MR C. R. ALLEN.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19785, 10 May 1926, Page 12

MR C. R. ALLEN.

A TALENTED NEW ZEALANDER: TWO MORE PLAYS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, March 23. “ The Singing Heart ” is by Mr C. R. Allen, son of the High Commissioner for New’ Zealand. It is another of his arresting phantasies, with happiness as its moral, written in a prologue and two acts, and it is worthy of presentation by a first-clasa company on an adequate stage. The only drawback is its awkward length —it is too long for a curtain-raiser (cur-tain-raisers, anyway, are out of date), and too short to fill a bill. It was submitted to Mr Henry Ainley, who carefully read and considered it, but eventually returned Mr Allen’s “beautiful play” with regrets that he could not use it. “ The Singing Heart ” was performed in London for the first time a few days ago by tne amateur company known as “ The Foundlings,” who are quite efficient, and who have made marked progress during the past two years. They have previously given public performances from the New Zealand author’s pen—namely, " The Cross Roads,” “ The Four Foundlings,’ .*;Will and the Witch,” and “Lunch - With a Lunatic.” On this occasion there was an interesting quadruple bill consist- 7 ing of “The Singing Heart” and a farce 1 called “ Miss Dimity ” (both by Mr Allen), selection from the “Medea” of Euripides (Professor Gilbert Murrays translation), and ‘‘The Elixir,” a dramatic one-act play by Bertram Henry—a pen-name which hides the identity' of Sir Basil Thomson. All these good things were supplemented by the singing of Mr Ernest MKinlay (Dunedin), and orchestral selections by the Wood-Smith quartet, who played two of Mr Allen’s songs from “ The Four Foundlings.”. The performance took place at Holy Trinity School, Sloane square, in aid of a welfare centre for children. A very • capable amateur actress, Miss Audrey Cutclitfe, played the principal parts in all four presentations. STORY OF “ THE SINGING HEART.” Immediately prior to the birth of the miller’s son, David, “ The Woman with the - Pack ” arrives—a pedlar maybe—bringing with her many trophies, eac.. meaning something. The miller wanted a leather girdle as an emblem of strength, but his wife selected a little heart-shaped trinket—which the pedlar promised would bring happiness to the babe and to the home. Sixteen years later David, the youth, with happy heart, loved by ail, and devoted to his widowed mother, has one regret—that his mother' cannot have fine clothes like other women. During a short absence of the mother a stranger demands entrance —a fierce-lookinsr man garbed, cap-a-pie, in mournful black. He lias everything but happiness, and he forces the boy to produce the trinket. This, with trembling fear, the boy does; the man flings down a bag of gold in payment and takes aw T ay the heart. The boy is instantly and temporarily rendered insensible by the shock, and his mother returns to find him lying on the floor. Robbed of happiness, the home is a sad r»ace; the boy goes away to try and amass wealth, leaving his mother sorrowful, poor, and visibly ageing. Ten years elapse—the stranger has not found happiness from his ill-gotten trophy—he returns to beg for a cup of water to moisten his parched lips, and this the bereaved and forgiving mother gives. Shortly the boy comes back —everything, has gone wrong—his quest for wealth has been a failure, and of happiness lie has had none. “ The Woman with the Pack ” again appears, and is able to persuade the miserable rich man to restore , the trophy that robbed the home of its happiness. This elevating story, briefly thus outlined in skeleton form, is clothed in beautiful language, and its line moral was greatly appreciated, the audience being moved by its pathos. Miss Cutcliffe surpassed herself as the mother, and she was well supported by ail others in the cast. Quite different and very jolly is “ Miss Dimity.” This is the pen-name of the person who runs a ladies’ column in a paper, and who receives numerous inquiries and letters from readers, who imagine the writer to be a lady, whereas he is a man. The situation is very amusing when the man dresses himself as a woman to give personal interviews to lady correspondents. Of course, a hoax has been planned, for the first “ lady ” to arrive in the quest for comfort is really a man —one of his own colleagues, in fact. So that when a woman really does appear she is considerably buffeted about in the belief that she, too, is a man masquerading as a woman. “ Miss Dimity ” is witty, and could be seen more than once. “The Elixir” was given for the first time, though it was written some time ago. It is called a dramatic play—it certainly thrills, and ends with tragedy. The scene is in Venice. A young woman, Lucrezia, arrives at the house of an alchemist to demand an elixir which will give eternal youth to herself and'her lover, Philippo. The alchemist has been experimenting for a long while to perfect his elixir, and he lias another potion which is strong enough to spread death among the community. Persuaded by the woma n he gives her a potion, and ere she departs with the potion for her lover the alchemist consults his crystal to see _what Phillipo is doing at the moment. The crystal discovers him to he embracing another woman. Lucrezia has seen him in the crystal too, and, infuriated, she smashes the goblet with all that remains of the alchemist’s secret —and so his researches of years are lost for ever. She takes possession of the other goblet, and threatens to spread death among the community. “The Elixir” is quite strong, and though short it is well constructed. It was written for a special programme at His Majesty’s Theatre, but as the items had to he cut it was not seen. Mr M'Kinlay sang splendidly, adding to the series of Alfred Hill’s New Zealand songs—which were greatly applauded—- “ Come Into the Garden, Maud.” APPRECIATION OF THE NEW ZEALANDER’S LITERARY WORK. Referring to Mr C, R. Alien, by the way. a friend writes: “On the .occasion of the visit of the King and Queen to the exhibition of the Dominion Artists’ Club at the Spring Gardens Galleries the picture by an Australian painter which attracted most attention from their Majesties was tlie portrait of Mr C. R. Allen, by Miss Edith M. Fry. The King commented at some length upon the picture, which is a striking likeness of Mr Allen, remarking upon the sad coincidence that tw successive Higii Commissioners for New Zealand, Sir Thomas Mackenzie and Sir James Allen, had blind sons. In the numerous notices about the picture which have appeared in the press no allusion was made to an interesting fact in connection with Mr Allen—that all of his literary work, with which he is winning considerable success, has been done since his blindness. He is the author of poems, plays, and two novels, ' The Ship Beautiful ’ and ‘ Brown Smock.’ ‘ The Ship Beautiful,’ which has been published in Braille, won the medal of the Festival of Arts and Letters organised' by the Panton Arts Club in December for the best rivst novel published last year, Mr Ernest Rhys, the adjudicator of the composition, describing it as ‘ an original and delight ful book.’ Mr Allen’s second novel, • Brown Smock.’ is being published by Messrs Frederick Warne this month. Mr Allen was not blinded in the war, as has been wrongly stated, but went blind ns the result of an operation for cataract a few years ago. In both of his novels blind characters are introduced. ’