“THE GREEN GODDESS”

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 120, 15 February 1926, Page 4

“THE GREEN GODDESS”

SOMETHING UNUSUAL IN MELODRAMA “The Green Goddess,’’ a melodrama in four acts, by William Archer. Cast: Tho High Priest of Rukh Mr. Ashton Jarry Dr. Basil Treherne Mr. Eric. Maxon Major Antony Crespin Mr. Winnington Barnes bucilla Miss Eilleen Hparks The llajah of Rukh .... Mr. Guy Bates Post Watkins Mr. Leslie Victor Flight-Lieut. Dennis Cardew Richard Webster Ayah Miss Cecil Haines Mayor Domo Mr. Ernest Ruston Captain of the Royal Guards Mr. Fred Francis To those who follow the drama with any zeal, the play produced at the brand Opera House on Saturday night was of unusual interest because of its authorship. For about forty years, more or less, the late Mr. William Archer occupied an esteemed position in London as a dramatic critic of fine discrimination and rare judgment. All through his work there was expressed contempt for the cruder style of melodrama that was so popular in Victorian times, and he was given to railing at it as something which degraded the stage and lowered the status of the real drama. Then, when nearly seventy years of ago he deliberately wrote “The Green Goddess,' a frank, if unusual, melodrama, and probably made more money out of it than he did during tho rest of his literary career. Mr. Archer, in the p. litest language, and with his tongue in his cheek asks one to swallow the most iim possible things in “The Green Goddess,’’ for ho has had the cleverness to introduce some flashes of gorgeous scenery as a setting to the mysticism of the East; brings such modern inventions as wireless and aeroplanes in contact with a weird fanatical people on the northern slopes of the Himalayas; and, in one act there is more than a suggestion of the torture scene from “La Tosca.’’ Still, with marked ingenuity, the author unfolds the story so neatly that it becomes almost convincing. Tho pia.v opens dramatically with a mountain-top scene in the Himalayas, where Major Crespin, his wife, and Dr. Treherne have made a forced landing from an aeroplane, having lost their av in a fog. There they are wel.comed bv the suave and gentlemanly Rajah of Rukh, who boasts an English education, but he is not so Europeanised s not to feel the keenest resentment >f the action df the Government or India in sentencing his two brothers > be shot for murder. The stranded party are not on the happiest of terms, >r tho major is somewhat of a braggart, and is given to drinking overmuch. It is plain that his wife is uck to death of him, also that she is more than interested in Treherne, a fact to which the Major is not altogether blind. But when they realise that the rajah means to play their lives off as against those of his brothers they get together. Their one hope in Watkins, valet and wireless operator to the Rajah, a pasty-lacep Cockney wanted for crime over the border, but in sanctuary at Rukh. Probably the best scene in the play is that where the two Englishmen attempt to bribe him into sending a wireless message for help to the nearest military station in India (for the Rajah has made it quite clear that they shall pay the penalty should his brothers swing, but is willing to spare the lady on one impossible condition). Watkins drives a hard bargain—an 1.0. U. for £15,00(1 signed bv both men—and proceeds to send the message, when the major (who has concealed his knowledge of Morse from the wily Itajalij detects that Watkins is not sending their message. Instantly the two jump ’on mm a» lie sits at the keyboard, muffle him. and hurl him through the window on to tlie rocks, a hundred feet below. Enter the Rajah, who finding the major at the keyboard sending at a great speed, shoots him dead. Then under the impression that the message never

ot through, the arrangements tor tho sacrifice—the Rajah and ' his High priest have made it a religious function—go forward, but ere they can be consummated there is a great whirring in the air and an explosive bomb announces the presence of a squadron of aeroplanes —the message had got through after all. A sprig of a subaltern enters the temple and lays down the law

Io the Rajah with all tne assurance ot a brigadier-geueral. ami the coloured . 'entlemaii buws to his fate, releases his Prisoners and says good-bye to Mrs. Crespin. Mr. Guy Bates Post adds another extraordinary character to the line in his gallery. His chocolate-coloured Rajah is no end of a swell. With all the polish of Oxford aud the coolness of an ice-man, he juggles with the language adroitly, and pays compliments with al) the flowery effrontery of a Beau Brummel. lie is, in fact, tlie "sheik of the mountains,” but very polite and cultured, even in his most amorous moods. Mr. Post is always effective. His strong personality, his reserve, assisted by an excellent speaking voice, assure that, but there are times when his pauses are over long, and in some instances are followed by a string of sentences uttered too quickly to be comprehended. There was no part better played than that of Watkins, the renegade cockney of Rukh.^Mr. 1 Leslie Victor, with his quiet assertiveness, his faithful accent, and his- ever-present suggestion oi scared apprehension, was (he real thing. Mr. Winnington Barnes in his khahi uniform as Major Crespin looked big'enough to bring down any .aeroplane, and in his bluff devil-may-care way suggested the whisky drinking bully to the life. Mr. Eric Maxon, whose voice is rather husky and strained, looked v/cll as Dr. Treherne. Miss Eilleen Sparks was rather inclined to overdo the emotionalism of Mrs. Crespin, the lady who, objecting to tho manners of her husband, is fairly openly carrying on a flirtation with Treherne, which develops into frank cuddling in the sacrificial scene at the end. There is only one other character of note, and that is the High Priest of Rukh, a lean, hungry-looking fanatic who is for ever praying and bowing_ to the green six-armeu goddess. His incomprehensible "yabber,” and that of his flock, in (he first act, lent versimilitude to the picturesque scene before the temple, of the Goddess., a scene that is artistically enhanced by the radiance of the rainbow tints that illumine the vista of Himalayan peaks. Every setting is elaborate, and the dressing is a striking feature. "The Green Goddess” will be . played throughout the week.