“TO HAVE THE HONOUR”

Taranaki Daily News, 14 August 1930, Page 4

“TO HAVE THE HONOUR”

I . i READING 01’’ A MILNE COMEDY. 1 . There was a large attendance iu .the 1 Y.W.C.A, hall last night for the reading of A. A. Alilne’s three-act comedy “To Have the Honour.” The proceeds were for the funds of station 2YB New Plymouth. The scene of the comedy is laid in the country home of the Battersby’s, the centre of a small, exclusive and very

; superior set of superior people. It was i not considered beneath their dignity, ■ however, occasionally to admit properlyi credentialled additions, or to- go on a I lion-hunt wjlen the big game was about. I Thus it was that by the time the play : opened Airs. Jennifer Boljer, “widow, of ■General Bbljer,. killed on the Indian j frontier,” had broken into the circle hnd •.made herself generally popular. At prej sent, the company Ugis all agog at the. i arrival of Prince Michael of Nco-Slav-I onia, whom Miss Angela Battersby and I her father had met at Monte Carlo. It was around the prince and the widow that the plot was laid, finally to disclose itself in an amusing anti-climax. The prince was recognised by Mrs. Boljer as Michael Brown, of Hammersmth, j her husband, who had deserted her folj lowngi some years of post-war uneinI ployment. On the other hand Mrs. 80l- ■ jer was recognised by the prince as Mrs. ' Brown, his wife, who had become the | widow of an imaginary general. As ' inventors of buffer States and generals they admitted to one another that they were exposed, but eventually they ingeniously contrived a rcconciiation without shocking more than necessary the tender susceptibilities of the Battersbys and their friends. The parts were taken as follow:— Simon Battersby, Mr. A. L. Moore; Angela (his daughter), Airs. J. C. Nicholson; Jennifer Boljer, Airs. Walter rWeston; parlourmaid, , Aliss Jessie Home; Captain Holt, Mr. Bobbins; Ethel: Holt (his wife), Miss. Pym; Mrs. Faithfull,Airs. E. A. Walker; Imogen Faithfull, Miss Peggy Griffiths; Dr. Ainslie, Dr.. Mecredy;: .Prince Michael, : Air) J. Sheat; James Oliver (his secretary), Air. Colin Knight. Miss D. Bedford read the interpolations. Before the reading of the play was commenced Airs. P. Cousin Davie and Mr. Ronald Gilbert contributed vocal items to accompaniments played by Miss I C. Leatham. I