INTRIGUING MELODRAMA

Evening Star, Issue 19942, 11 August 1928, Page 5

INTRIGUING MELODRAMA

• THE TRIAL OF WARY DUGAN The most romarkabilo attraction yet presented to Dunedin theatregoers (it Ls said) is the J. C. Williamson dramatic company headed by Leon Gordon, of ‘ White Cargo ’ fame, who appears here at His Majesty’s Theatre for a short season, commencing on Saturday next. A Sydney critic wrote of ‘The Trial of Mary Dugan’:—“The jury, which was really the large audience that filled the Theatre Royal on Saturday evening, acquitted Mary Dugan of the murder of Edgar Rico, after a more or less interesting trial extending over three acts. Novelty seems to have been strained after by Bayard Veiller, the author of ‘ The Trial of Mary Dugan,’ seeing that he sets about creating his atmosphere the moment the doors of the theatre are opened. The curtain is up, and a busy charwoman is seen scrubbing the floor of the court room, and for an hour, between rests, the tidy old soul goes on dusting and brushing and making things look ship-shape. _ In the vernacular, it may bo described as ‘ real melodrama—with the lid off.’ Wo have a woman charged with the murder of a rich man, who has so belriendcd her—for the inevitable consideration —that she is able u> educate her brother at the best schools and make a lawyer of mm; prosecuting attorney, who sea; .!ic.) the witnesses wiiii a torrent oi ipi.fiis deigned tc entrap the who o: the murdered man, who also has a secret love affair; an attorney for the defence, who ;s the actual murderer, and a number of witnesses—hollies girls—who titter their way through their testimony and inform the judge that they have cars, because * you can’t expect a girl to drive to boll in a wheelbarrow.' Leon Gordon played the part of the district attorney convincingly. His address at the opening of the case was cleverly given. Frank Bradley did excellently ns the attorney opposed to him, and particularly in the final scene, when ho caught in liis left hand the murderer’s knife thrown to him by the lawyer for the defence. ’Loyland Hodgson (Jimmy), a new juvenile lead, was a success. John Fernside’s study of James Maddison. a lift-driver, was a tine piece of characterisation. May Collins suited the part of Mary Dugan to the letter. While she was being interrogated on tho witness stand_ she showed an intelligent grip of a delicate part. Miss Collins played in this scene with admirable restraint.” ‘The Trial of Mary Dugan ’ will be played for four nights only, and ‘Scandal’ will ho the following production. The box plans open on Wednesday.