"JOURNEY’S END”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 805, 28 October 1929, Page 15

"JOURNEY’S END”

HIS MAJESTY’S ON WEDNESDAY . J. C. Williamson’s new English Dramatic Company, which was specially selected by R. C. Sherriff, the author of “Journey’s End,” will arrive here from Australia by the Ulimaroa on Tuesday morning. A. full lighting effects and scenic rehearsal will be carried out on Tuesday evening, so there will not be any possibility of a hitch on the opening night, "Wednesday next. “Journey’s End” has had the effect of sweeping away all barriers of race and country. In London it is playing to packed audiences at every performance. Several companies are playing it throughout the provinces. Its success in Paris is tremendous. In Berlin it is being presented at matinees by English artists, and in evenings by German artists. In Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Portugal and other countries it is the biggest stage SLiccess for many years. In New York, played by a British company, it is the greatest dramatic triumph in years. No less than nine companies are touring throughout the United States. The Sydney “Bulletin” writes: “ ‘Journey’s End’ is so good that there is nothing seen on the Australian boards for a long time with which one could compare it. As Stanhope, Reginald Ta.te dominates the piece with a quiet realism, punctuated by emotional outbursts that are deeply impressive. As Raleigh, Lewis Shaw, with the ingenue manner which seems native to him, captures the affections as he did in ‘Young Woodley.’ As the stout, amiable sensualist Trotter, Vincent Lawson is excellent, and Osborne, the sequestered schoolmaster stuffed by Fate, the inexorable tailor, into an officer’s uniform, is admirably and

1 sedately done by Harvey Adams. “The humours necessary to keep an audience in laughs and complete the picture are provided by John Fernside, whose farce is the farce of a real character than of a stage jester. Ambrose Flower, Alan Lawrence, Reginald Dane, Redge Carey, George Jennings and Arthur Stigant all assist to make ‘Journey’s End’ one of the best acted plays ever staged in Australia.” Mr. George L>. Parker, the producer of “Journey’s End,” made a special visit to England in order to witness the London production of R. C. Slier - riff’s famous drama.