"POLLY WITH A PAST"

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 120, 25 May 1927, Page 10

"POLLY WITH A PAST"

■American comedy continues: to hold its own in the Australian and New Zealand theatre/ -Further proof ' of its popularity given' Jit the Opera House lost night, when a large audience wan entertained by .the! performance: of: "Polly with a Past." the play introduced Misi; Renee Kelly. In/fact,.she;wasvth.e.play, herpart was the bright, particular ■ orb 1' around which the rest of th#'eharacterg duly revolved; First seen as a kind of cook-housemaid to two bachelors, in a.New York flat, and wearing the cap and dress of servitude, Polly ■interests her employers by : certain little words ehe letß drpp-ibbut; her antecedents;. She.had,:nqthing;;h6wever,. to be; ashamed of.' As' the orphaned 'child of a poor clergyman; she valiantly sets, out to earn her. own living as a domestic, intending by that 1 way/to. reach Paris, there to study singing. Not the usual way of singers, but'no shatter,-airir >fair t<> the playwright. ■ Means, however,; are found by which" Polly can earn enough and more to achieve her ambition. All she is irequired; to-do i« to;?"yan)p" (that is the verb now-cbminoßly'Tißed) a lovesick young man.mr order to. make the girl he cares for care lor •himV ;>A»'-PoJly.t^ is toi change, to; Paillette; .the'f"wrecker of . thrones, '•'; tne^:;;breaker.; /.of; homes," a. 1 bold, 'bad:'.VFrenchi>'woman.,; She has to pretend .'she is desperately in love with the young;raan, and he, for. his parti is to fall-in with, this plan. It is an arrangementmade'for bim by his two friends and appears an eaßy;way;\for Polly, to get to' Paris. Polly .\acts;.,Jier, part '.so'- as (in ■the. play) ; to/.decjfciyiß,'"everybody: ) but the conspirators—and the audience, of course. But in the end the young man she is to ihelp by her artifices actually' falls ■in love :-WJth:;her;':^/there-it;.,as.; r '"/■' ■ " / .-■";.'

•.'■ The part -^elly; all tfie opportunity she coMld-ii^sbnaWyragk to display. h«! ■ra^-awity'. as;ah'-kctress, Ker attractive'p«Ssonalitj%, aids her .consummate .taste my wea^gSclptheS^ that make the ladies in -the audience tremulous with delight. ■'■■ I, 'V'-^.v '' '.x ■'■■■■/''>■ '.:.:: : ..'"■.-'. .

'As.'both Polly and Paulette Miss Kelly was equally successful, and the house tdok her, figuratively speaking,. to its bosom. It also Called; for a speech on the faUKof the curtain. The ■. keynote of that speeich was gratitude- for her^cordjalj receptiohV It; must not,be imagined-that because Miss Kelly. played by! far the predominant character .that--the cbmpaliy was a bundle'of sticks—far from it. Tlie cast■ included Mi6S-;Emma- Temple (who. was:given an!;ovation immediately she appeared), an actress who has never :,done other.jthafl.adorn;a part, no matter what it has "been. 'There: were also Miss Margaret ■■ Darner,; as: Mrs;; Van Zile,.,\the" conventional... iAmeiiean,.: wealthy, , iudiil-.' gent, and doting mother—in this case,'of the son whom ,l?blly as 'Paulette. was qin-;plpyied'-.to' i '.'yamp'"'T;aUio' a finished artist in, mich" a part''--Admirable too was Miss Phyllis Best's conception o£ the part -of Myrtle Davis,;,,the girl w;ho would rather ;"pluck brands: vfrom . the burning" than be wooed. Sound comedy,. never , forced, was that 'of Mr. Jackson Wilcox, 'bb Stiles, ori'e'of those'Tirands." 'To Mr Ronald Ward;;was allotted- the part' of ,Rex Van Ziiei, the diffident young man for whose benefit Polly became Pauletter^another.talented actor. The parts of tlie two arch-cpnspiratcirt-were i amusingly deKneated. by Messrs. Pirie Bush and Jack Dunne; and,.minor-characters were played with distinctqn by Messrs. Reginald Wykeiam,. Hylton.Allen; and Leslie VictorJf : There was heyer'a moment's doubt last night as to the popularity of "Polly With ? Past," nor of the lady in the title role._ The;comedy:will be repeated tins evening^ : 's-j. '■ • :.-. ■.••.•. - , .•' -o'-- ; -