THREE LITTLE PLAYS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 62, 6 December 1929, Page 6

THREE LITTLE PLAYS

DRAMA, ROMANCE, AND COMEDY Following the rather pleasing vogue of the hour, the' National Repertory Theatre Society entertained its patrons at the Y.W.C.A. Hall last night by the performance of three little plays, which, in the aggregate, constituted a capital evening’s diversion, if it disclosed no high lights in histrionics. The charm of the triple bill lay in the diverse mood of the three one-act plays, and, generally, the excellence of the performances. The first of the evening’s offerings was rather a grim little domestic play in a Russian setting, “The Little Stone House” (by George Calderon), the psehology -of which seeks to elevate the virtue of faithfulness to an ideal though all the world should totter. Madame Praskovya is an aged widow of extreme piety, who has for a great number of years cherished the notion that her son, Sacha, supposedly murdered in his student days, sits among the elect in the highest heaven —a pure and beautiful angel in whose memory she keeps a lamp burning before an oleograph of his patron saint. Her one ambition has been to purchase for him a granite tomb worthy of her estimation, and to that end she scrapes and starves herself for twenty years. At last she saves enough to meet the demands of Spiridon, the stone mason, and whilst she is securing the money she has buried, a stranger bursts in upon the lodgers. It is the widow's son, Sacha, who, a hunted escapee from the mines ot Siberia, discloses quite frankly that it was he who committed. the murder and had been serving his time as a convict under an assumed name. Astcryi, one of the lodgers, wishes to hide the truth from the old woman, but noma, another lodger, declares that she lias foolishly worshipped false idoE, aiid that it is the hand of God revealing the truth. So when Praskovya returns with Uie money, Sacha is produced as her son, but so revolting is the aspect of the man that she shrinks from him, and on Ms grossly demanding money, ,calls in the .police, and then falls dead before the ikon. Miss Louise Hall was effecthe as the distraught mother Praskovya; very nappy In the earlier scenes where: her tender reverence to her life s ideal, is expressed, but scarcely plumbing the dramatics of the revelation scene. Mt. W. S. Wane-hope deeply etched the char actor ot the soulless refugee from 81fierja, and Mr. J. L. Maule was ’ very natural as the bearded Astcryi, whose patieneu is never exhausted. Mr. John Bonn as Fpma represented youth a ,V d ance pleasantly, and Mr. L. 8.. Baldwin gave a strong portrait as old Spiridon. In happv contrast to the gloom of the Russian play, “The Constant Lover (bySt. John Hankin) proved to be an amusing spring-time idyll of the woods, a man and a maid, a shady tree, and cuckoo. Don Cupid in flannels found a most receptive subject in Evelyn Rivers, and all goes sweetly until the man revolts at the conventional ending to such affairs, and declares himself the constant lover. YMs clever trifle was most admirably played by Miss Hazel Wells, quite the most charming ingenue actress the society has fflvcn us. and Mr. A. D. Priestly, a very bold, skilful and original lover. “Playgoers” is by Sir A. M . I Inero. possibly written long before his problem play era. It is a jolly comedietta, based on a young wife's quixotic notion of giving her servants a good time. She discloses her fell intention to her indulgent husband. The servants have been so good for a whole week that she has decided to “shout” them to the theatre. They are called in to learn the glad tidings, but it is gradually but surely disclosed that servants have marked idiosyncrasies, and these come out at the interview in the most Comical fashion, the end being tliat the whole staff gives notice of their intention to leave. Mr. R. E. Pope and Miss Mavis Hallidav represented connubial bliss in authority, and the servants were most amusingly played by Miss Eva Butts (the voluble cook). Miss Coralie Smythson (the crushed kitcherimaid), Nliss N. Dudley (the dissenting parlourmaid), Miss M. Willcocks (the supper housemaid), Miss Kate Stocker (the lachrymose useful maid), and Str. O. N. Gillespie (the amiable but alcoholic odd man). Mr. W. S. Wauchope deserves credit for his skill in producing all three plays. The entr’acte music was provided by Mr. Trevor Fisher. Among those present were Lady Alice Fergusson and a party from Government House. The performance will be repeated tonight, and to-morrow evening. .