FIRST NIGHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 74, 29 March 1939, Page 16

FIRST NIGHT

FROCKING IN REPERTORY PLAY

MANY LOVELY GOWNS

As "zero" hour approached last night for those taking part^in the Repertory Society's production ''Hoiniemaster," the streets round the Town Hall were jammed with people, cars, and trams, so that many of the first-night audience who should have been making towards the Concert Chamber were delayed by the fire in Victoria Street. When the curtain finally rose the Repertory acts did not face the anticipated full house, though the hall was two-thirds full. Women and their escorts, in evening dress, were watching the spectacle from vantage points till after 9 o'clock, and it was only when the curtain rose for the second act that the actors and actresses in "Housemaster" played to the crowded audience they deserved.

Those who missed the first act also missed some lovely frocking. Mrs. W. A. Martin, who played Barbara Fane, wore some particularly smart outfits. [Her first appearance wav made in a chic travelling suit of the new shade, saltwater green, which was touched with white. The squared, finger-tip coat was finished with a collar of leopard skin, and her matching little hat, with its white feather mount, was brimless. Miss Elspeth McArthur, known to the audience as "Button" Farringdon, wore suitably childish frocks throughout the play. Her first frock was a gay peasant affair, striped in red, green, yellow, and blue, and made with a full skirt, puff sleeves, and square neckline. The audience was given an insight into the correct garb worn by the smartest women motorists when Miss Heather Horrax (Rosemary Farringdon) and Miss Marjorie Hutton (Chris Farringdon) appeared before the footlights. Their white racing suits comprised tailored shirts and slacks, and both wore similar sky-blue scarves at their necks.

A complete change was made by the women characters in the second scene of act one. "Barbara's" gown was a fuchsia cloque, slimly cut, and featuring a period bodice banded in blue, and worn with a matching coatee. "Rosemary" wore a lovely frock of black embroidered . sheer over pink taffeta. The back was low-cut and har slender shoulder straps were in black. "Chris" also wore a thoroughly feminine frock of soft blue georgette over taffeta, the full skirt being studded with small clover flowers, which were also used to outline the neckline.

House coats were worn by the three stage sisters in the midnight scene, "Rosemary's" being of white clearly patterned in blue, "Chris's" of red patterned in a floral design in which red predominates, and sashed in lettuce green, and the irrepressive "Button" in a trained dressing-gown of burgundy satin with a luxurious fur collar, which, of course, had been purloined for the occasion, and was as handsome as it Vas unsuitable for her age.

"Barbara's" third change was into a fitting frock of black crushed velvet. It featured tiny "hooded" sleeves of emerald green chiffon, which fell from the shoulders to form lovely slender draperies. The neckline was completed by a shallow silver chain. A picture frock of white starched chiffon was worn by "Rosemary" in her final appearance, and this was full-skirted and featured an off-the-shoulder neckline. "Chris," in navy and white silk net, presented an attractive colour contrast. Her gown was full-skirted, and the bodice, with its heart-shaped neckline, was made with puffed sleeves. The final touch was given by a narrow sash of vivid scarlet. "Button" was also in party dress, and her's was a fresh little frock of white chiffon over taffeta, flounced in approved littlegirl style, and cbmpleted by a wide sash of crusader blue.