THRILLS IN THE DARK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20116, 29 November 1928, Page 14

THRILLS IN THE DARK.

REALISM AT A PLAY. LITTLE THEATRE SUCCESS. FINE ACTING BY AMATEURS. A snrpriso was in store for the large audience at the Little Theatre Society's entertainment in tho Town Hall concert chamber last evening in the shape of a novelty play acted in entire darkness. Happily for Iho nerves of the auditors it only lasted 20 minutes, the remainder of the programme being occupied with two other one-act plays.

Anyone in search of excitement will find that thrills are anything but elusive in Richard Hughes' play, '-'Danger." The lights arc put out, a stygian blackness descends upon tho auditorium and in the tense silence that ensues tho curtain can be heard slowly rising. Tho play has hegun. Tho scene, which is anything but seen, is a gallery in a Welsh coalmine. Threo members of a conducted party find themselves trapped 1000 ft. from tho surface as the result of a mine explosion and, with death staring them in the face, lay baro their souls to each other. The philosophy is not particularly profound, hut the tension is definitely so. Tho explosions, tho screams, the tapping of the rescuers' picks and the gasps of the man who dies constitute a masterpiece of suggestive sound, and the gurgling noise made hv the rising water in the shaft is really fear-inspiring. The cast is unnamed.

Ifow welcomo is the delightful Milne comedy that follows! "The Boy Conies Home" is a little study in character revelation with the scene set in the strictlyordered homo of n London business man who, much against his will, is mado to see there is a difference between the boy who went to the war in 1916 and the man who came back in 1918. Mr. Xante Wood, a newcomer to the Auckland Society, contributed tlio most notable performance of the evening in the rolo of the stubborn jam manufacturer. An actor to tlio fingertips, he mado the character vital, so that every mannerism and foible could be joyfully recognised as truo to life and every inflexion of the voice conveyed a meaning. This was acting of a high order. Roberts Tole was excellently cast as the cxotficer, revealing just the right degree of earnestness behind a veneer of nonchalance. His performance rang true. Mrs. McCallum Susan was delightfully in the picture as Aunt Emily, Cherry Anderson made a presentable inaid and Ailsa Ilackett an amusing cook. The third of the plays is "Maid of France," by Harold Brighouse. It is a patriotic idyll, resurrected from the war years, yet so poetically conceived that its outworn sentiment seems at times invested with sublime inspiration. Unlike Bernard Shaw's play, in which Joan of Arc walks and talks in her own historical period, Mr. Brighotise's Joan comes to life in ,1917 and expresses suitable amazement at the spectacle of her one-time persecutors fighting arm in arm with the French Ysolinde McVeagh's Joan was something to remember—a truly beautiful portrayal diffusing an almost unreal essence that might have survived the shameful martyrdom of 1431. Her words were thoughtfully delivered and singularly impressive, and her deportment admirable. F. W. Barker's delineation of the poilti was artistically done and merits every praise. John Stewart created the Cockney Tommy with amusing success, while Beryl Nettleton gave charm to (lie rather attractive part of the French flower girl. The cast was completed by Harold Haines ns the English officer. Mr. Kenneth Brampton, who produces, shows his tried hand in the smooth and effective manner in which all three pieces are performed. The season will close on Saturday night.