‘TAMING OF THE SHREW’

Evening Star, Issue 17701, 30 June 1921, Page 9

‘TAMING OF THE SHREW’

ALLAN WILKIE SEASON. Not since 1912, when Oscar Asche produced ‘The Taming of tie Shrew,’ have Dunedin playgoers had the chance of seeing it staged. Prior to that .it bad lain 'm the shelf since the George Darren seasons of 1876-77. That it has its admirers in plenty was proved by the very •big house when greeted the Allan mlkie meamtation at His Majesty’s Theatre last night. Except that the cos'ummg was exceedingly good, tiers was none of the lavishnefia in the selling such as Asche delighted in. None was expected nor want ed. Furthermore, the curtain rose on the play proper, and the omvsioxi of the induction, though it meant the less of a glimpro of Christoph®” Blj, was a gain in po nt of simplicity and time. If, after Miss Huntcr-Watts’s study ot Lady Macbeth, there was any speculation as to how ;he would t cat Kitherina._ it was set at re t b v her first entry. Iranio s exc amation, “That wench is star a mad or wonderful Howard,’ sC ls l and- Miss Hunter-Watts chose the former. Her Arewi-hncss verged on possession by a devil. How Baptists and his household tolerated her f r a moment feenied a straining of the probabilities. But the oak springs from the acorn, iho outsider, suddenly thrown into such environment, is hit riirht bclwi-n tk' e.i-s as with a blow; whereas the sufferers, round whom purgatory has gradually grown for years, tak ■ it mme as a matter of coiv.se. They duly nope foi reiiet by the medium of Katherina’s rem.val by murr age. Their nt;m ;es natura ly w.ito any such chance to zero. And .then the suitor arrives. Mr Wi.kro has to attune his PetrueHo to Mss Huri.erWatts’s Katheiina —possib.y it may be a care of vice versa. At any rate, in the clash of personality it is bully versus termagant with a vcmreiuoy. 1 mitigated harshness of method certainly rn ikes for vividness. The vrolence ot the.ro early scenes tends to foreshorten the famine proce s—s much ha- to be done in so'little time. BA Petrucbio's system i- baih erode and ca'culatei, and it is opp sed in this core only by unreasoning outbursts. After the :Bist struggle tor mastery the issue was not iedly in doubt, for which reason a one Mgs Hunter-Watts be an to gain the sympathy of the audience—she was S' p Ipably the under-dog. If her g a'.lotions were ratoor abrupt, this vir.ual necessity was atoned for by some particularly good actng between the pr.n cipal pair when they had the interimdiate stage. His is on the journey back to her father’s house, in the del ate as to sen or mo m, the wife s lesidue of petu’ance Bays itself out, and she loams the necessary lea-on o: givo-aud-tako in ocnjugT life. Iho domineering figure of Mr Alan Wikies Pctruchio is bound to stand out among the many Sh ikespoarean portraits ho _ lias painted during the season. His diction, however, is still a drawback with some. The veisatiiity of the rank and file of the company is aga n demonstrated verv clearly in this play. None of thorn used broad splashes of color, but they all sketched in characters more or less important with unerring touch and with real strength where it was needed. Ihe Blanca of Miss Lorna Forbes was delicately done, with bits of deli hiful c medy in the tutorial scenes w’th hor disguised suiters—Mr Leslie Manners as Lucent o and Mr Roy Woikman as Hortcnsia, The other suitor, Gremo, was made by Mr Hamilton Henry one of the big successes of the evening. H s desorption of the wedding was a te 1 ng hit of narrati e, and in the bdd ng for B.anc.iT hand bis discounting of his own ha'f-adm tied senility by the tally of his worldly possessions was in’cnse'.y human. In tlva latter scene Mr Fred Macdonald, as Tranio, put in, as elsewhere, some of his most skilful work. But the e were other old man parts as good in the’r way a; flremio’s.* Mr Wiliam Lockhart, as the hiccupy old wayfarer who is induced to personate the wealthy Vincentio, extracted every ounce out of brief onpirtunities, .and ’Mr Jack Lennon’s Vincentio waa thoroughly g od, while Mr Augustus Neville made Baptista a self-respecting hnU'cholder healing a chgnilied front aga nst domestic tr'a's. Much value attached to Mr Felix Bland’s work as Orumio, the persona! attendant of P.triichio, and he scorod hoivily in the scene where he announces, to PetrucHi’s household the convng of their new mistress and the unotlv doxy of the journey. As Biondcllo Mr Plumpton Wilson had another of the jester roles in which he has specialised. Miss Jessica Dale, as the widow, lernarried, sang acceptably in tho final feasting scene, and earlier in the evening a square dance was very gracefully gone through by various members of the company. ‘Julius Cffisar’ is the play to bo given to-night.