A FEAST OF-PLAYS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 35, 10 August 1933, Page 6

A FEAST OF-PLAYS

BRITISH DRAMA LEAGUE

Five onc-aet plays were performed at the Y.W.C.A. Hall last evening, under the auspices of the British Drama League, by as many clubs or associations. The audience was not' large, but it showed a lively and friendly interest in the plays. The Wellington College Dramatic Club opened with a play iv the nature of a farce entitled "Ali the Cobbler," the story of which was spun around that old problem of what to do with a termagant wite. The cast was as follows:—Ali, W. I. R. Hedges; Said (his brother), J. 0. Childs; Fatima (wife to Ali), K. J. Fraser; and Mustapha (her lover), W. D. Loughurst. Producer: J. R. Griffin. At the conclusion of this play, as of the others, the adjudicator, Miss Kiore King, went forward to the'stage and in a few fair, helpful, and kindly remarks on the acting, dressing, and mounting of the play, criticised its performance. Of "Ali," she said, the team had made a. very good attempt. The next play was "The Man Thought of Everything," by E. N. Taylor. It was given by the Wadestown Players. This was a bright and neatly-constructed playlet of three characters—lrene, Marian Bennett; Ernest, John Pike; and Phyllis, Joan Goodwin. The adjudicator commended the manner in which the play was put on. The. producer was Molly Atkinson.. The Lyceum Club Drama Circle < hose Roland Pertwee's play "The Odd Streak," a study of character; with an all-woman cast-as follows: Cheviot (a domestic), Wanda Herbert; Lena Weston and Paula Weston (h'alf-eisters), Joyce Barker and Maude Berry respectively; and Mrs. Weston (their, mother), K. Fagan. The story, which was ingenious and cleverly worked out, concerned the theft of a diamond pendant. The producer; was M. ;E. P. Ahem.. The adjudicator said that everybody was in character; movements and grouping were commended; the play was. well produced; and she warmly corh-

mended the players; this after pointing out certain little. asperities which could easily be smoothed down, iv a subsequent performance. ; Tuck's Team presented a trifle entitled "Husbands Are So Jealous," by Harris Deane. The producer was W. Tuckwell. Cast: 'Wife, Kara Aldridge; Burglar, Brian McCaw; Husband, Walter Tuckwell. The play opened with the stage iv darkness; the scene being a bedroom. Enter a gentlemanly burglar^ flashing an electric torch. Lady discovered -in bod. She screams. Burglar explains his business and describes his methods of work. Lady listens not without interest to his compliments paid to herself and her taste in night attire. He produces a bundle of love letters with threats of using them as blackmail, and goes off with diamond ncckiace as husband emerges from under his own. bed. The adjudicator said the play was well staged and brightly and smartly played; and she gave some very useful hints to the players. The final play was "A King Goes By." It was offered as an original effort by Margaret M. Pearson. The-characters were Bonnie Prince Charlie, Warren Toogood; Kirsty, Ngaire Horton; Keith (her husband), Carl Watson; and ,aa English trooper Captain, A. Leslie Wall. A silent part, that of a sick child, was given to Robin Copke. The story was a simple one. A young mother and father, Scottish fugitives from the English redcoats, find themselves delayed in their flight northward by the grave illness of their child. They have very little food and no money, nor gear upon which money can be' raised. The local leech, or general medical practitioner (as some of them in 1745 were wont to do) refused to attend the child without first being paid. What to do? The mother, in her love for her child, is distracted; Death has his invisible foot in the door, and the leech refuses unless money is put down, to. grapple with him for the life of the child. Then the.hotly-' pursued Prince bursts into the room. He is haggard, seated, , and hungry, and a pi-ice of five thousand English crowns is placed on his head. Maternal love and loyalty to her Prince wrestle in Kirsty's breast. Her child or her liegelord? She

decides on the instant, for, as^ she reasons, other mothers have sacrificed their sons to the legitimist cause, and --why not she? She resists the temptation to betray tho Prince for reward, and loyally conceals him from the pursuing English when they come. The adjudicator held that the story was a good one based on a well-known subject. Miss Horton, siio said, had in her the making of a good dramatic actrei-fi. The play was adequately staged, and the correct atmosphere was given to it. The team played well together. She complimented all the players on their earnestness and good hard work which augured well for the success of the festival. "A King Goes By" was proj duced by R. Welton Hogg. This evening five more plays will be given. The festival will continue all this week, including Satui-day evening.