“BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE ST.”

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXII, Issue 273, 2 November 1932, Page 5

“BARRETTS OF WIMPOLE ST.”

A STRIKING PLAY. AT HASTINGS ON FRIDAY. Lying ill in a darkened room in a London home, No. 50 Wimpole Street, early in the second half of the forties, was Elizabeth Barrett. Few friends, herself even, eould venture to hope for a single one of those springs which she previsioned so longingly. But fate in the person of Robert Browning intervened. He broke through all the barriers created by Elizabeth’s stern, tyrannical and narrow-minded father, carried off his prize, secretly married her, and together they hurried off to Italy. The true story of this, one of the greatest romances and love stories in the world, is told in "The Barretts of Wimpole Street,” which will be produced for one night only at the Municipal Theatre, Hastings, on Friday next by a new English company headed by the brilliant young London star, Margaret Rawlings, who has definitely taken her place with the finest actresses of the day. Other noted artists making their first appearance in New Zealand are E. Bellenden Clarke, who takes the parr of Elizabeth ’s father, Harry K. Barnes, who plays the part of Robert Browning, Mary Cobb and Gabriel Toyne. The cast also includes Harvey Adams, Kenneth Brampton, Kathleen Goodall, Mary MacGregor, Noel Boyd, John Wood, Michael Hagen and Richard Fair. While the play is being performed the audience is transported back to mid-Victorian days. Lighting effects are cleverly blended to create an atmosphere in keeping with the piny. Footlights are discarded and a natural light is thrown from above the stage. In

one scene (by the aid of dimmers) one roes the day stealing into night as the patient invalid Elizabeth and her faithful dog, "Flush,” silently watch the shadows fall—a poignant, pathetic picture. "The Barretts of Wimpole Street” is a play and it. has not yet been produced in picture form. It ran for two years at the Queen 's Thcat re, London, and for a similar term at the Itelaseo Theatre, New York. The box *lm opened at Jail’s this morning, when there *as a hrge demand for flsau*