REPERTORY IN "DEAR BRUTUS"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 62, 10 September 1942, Page 3

REPERTORY IN "DEAR BRUTUS"

The. presentation of J. M. Same's "Dear Brutus" by the Repertory Theatre last night was a plucky venture into faery for these grimly realistic ■times. The place was the Technical College Hall, which was filled. Miss Helen Gard'ner was the producer and to her and her competent associates great credit is due. The excellence of the performance, taken from every angle, might well have induced many present to file "Dear Brutus" among the best achievements of the Repertory Theatre. The play is not easy to produce, for it calls for the elusive thing called atmosphere; an acute sense of the wit, humour, pathos, and philosophy and other ingredients so skilfully used in "Dear Brutus." It also makes demands on the art and skill of any cast in the portrayal of its sharply contrasting characters and their behaviour, as they are and as they might have been. The.cast appeared to have completely identified itself with the quaint character of the play. The members taking acting parts were: Lob, S. Vinsen; Dearth, N. Byrne; Purdie, Don Priestley; Coade, S. Allwright; Matey, V. Burton; Miss Coade, Mrs. Culford Bell; Mrs. Dearth, Constance Kelly; Margaret, Betty Glenn; Mrs. Purdie. Nola Binnie; Joanna Trout, Jean McKay; and Lady Caroline, Una Weller. The players all sank themselves in their parts. The stage settings were effective and quite in keeping with the character of the play. "Dear Brutus" will be repeated every evening this week. It deserves to have packed houses.