"OUR BETTERS."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20072, 9 October 1928, Page 14

"OUR BETTERS."

PLAY AT HIS MAJESTY'S. MISS BANNERMAN'S ACTING. . SUCCESS IN A FAMOUS ROLE. .Acknowledged to be tho best, play Somerset Maugham li:is ever written, " Our Betters," winch is at one and the same time an amusing comedy and a biting lampoon against corruption in high society, received at His Majesty's Theatre last evening a presentation which all good playgoers must relish. Miss Margaret Bannerman's appearance in (lie identical role she created in London is an event of no small theatrical interest, and at the finish of an absorbing performance she was accorded a prolonged reception. "Our Belters " has become almost a. classic among the more daring class of plays produced in recent years. No other dramatist, has crowded so many nasty people into the confines of a single work as Somerset Maugham has in tins play. Snobbishness, deceit and small-minded-ness, hypocrisy, and other evils are first painted in impudent colours, laughed at and ridiculed, then scathingly indicted. The audience is introduced with a smirk, to a little colony of Americans in London. I,ady Grayston, their leader, has married into the nobility and has wormed her way into the well-guarded heart of society by the force of her personality, her beauty and the strength of hei determination. One hears a lot about her husband, but he never appears. Instead, there is a gross sensual millionaire who calls her "Girlie," a revolting woman who keeps an erotic youth with her money, a professional entertainer whose livelihood is the retailing of scandal, and a hired dancing master who makes one's flesh creep. It is quite a relief to find at the end of the play that Bessie, the one genuine woman in the crooked circle, has her eyes so rudely opened that she decides to go back to America, where, presumably, the one honest man, Fleming, marries her. A Superb Portrayal. The best part of Somerset Maugham's lesson is thrust homo by the sharpness of the irony, the scorn of the comic dialogue and the quiet tension of significant situations, but now and again he allows (he characters in turn to expose publicly their own baseness and possibly point a moral. The dialogue is witty and brilliant, always thoroughly laughable, the character-drawing is shrewd and humorous and last night's production was enhanced by some particularly effective scenery, the work of the late Joseph Ilarker. Miss Baunerman, as beautiful and fascinating as ever, gave a superb portrayal of Lady Grayston, acting with (he lighthcartedness that makes her work always so natural and engaging. Her entry at times through open doorways, wearing frocks of dazzling brilliance, was often electric. Hers was an -unpleasant character to delineate, yet such was the charm and sympathy bestowed upon it that occasionally it actually assumed the attributes of virtue—condonation at any rate. Specially likeable were the inflection in the voice and the little ways that denoted roguishness and petulance, the scene on the settee, in which she recaptures Fenwiek's regard by a resort to tears and flattery, being an admirable piece of light comedy. Another Fine Actress. There was some splendid character acting in the performance, particularly that of Miss Dorothy Dunckley as the odious duchess. The whole character lived in her hands, whining, complaining and petting by turns—one of the best pieces of acting of the kind seen for a long time. Mr. Ellis Irving gave a sympathetic performance as young Fleming. Ho was always sincere and earnest. Mr. Louis Goodrich was sterlingly good as the millionaire Fenwick, carrying complete conviction with just that touch of heaviness that made the character comical. Miss Kerry Kelly was a quiet, demure Bessie, Miss Cicely Jonas acted engagingly as the Princess, Mr. G. Kay Souper was ornamentally reserved as Thornton Clay, Mr. Frederick Hughes made a bashful duke, Mr. Arthur Cornell, a capable butler; Mr. Pirio Bush, a burlesqued dancing master and Mr Geoffrey Millar, a properly dotestable Bertie. There will be only two more performances, this evening and to-morrow evening. On Thursday evening " Sexes and Sevens" will bo presented for a season of three nights, (o be followed on Monday bV " Diplomacy."