LIVELY COMEDY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23491, 31 October 1939, Page 10

LIVELY COMEDY

"UP IN MABEL'S - ROOM " MANY LAUGHABLE SITUATIONS i "The comedy, "Up i n Mabel's Room," the , second of ,a series produced in His Majesty's Theatre by the Australian Celebrity Comedy Company, opened a season in lively-• style last night. A satisfactory audience was given an unusual type of American comedy, which won warm approval.., Crisp American dialogue took "Up in Mabel's Robin"; through a continuous stream of laughable situations. In essence it dealt with, the attempts of a misguided but 1 entirely innocent bridegroom to retrieve evidence of an old and very mild indiscretion. His unhappy and bewildered efforts to clear himself from a complex tangle involved practically every member of the cast before a happy solution was finally reached. The movement of the play surrounds members of a house." party at a beach home near New York, where Don Nicol, the popular Australian comedian,' as Garry Ainsworth, the bewildered groom, arouses the sympathy of his fellow guests and the suspicion of his wife, a part handled capably by Miss Majsie Wallace. During an earlier romance with an attractive young .Vvidow, Mabel Essington, played effectively by Miss Shirley Ann Richards, he had indiscreetly sent her an unhappy choice of present. Meeting her at the house party ho endeavours to retrieve it before his wife learns of it, and subsequent events give opportunity for boisterous but good-natured humour.

A fresh and pleasing performance was given by John Fleming as the husband of one of the guests, played in an assured manner by Miss Mary Duncan. Lane Patterson and Miss Alathea Siddons appeared as tho host and hostess. Phil Smith, an old favourite with Auckland audiences, had an unobtrusive part as a butler, and a laughable study of a "gentleman's gentleman" was given by Charles Albert, who produced tho play. A further performance of "Up in Mabel's Room" will bo given to-night.