“CUCKOO IN THE NEST”

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 138, 8 March 1945, Page 9

“CUCKOO IN THE NEST”

Hilarious Repertory Production

It is still easy to laugh al Beu Travers’ 20-ycar-old farcical comedy, “Cuckoo in the Nest,” presented py the Wellington Repertory 'Tneatre, al tne Concert Chamber last night under the direction of Mrs. Elsie Lloyd. This is one of the series oi hilarious farces which, as interpreted by Ralph Lynn, Tom Walls, Robertson Hare, and Mary Brough, enjoyed long runs at the Aidwych Theatre, London, and which were happily filmed for the delectation of remoter regions. Ben Travers, who emerged after tne last great war, has a Dice bent in the creation of the ridiculous in human situations, and moreover his sequences, deliciously English in charactei, always come easily and naturally when the right players handle the parte. It was David Garrick who said—‘ Tragedy is all very well, but comedy is a serious business.” Travers knew very well that in order to produce maximum laughter the characters have to be played seriously, and this the repertory players succeeded in doing, if the gusty laughter of the large audience be any criterion. Anyone acquainted with the habits of the cuckoo will appreciate the humour of the domestic embroglio which follows the missing by Peter Wykeham of the tram which bears his wife away for a weekend at a county home. Peter becomes involved with a Mrs. Marguerite Hickett, also bound for the same destination. So gallant Peter decided to drive the attractive Hickett woman down, but in doing so the car breaks down, and they have to seek shelter for the night in a lonely little village inn of limited accommodation. Naturally, it is Peter’s horrific mother-in-law who scents a scandal, and takes up the hunt, but it is Peter’s dilemma during that fateful night which forms the kernel of the comedy. This was made funny by the excellent mumming of Ngaire Horton as Mrs. Hickett, and Stanley Vinsen as the erring Peter. Both displayed a keen sense of comedy, and gained billows of laughter without conscious effort. Two most admirable characterizations were those or Irene Spidy as Mr*?. Spoker, the landlady of speckless rectitude upon whom a shameful deception is practised by the Innocent couple, and Dorothy Tansley, as Marguerite’s irate mother-in-law, Mrs. Bone, who scents a divorce from afar as the war-horse sniffs the battle. Even the minor roles were well covered. Ernest le Grove as Major Bone, a hen-pecked man of the world, was always amusing; Bernard Jones was well cast as the loquacious Rev. Sloley Jones, and Alex Peacock was almost convincing as Claude Hickett, M.P.—the man who loses his wife for a night. Margery Stevenson made the most of the somewhat colourless role of Barbara Wykeham, and Molly Brown, as Rawlings (Wykeham’s maid). Molly Hoffmeister° as Glad vs, the sniffy maid at the hotel, Alan Rowe as Alfred, the barman, and Sam Tansley, as Nooney, a yokel, all contributed to the excellence of the performance, which went smoothly through°U‘‘Ciickoo in the Nest” will be played for the rest of the week. Proceeds are to be donated to Heritage (Wellington), Inc., a deserving movement. Interval music of a bright order was played by Mrs. Charles McDonald and her repertory trio.