"MADAME PLAYS NAP"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21414, 11 February 1933, Page 10 (Supplement)

"MADAME PLAYS NAP"

" Madame Plays Nap," ' the - final production of the talented Dame Sybil Thorndike Company, to- .be presented iat' His Majesty's Theatre for. a season of four evenings, commencing on Wednesday, demands of the playgoer nothing more than laughter. Gone is the- exaltation and fire of " St. Joan," dethroned the stark tragedy of " Macbeth." Those who love laughter and a love-story should not miss this happy play. As Henriette de Beauvais, who, with her young husband, runs a pawnshop in Paris during the bad days of the French Revolution, Dame Sybil is delightfully saucy and insouciant. • . ' She treats Henriette as a lovely lark, and her gaiety is infectious. The spontaneity of her comedy, winsome charm, and bubbling laughter gather fresh laurels for her in this new part. Based on a similar theme to " Madame Sans Gene " and " The Duchess of Dantzig," this bright and exceedingly light comedy, written by two women, is woven round a romantic love-story. The youthful Napoleon, mistaken for an enemy Royalist and pursued by French soldiers, is given shelter from his creditors in Madame Heririette's'pawnshop. In' later days, when. Henriette and her husband have risen to giddy social heights, and are included in the Imperial Court, Napoleon is touched by the devotion of husband and wife, though he does not recognise them. When mischief is being made between them by the ladies of the court who favour the dashing de Beauvais, and would ostracise Henriette. this astute young, woman matches her wits against Napoleon's with unqualified success. Napoleon, shown only in the lighter moods, is a convincing figure as Lewis Casson. depicts him.