“JUNGLE STORIES”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 792, 12 October 1929, Page 26

“JUNGLE STORIES”

Shaw Characters Become Animals GIRL’S DARING EXPERIMENT To take the play's of Bernard Shaw and rewrite them as “Jungle Stories,” and make G.B.S. himself a chattering monkey, is a daring experiment. It was even more daring to send the work along to Mr. Shaw for his approval. Yet he has given that approval, for he writes of “Tales from Bernard Shaw, Told in the Jungle,” by Gwladys Evan Morris, “I Dike Gwladys Damb’s Tales from Shaw.” How forgiving Mr. Shaw must be is shown by Miss Morris’s preface, In ■which she writes: “I should like to explain that Jack (my chattering monkey) in ‘Man and Superman,’ is Shaw himself, as is also the rare old bird in ‘Fanny’s First Play.’ ” The idea of the book, the authoress explains, is that some people may understand the plays better if they are written as fairy tales. So she creates an animal community in which the various creatures represent their hitman prototypes of the plays. Thus in “Man and Superman” Ann is a snake (as indeed Shaw calls her) and Tanner, who talks a great deai, becomes a chattering monkey—and, as Miss Morris blurts out, is meant for Shaw himself.

Ten of the plays are thus rewritten as ‘jungle stories,” to make clearer the ideas that lie at the back of them. “Mrs. Warren’s Profession,” once a banned play, and even today slightly difficult to treat as a nursery tale, is among these “Just Shaw Stories.” But then the book is rather more for the grown-up, in spite of its fanciful method, than the nursery. Miss Morris herself, of Wrexham, went on the stage at the age of .16, and has appeared in leading parts in Shaw’s plays in this country and America. In the romantic and spectacular musical production “The Desert Song,” splendid comedy work is provided by

Herbert Mundin, the noted Dondon comedian, who is making his first appearance in New Zealand, and Renee Murphy, who plays the part of Susan, the somewhat irresponsible wai-d of General Blrabeau. Mr. Mundin is a comedian of the high-

est standard, and his humour is as effective as it is clean and wholesome. He comes to New Zealand with a splendid reputation, and is one of Dondon’s most popular comedians. * * * Dennis Barry has returned to Sydney. He gave up all idea of a New Zealand tour after his Auckland season.