"OUTWARD BOUND."

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 31, 7 February 1927, Page 4

"OUTWARD BOUND."

At;• the/Grand ; Opera House to-morrow night,, under, the direction of Messrs. Dick White', and '-■ Eric Edgley," Sutton Vane's great psychic play in three acts will have its first Wellington performance by Joseph Cunningham's . New English Company, starring the brilliant young London •actress, Miss Zillah Batenia.n. The management wish it to be thoroughly understood that ■ there is .no sermonising in "Outward Bound." It is a dignified, dramatic, and withal highly entertaining contribution to the eternal, all-absorbing question, "Is there life after death?" The conception of the plot is daring, and yet there is a realism about it which demonstrates how deftly the author has overcome what would appear to be insuperable difficulties'; ' The audience is introduced to a party... ; ;of;-' travellers on an ocean liner—people .of various strata of life—: who, 'at.-:the -:outset, are; voyaging they know not whither. .Gradually to each it becomes evident that all are really dead, and are bound for a port whence there is no return. Eyerything_ is eerie on the liner; there'is no captain, no officers, no crew; jn fact, no ■ life,-, other than the seven passengers and' a steward:' The characters in the plciy comprise Tom Priori a dissipated young ne'er-do-well; Mrs. Cliveden-Banks, a snobbish society dame; the Rev. William Duke, a young parson; Mr. Lingley, a soulless city business magnate; a kindly old woman of the; working; class; Ann and 'Henry, lovers, .^ko.are'deeply attached tq:; other; "Scrubby," the mysterious steward; and the Rev. Frank Thompson, "the • examiner" at the first port of call. "Outward Bound" possesses all those elements that carry conviction, and,- while abundantly humorous, is infused with an impressive philosophy. ,whi.ch_should make a popular appealt?''-T-he i'-b6x;p]ans-'are.;iiow open- at The Bristol.. .»... ...... . "