VANBRUGH-BOUCICAULT

Evening Star, Issue 20128, 19 March 1929, Page 12

VANBRUGH-BOUCICAULT

1 OH APPROVAL ’ TO-MORROW With a powerful characterisation that .dominated the whole production of ‘ All tho King’s Horses,’ Mr Dion Boucicault scored a remarkable success at His Majesty's Theatre .last evening. His was a performance of consummate artistry in every respect. His picture of the conceited, pompous, and overbearing Wilfrid Fveritt was a masterly study in voice, manner, and gesture. Aliss Irene Vanbrugh must also bo associated with Mr Boucicault in the honours of tho evening, for sho roso to great heights in her ■ delineation of aii oppressed wife. The other members of tho company were splendidly cast. All con tribntefl to the success of tho performance and gave delineations of rare artistry and skill. ‘ All tho King’s Horses ’ will be presented for theTast time to-night. To-morrow night there wiii he a change in the .senes of plavs being presented by the Dion Boucicault-Ireno Vanbrugh Company. Under direction of J. C. Williamson, Ltd. they will present Frederick Lonsdale’s clever comedy triumph, ‘On Approval,’ in which’ Miss Vanbrugh and Mr Boucicault appear in parts which may have been specially written for them. As a writer of light comedy, Frederick Lonsdale has a place all his own. Ho is a mixture of social satirist and pre-sent-day portrait painter, with a dash of harlequin thrown in. This play, ‘ On Approval,’ is said to show all Ins characteristic qualities that were so cleverly produced in his works, ‘ Aren’t We All ’ .and ‘ Spring Cleaning.’ As the widow who is not averse to a second matrimonial experience, though she admits that she will want to know “ much more about the second than I did about the first,” Miss Vanbrugh lias a part that many of her critics declare is the finest of her long list of brilliant successes. Air Boucicault has a part, that of the bankrupt Duke of Bristol, as exacting as that of the leading lady. It is one in which, it is said, he revels, that of an unconsciously selfish, egregiously spoilt man of title.