"LET US BE GAY"

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 8, 9 July 1931, Page 5

"LET US BE GAY"

ENGLISH COMEDY- COMPANY

The comedy-drama "Let Us Be Gay," presented by the English Comedy Company at the Opera House last night, contrasts markedly with "Hay Eever," which preceded it. The Noel Coward play is a comedy of manners. Rachel Crothers' play is a cpniedy of morals, with splashes of realism and with other splashes of the artificiality which is presented as realism. The working out of the play is similarly mixed. After a prologue of realism, there are two acts of post-war frankness, and the third act is romantic drama-f-with the curtain falling on a nineteenth century happy ending. It is all clever and witty and very amusing; and one may interpret it as'one wishes, either as a commentary on moral standards or as a flagellation of the young people who know everything at twenty. \ :■.,'■"'

Miss Ethel Morrison appears as the, outspoken Mrs. Boucicault, witty and cynical. "I've"seen.a constant procession of men, women, and morals. Now .I'm seventysix and I know nothing." Her ignorance worries her, for she has seen her granddaughter,' Dierdre Lessing (Miss Mona Barlee) become infatuated with a man whom she fears is dangerous. The old lady is reminded of her cynical views of life. "But this isn't life. It's my granddaughter," she says, and she brings the captivating Mrs. Kitty Brown (Miss Mary M'Gregor) to "vamp" Bob Brown (Mr. J. B. Rowe) away from Dierdre. The j old lady'does not know that Bob is Kitty's divorced husband—divorced because he has shattered her idealism of him. Kitty refuses to let this be revealed, and she follows her own plan of "Let us be gay/ though her. ex-husband, who has never ceased to love her, appeals to her to be her own self. The ending, nevertheless, is happy.

Miss Morrison's characterisation of the cynical old female "Grumpy" was excellent. She lived the part iv every line. A convincing picture of the disillusioned wife, seeking solace in gaiety, yet never believing she could find it, was given by Miss MacGregor, and Mr. J. B. Rowe was quietly capable in his presentation of Bob Brown. Delightful comedy touches were contributed by Mr. Roger Barry (as Townley Town, a "professional visitor"), Mr. Leslie Victor (Wallace Granger, a poetic victim of Kitty -Brown), and Miss Noel Boyd (Madge Livingstone, who poses in the Victorian manner). Miss Barlee was energetic and outspoken as Dierdre, arid Mr. John Wood satisfied all requirements as her worried fiance. Miss Eileen Morris, Mr. Reginald Wykeham, and Mr. John Gordon were pleasing in minor parts. "Let Us Be Gay" will be played again to-night—to close the season. It can bo thoroughly recommended to those who wish to be amused.