BRIGHT COMEDY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXVI, Issue 149, 9 June 1936, Page 4

BRIGHT COMEDY

“Fresh Fields” by J. C. Williamson Co. FINE PERFORMANCE The social and cultural conflicts between a family of rich and retired Australian pub-keepers and a financially broken-down but obstinately proud family of English nobility form the basis of the plot of “Fresh Fields”, which was presented by the J. C. Williamson Company to an audience which filled every seat in the Hastings Municipal Theatre last evening. Though the thinness of the plot approached almost to emaciation, the dialogue and situations were so funny, and the acting so superbly good, that a little thing like the incredibility of the climaxes, in which tho bouncingly vulgar brother of the pub-keeper’s widow more or less bewitched the langourous Lady Lilian, and Una Pigeon and Timothy, respectively tho pub-keeper’s daughter and the son of Lady Mary Crabbe, became as suddenly and as rapturously enamoured of each other, did not seem to matter. It was a tremendously funny play in which every character gave a thoroughly convincing performance. From the very first entrance, in which Ludlow (Norman Shepherd), the butler, in despair of his wages, immediately brightened the stage with a look and an attitude that said almost as much as his lines, the play went along at a great pace and the laughter was almost ceaseless It is a moot point whether the author meant to make the more contemptible the shoddy money-grabbing of the penniless aristocrats, who wanted some of the pub-keepers’ money in consideration of their social chaperonage, or the bouncing Australians, who were willing to spend their money for a mess of social pottage. At least tho pub-keeping social pretenders were lovable. Miss Ethel Morrison, as Lady Alary Crabbe, gave an exquisite performance, full of gracefulness of speech and movement. There was in her acting much of the quality, and she had much of the bearing, oi Marie Tempest. She was immensely vital, and the mordant and cynical humour of her lines was givSn the very fullest value. Miss Elaine Hamill, as Lady Lilian Bedworthy, a name of which her sister made Rabelaisian fun, irritated the audience with her artificiality and imperturbably languorous movement and speech She was, as she was meant to be, simply too precious; or. in her own words, too too. Miss Hamill is a fine actress, and deserves the reputation that she has been given. She with her pathetic gentility, and her sister with her bounding cynicism and shamelessly mercenary mind, were beautiTully contrasted Fully matching them was Katie Towers, the irrepressible widow of the wealthy but deceased pub-keeper. She was simply bursting with vulgarity and immensely enjoyed the fun of having money and being set among people who were to her somewhat like social zoo-exhibits. She conveyed with a touch almost of genius her enjoyment of her own oddity, and she found her aristocratic sponsors as funny as herself. She was a delightful character. And so was her brother, Tom Larcombo (Harvey Adams), who with his breezy manner, and his gaucheries of speech and solecisms of dress, was perpetually amusing. Indeed, he was a little pathetic and yet completely admirable for his manly independence. Phyllis Baker as Una Pigeon was excellent. She did not overdo her part as the prospectively rich young woman who, by a bought presentation at Court, was to arrive socially, and she handled her transition into the class of the socially-arrived with great cleverness . She did not allow the audience to lose their awareness that under that veneer there was still the same bounding Una. Arthur Lane as Tim Crabbe, who ultimately marries Una, Connie Martyn, as Lady Strawholme, Enid Hollins as Miss Swaine, secretary to Lady Crabbe and Lady Lilian, and Norman Shepherd as Ludlow the butler played minor parts, but their acting was of a quality fully in keeping with the excellence of the acting of the more important characters. “NIGHT MUST FALL” TO-NIGHT •t This evening Miss Morrison, Miss Hamill and the J. C. Williamson Ltd. company will present Emlyn Williams’ famous murder drama “Night Must Fall.” The author introduces his play with a brief prologue. A judge, in scarlet and ermine, is heard dismissing tho appeal made by “Baby Faced” Dan’s counsel on the charge against Dan of murdering two women. Tho action ol the play opens in the sitting room of Mrs Brunson’s bungalow in Essex. Mrs. Branson is being treated by a masseuse and bullies unceasingly. Mrs. Terence, a cook, Dora, a servant, and her niece are the only other occupants of a household which is invaded by Dau, a baby-laced page boy from the Tall beys hotel, who has created a minor crisis in Dora's life. This household becomes plunged in all the excitement following nation-wide publicity given to the murder of a Mrs. Chaitent. In “Night Must Fall’ 1 Miss Morrison rises to great heights as a dramatic actress, and Mr. Lloyd Lamble, a brilliant young actor, and Campbell Copelin, Harvey Adams, Katie Towers, Phyllis Baker, Norman Shepherd and Enid Hollins are all seen to the greatest advantage. Miss Hamill, as the niece, will appear in a totally different character to that which she takes in “Fresh Fields.” In “Night Must Fall” the drama is relieved by som ß clever and genuine comedy scenes. Day-saje tickets will be on sale at Fail’s box office from I p.m. to-day. The box plans are at Fail's.