'THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS'

Evening Star, Issue 20361, 18 December 1929, Page 11

'THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS'

‘ The Family Upstairs ’ will be moving into the Princess Theatre on Boxing Day in time to open with a matinee. ‘The Family Upstairs’ is one of a series of comedies to bo played in Dunedin by the Fullers’ American Comedy Company, and has been described in the Press of other countries as being a brilliant, captivating, and altogether entertaining little play, it is brilliant because the players make it so, captivating because it concerns family life, which has a universal appeal, and entertaining because of its crisp humour and general appearance. With tho cast headed _ by Leona Hogarth and Wyrley Birch, ‘ The Family Upstairs ’ revolves round a Now York family, the mother of which announces her intention of arranging a comfortable marriage for her daughter. This she proceeds to do with almost tragic results. The whole play is enacted in the parlour of a New York flat—a parlour that belongs to the working class. It is replete with pink wallpaper, shaky table, and delapitated furniture, with a vase of flowers here and there to brighten the general appearance. As Willie, a young man always out of a job, but possessed of a superb conceit of his ability to “get a job to-morrow,” Leonard Doyle is a constant thorn in the side of his father, a part plajjJH by .Wyrley Birch, who is in turn scornful of his indolent son, irritable at the childish pranks of his younger daughter, _ driven almost to distraction at the interruption of his Sunday morning leisure, and indulgently affectionate towards his wife when she is in real distress. The leading lady, Leona Hogarth, gives a very convincing portrayal of the daughter whose future welfare is at stake. Other artists fit their parts admirably. Bookings are now being made as advertised.