REPERTORY PRODUCTION

Evening Star, Issue 22382, 4 July 1936, Page 11

REPERTORY PRODUCTION

ANTHONY'S ‘ AUTUMN CMCUS ' When Basil Dean produced ‘ Autumn Crocus ’ at the Lyric Theatre in London in 1931 everybody in the dramatic world asked “ Who is C. L. Anthony?” Obviously here was a nom de plume hiding the identity of some well-known dramatist who, for some obscure reason, desired anonymity. Then the truth slipped ,out —“ C. L. Anthony ” was Miss Dodie Smith, an entirely unknown dramatist—in fact, an assistant in a London toy shop whose delightful thrqe-act play had caught the eye of so notable a producer as the great Basil Dean. Overnight Dodie Smith became a figure in the dramatic world of London, and ‘ Autumn Crocus,’ that delightful three-act play, - with its splashes of colourful humour, its sentiment. without' sentimentality, and, above all, its excellent character studies, had come to stay. In choosing ‘ Autumn Crocus- ’ as its thirteenth production, to he staged at His Majesty’s Theatre for a season of four nights, commencing on Friday next, the Dunedin Repertory Society will offer to members and the play-going public a play well worth seeing and, a feast of good acting. The cast chosen is an excellent one, and those privileged few who have seen rehearsals are impressed with the high standard of work attained. Mrs F. H. Gair and Mr Richard White are to play the two “ leads,” and the cast includes Mcsdames A. A. Fairbairn and B. Monheimer, Misses Edna Lungley, Tsobel Newlands, Zoe Hudson, Joy Knowles, and Enid Carter, Mr L. Bullock, and Drs G. E. Moloney and C. F. do Monchaux.