“QUARANTINE”

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 98, 21 January 1924, Page 10

“QUARANTINE”

A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY Tony Blunt Lawrence Grossmith. The Steward Stephen Moore The Doctor Paul Plunkct Pineent Mabel Gower Dinah Partlett Dorothy Seacombe The Wolter Gerald Frankston Cyrus P. Honks Cyril Gardinw Mackintosh Josephs ... Winnimrton Barnee Pamela Josephs Sylvia Clifton Mrs. Burrouchs Georgia Harvey Miss Larpent Adelaide Gunn Mr. Burroughs Leslie Victor Mr. Dobson Edmund Dupg-an Lola de la Corte Diana Wileon Those who would enjoy Miss Tennyson Jesse’s comedy, “Quarantine,” which was produced for the first tlma at the Opera House on Saturday night, must have a preliminary aptitude for swallowing pretty large lumps of th« improbable. They must believe that a. dear little suburban flapper—played with porcelain daintiness by Miss Dorothy Seacombe —would bo assume the spirit and stratagems of the kinema vamp, as to elope with a man who is trying to elope with an other woman, and does not know until he is aboard the lugger that the girl is his, but not the one he thought he wanted. They must believe in Mr. Lawrence Grossmith, playing in his quietest, jolly-sort-of-chap manner, as a great tropical explorer and runneroff with women. According to the programme, Esmeralda is “an island, somewhere between Azores and , the Bahamas; sub-tropical, originally Spanish, now nominally, English, in reality thoroughly American.” The self-determination of this delectable spot might, under given conditions, become a matter of concern, for the Council of the League of Nations, but the happenings on Pigeon Island, its quarantine station, still' more closely perturb, the conventions. The authoress introduces us in the first place, to Tony Blunt, a famous explorer from torrid zones, who finds the burning sun pulsating through his red blood, and schemes to elope to Esmeralda with a married woman more for the sport of the thing than from any over-mastering passion—and to Dinah Partlett, a girl friend of the intended victim, who, by taking her place, ostensibly to save her. is prepared to run almost every risk of self-sacrifice. Secretly, and for the greater peace of mind of the audience. Dinah loves Tony, and, as the little play, develops, merely intends to test his sincerity. The passengers aboard tba Angostura are naturally confounded by the indifference with which the supposed newly-wedded couple treat each other, but are immensely congratulatory on learning that they will be thrown together in a bungalow of only one room (with two bathrooms, as a safeguard) for seven days’ quarantine on the island. The play abounds fairly handsomely in cots and lingerie. The nightgown-pvjama scene is redeemed by the fore-know-ledge, graciously vouchsafed, that the two are predestined lovers, and. in the end, nothing else matters. It is all very harmless and happy, and the good little vamp wins the explor■ing light-of-love, persuading him that she is really the girl he ought to abduct. Commencing something: like farce, although the first laugh was not registered for a full quarter of an hour, the play, finally settled down to thin-spun sentimental comedy, with a haziness as to values; matters are not improved by the general attenuation due to the necessity of making a very little material go a very long way. The joke is really not big enough for all the acts. The play has been written in a go-as-you-please style. The first act, with obvious types of funny passengers, is 100 long. The second is really amusing. The last, which suddenly takes a serious turn, could be (rimmed a good deal. However, it was cordially received by a full house. The personal charm of Lawrence Grossmith was always uppermost in the play. He radiated good humour as the experienced world-wanderer, and turned out to he thoroughly faithful to the type set him by the authoress. He and Miss Seacombe were certainly the right material for the girl-and-lugger motif of the play. Miss Seacombe is to be congratulated on her advance in stagecraft from, the last time we saw her here. She was winsomely girlish, and endowed with shrewd feminine guile. Miss Mabel Gower was a, humorous “clear-cut” figure as Pinsent, the faithful watchdog of Dinah. She made the character live, and carried off most of the honours of the evening. _ The women of the audience would give her a testimonial for the correct manner of going to bed on a winter night's. As a Spanish lady, who wears wonderful dresses and who advises her friends to be married here and in love there. Miss Diana Wilson was subdued but convincing. The “cattiness” of shipboard life among women passengers was strongly portrayed by -Miss Georgia Harvey. “Quarantine” will be_ played for four more nights, and will be succeeded on Friday-and Saturday next by “Ambrose Applejohn’s Adventure,” the season concluding with two performances, Monday and Tuesday next, of “The Silver Fox.” The box'plans are open at the . Bristol.