"HER PAST”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 637, 13 April 1929, Page 24

"HER PAST”

Alice Delysia Plays Her First Straight Part VIOLET VANBRUGH’S VOICE Mile. Alice Delysia is a most excellent comedienne; she has real presence on the stage; she can wear beautiful clothes in a manner all her own, and sing a song inimitably, writes the dramatic critic of a London daily. So that when she was on the stage of the Shaftesbury in Frederick Jackson's comedy "Her Past,” all was very well. It was only a pity that she could not he there all the time.

She is a gay Parisian lady, who for six years has been associated with a strong, silent English baronet; she proposes mariage, and Sir John regretfully fades away. The scene shifts to an English countdy home (beautiful Aubrey Hammond scenery, by the way), where she is now pursuing a young English boy. Enter, of course, the rejected baronet, brought there by the boy’s mother, who has strong suspicions about her future daughter-in-law’s past.

Then comes the inevitable bedroom scene, with the usual complications, most of the house party visiting her bedroom, while Sir John hides behind the curtains. This scene, in which she twists each one round her little finger, is genuinely amusing. There are good performances by Paul Cavanagh, who could not be more strong, silent, or British, and Violet Vanbrugh as a wayward duchess, her glorious audibility should be a model to all young actresses. But the play is simply Delysia, and I should not be surprised if she made a success of it. She is a most accomplished actress. The play had ,an enthusiastic reception, and Mile. Delysia and Miss Vanbrugh made speeches of thanks.