MISS MARIE NEY

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 259, 28 July 1932, Page 7

MISS MARIE NEY

Successful Stage Career WELLINGTON AMATEUR Miss Marie Ney, whose success in J. P. Priestley’s play “Dangerous Corner” at the Lyric Theatre is chronicled, had her origin in Wellington. As a juvenile performer Miss Ney had no very outstanding success at the local competitions, but in her persistent efforts she developed personality, which, if added to a capacity for study and that will to succeed, counts so much for success upon the stage. Her talent was recognised by the casting committee of the old Wellington Amateur Operatic So-, ciety, which cast her for the soubrette role of Chopinette in “Paul Jones,” Planquette’s tuneful opera, and also for the role of Molly Seymour in “The Geisha.” ■ Evidently these experiences whetted her appetite for “the boards,” as she seized the first opportunity of gaining experience professionally by accepting a modest engagement with Mr. Allan

Wilkie, an actor-manager, who in Australia and New Zealand has filled a position contemporaneously with that of Sir Frank Benson in England, with much the same variation in luck. That experience stood her in excellent stead in later years as it gave her a valuable insight into the Shakespearean repertoire. This experience was extended when a little later Miss Marie Ney accepted an engagement with J. 0. Williamson, Ltd., to play with the company headed by Miss Marie Tempest, the English queen of comedy, who is still delighting London audiences. Her Dinah in “Mr. Pim Passes By” is still pleasantly remembered. Miss Ney, now fairly sure of herself, went to London in 1923, and the following year was seen in leading parts at the “Old Vic.,” with a co-operative company which played Shakespeare., There she played such outstanding parts as Viola in “Twelfth Night,” Ophelia in “Hamlet,” Lady Macbeth in “Macbeth,” and Beatrice in “Much Ado About Nothing,” earning very favourable criticism for her grace and intelligence. In 1926 Miss Ney invaded the West End by securing a part in “The Constant Nymph,” a long run in a.part I which gave her few opportunities to shine. .<

It was in 1928. that Miss Ney made her real impression on London playgoers. Sir Nigel Playfair, a discriminating actor-manager, who gives art its proper consideration, and who at the Hammersmith Lyric had staged with much success such quaint and intriguing comedies as “And Go to Bed” and “When Crummies Played,” staged “She Stoops to Conquer,” and cast Miss Ney for the leading role of Kate Hardcastle. Miss Ney charmed everyone in this engaging part, and all discriminating London playgoers ventured to Hammersmith to witness the performance. Miss Ney was also successful at the same theatre as Tllburnia in Sheridan’s comedy “The Critic.” Later she appeared in Frank Vosper’s banned play “People Like Us,” at the Arts Theatre Club, and. in 1930 she was selected from a big field to play Miladi in the musical version of “The Three Musketeers” at Drury Lane, another picturesque triumph for the exWellington actress. Last year she was seen to advantage in John Van Druten’s play “London Wall,” which achieved a fair success, and now she has earned her salt once more as Freda Caplan in Priestley’s play, “Dangerous Corner.” Miss Ney’s success has not turned her head. She makes a charming hostess,

and is always pleased to meet people from Wellington, and chat over her memories of Wellington and its folk. Miss Ney’s hobby is old prints, of which she has a valuable collection, picked up in odd corners of England anti the Continent.