, and a struggle between the tough and the maid, Mrs Marable (Nell Gillespie), who wields a vicious broom. Mr Waterson is then told he is to house 14 children instead of seven adults. The players never once looked comfortable.

“Jenny in the Orchard,” by Charles Thomas, carries the message that young girls should not be horrible to their boy friends—they may regret it. Mrs Cranleigh (Audrey Barlow) did. In a dream she meets her childhood love, and she is transported back 26 years to watch herself as Jenny (charmingly played by Judy Phillips) tormenting Tom Edenfold (Elric Hooper), who is deeply in love and writes poetry. The older Jenny scolds the younger for her treatment of Tom. Life has only one real love, she tells her, and she has been cruel to Tom for the last time. The now adult Tom is played by Derrick Hancock. This production was a distinct improvement on the first, though the story seemed slightly bogged at times with unnecessary talk. In “George,” by Van H. Cartnell, the story of a massive-moustached moron, the complications are funnier than the words. Elizabeth (Janice McLeod) falls for George (Tim Pavey) and invites him home to meet her husband (Geoff. Dunne). The fun starts from there. It’ ends with George announcing that he also is married. With Jane Muir, these players gave relaxed and pleasing performances, and provided the large audience with a wellearned laugh.