DELIGHTFUL COMEDY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20446, 17 June 1936, Page 7

DELIGHTFUL COMEDY

“TH LATE CHRISTOPHER BEAN” “The Late Christopher Bean” is an English adaptation of a French comedy by Emlyn Williams. This actor-writer is often seen on the screen and his play “Night Must Fall” is being played in New Zealand to-day. The action of “The Late Christopher Bean” takes place in a village in the midlands during the present time. Dr. Haggett, an undistinguished tired-looking man of 50 has just returned from an early morning call, when he receives a message saying “that an admirer of Christopher Bean will do himself the honour of calling on him at noon.” This man turns out to be an art critic from London whose object is to gather particulars of Christopher Bean’s life for a critical biography, which he is writing. Ten years previously the artist had died leaving several paintings to the Haggett family, who had no idea of art, and consequently had used them for miscellaneous purposes, such as stopping leaks in the chicken house, etc. The art critic raised the hopes of the Haggett family to a high pitch when he casually mentioned that Bean’s paintings were worth anything between one and two thousand guineas each. The subsequent chase by the Haggett family for pictures provides more than an average evening’s entertainment.