A RACY COMEDY

Evening Star, Issue 19454, 12 January 1927, Page 6

A RACY COMEDY

‘THE SPORT OF KIMGS'

When the racegoers of Dunedin hear about ‘ The Sport of Kings,’ now being played by the London Comedy Company at His Majesty’s Theatre, they will flock to seo it. And when admirers of clever comedy, whatever the subject, learn that one of exceptional merit is being played, they, too, -will come along, join the racegoers, pack the house, and—well, there you are! The play itself is a well-written and wellbalanced play with a distinct plot; the humor lies deep, but is, nevertheless, by reason of its brightness, easily seen from the surface, and the company revel in the parts allotted to them. We all know that almost everybody in this chanceful world has the gambling instinct, and Mr lan Hay, the author of the comedy, seizes this fact and builds upon it. Ho takes two “sports ” and plants them, ns “ paying guests,” in the home of a typical “wowser,” and lo! the wowser becomes infected by the betting bug. and the “sport” who bet the other “sport” that the wowser would fall wins. Algernon Spriggs and Sir Reginald ’foothill are the sports, and when they arrive at Newstead Grange they find in Amos Purdie, J.P., one who looks with horror upon anything appertaining to the turf, until’ he absorbs. Spriggs’s story of how a certain man was enabled, by backing a winner at lone odds, to pay not only his debts, but liis income tax. This appealed strongly to tho parsimonious Purdie, and from that moment ho slips, beginning; by backing a winner, and ending oy becoming an “ outside bookie ” in order to retrieve his losses. But he falls deeper in the mire—or, more correctly speaking, in the pond—and it is only an astounding piece of luck connected with a wrong telephone number and a misconstrued order for coal that straightens out the financial tangle. Before that happens, however, the Purdie household have some highly exciting times, during which it is revealed that every member of it, from tho lower housemaid up, is more _or less secretly smitten with the betting craze.

In this production the Dunedin public were introduced to Mr Joseph Cunningham, and a joyful introduction it was". Mr Cunningham played Algernon Spriggs, and captivated the audience right from the outset. He is a splendid comedian, admirably suited to the clever type of comcdv to which ‘The Sport of Kings ’ belongs. He is a breezy chap is Spriggs; afraid of no man, and only the slightest bit afraid of one woman—and that because he had made up his mind to win her. Mr Cunningham was particularly good in the last act, when lie impersonated a policeman and saved Amos Purdio fronp the damp and sticky fate that sometimes befalls a “ welchcr.” Theatregoers will want to see more of Mr Cunningham. As his typically English copunter, Sir Reginald Toothill, Mr Campbell Copelin aided and abetted the principal fun-maker most effectively, the Oxford drawl and eyeglass covering a multitude of smart quips. A very fine piece of acting was that of Mr Frank Bradley, who handled the part of Amos Purdio. It was a consistent character sketch of one who dominates his family and servants by reason of his supposed virtuous character, and incidentally by his meanness. The process of falling from grace and the subsequent - acknowledgment _ (strongly prompted, it must be confessed, by Spriggs) that he was no better than the other sports, was well and truly done. Mr Norman Bates also scored well as the hypocritical_ butler, Bates, who tries to make capital out of his discovery that his master is betting, and at whose flying disappearance before a former employer whom he had “taken down” every true heart rejoiced. Miss Ziliah Bateman was again very sweet, this time as Dulcie Primrose, Amos’s secretary. Miss Bateman had not quite so much to do as she had in ‘ Tho Unfair Sex,’ but her personality and her stunning frocks (one a striking cyclamen with bine facings) marie her always prominent when she was on the stage. A nice, _ gentlewomanly, but thoroughly feminine Dulcie she made, and she was justly rewarded with the hand and heart of tho happy Algernon. Miss Henrietta Cavendish was the meek and mild Mrs Purdie, who unconsciously did her backsliding husband a good turn by hacking “Kitchen Nuts” for a hundred both ways when she thought she was merelv ordering a hundredweight of coal. 'Tin's character was well sustained. Other parts (all capably played) wore Cook (Miss Beryl Barraclough), Lizzie and the barmaid (doubled by Miss Sylvia Clifton), Jane (Miss Sybil Jaye), Albert (Mr Jack Phillips), Katie (Miss Vera St. John). Joe (Mr Chas. M‘Callum), newsboy (Mr H. Hardwicke). and Panama Pete (Mr Jesmond Deane). ‘The Sport of Kings’ will be repeated to-night and to-morrow night, and is a comedy which should not be missed.