WILLIAMSON’S NEW PLAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18349, 13 September 1921, Page 7

WILLIAMSON’S NEW PLAY

COMING ON THURSDAY. , A prominent northern critic, writing‘of’ “Welcome, Stranger,” the first production of the J. O. Williamson comedy-drama'sea£ son, to commence at His Majesty’s Theatre ' next Thursday ; remarks: “A lesson in-in-’ tolerance, administered in a most entertain- ’ mg fashion, is contained in ‘ Welcome. Stranger.' .It is another example of tho play in which sunshine and rain alternate/ the type that, for all its little touohee” of s pathos, makes everybody happy, 1 The" comedy element is provocative, ■ ani thd 1 character drawing exceptional. Into fha' mouth of the Jew are pub sentences abounding - '

in kindliness, alight with wit, weighted "with - both worldly wisdom, and philosophy. If ia the character of a man driven from pillar to post because of the prejudice existing against him and ,his race. How he conquers the email-town, malice an<J unfriendliness that would have ousted him and sent him wandering once more, and the determined effort of its citizens to cold-shoulder him, out and on to they care not whither, lest, to harbour him might lead to the.establishment in their midst of a Ghetto, is' amusingly told, and the progress of the piece is punctuated by frequent laughter. Mr Jules Jordan, as Isador Solomon,- presents a new type of stage Hebrew, as human as Potash and Perlmutter, and far

less grotesque than the conventional caricature of the Jew. The actor made him a likeable fellow from the outset, accentuating the good-natured phases of the character, but never losing eight of his opportunities in dialogue and business for creating the' ‘ merriment he was meant to create. Hia effects were naturally gained, however, the freedom from exaggeration in his work being/, indeed, a feature of it. Dominating

the cast of the piece, and with a laugh’ibr almost every one of his Hites, Solomon w&af’ alive in Mr Jordan’s hands. It was decidedly a fine piece of characterisation. Mr John ‘ D. O’Hara, as the old inventor with dreams of an electric epoch in the history of his village, but 1 with no capital where with to realise those dreams, was* as usual, seen in a study without blemish. His Clem,

Bemis, tho only man who would have anything to do with the Hebrew, and who 11 afterwards had cause to be glad of hia broad-mindedness, is a gem in creative acting. This delightful artist and his 1 confrere carry tho burden of the play, and its fate L was very safe in their keeping. ..-Miss Dorothy'. Seacombe played the role of a mysterious girl with a painful secret, and was well liked in her wqrk. Mr Robert Toms a® juvenile lead, Messrs F. E&melton, E. Lester, T. Lloyd, A. Cornell, C.' White.' P. Bush, T. Foster, and J‘. B. Atholwood, and Misses Margaret Sutcliffe and Mattie Brown complete an excellent cast.” “Three Wise Fools,” with John D. O’Hara in the leading role, will be staged for the last two nights of the season. The box plans open this morning at tire Bristol at 9 o’clock for the season of five nights.