LEON GORDON TO PRODUCE NOVEL PLAY AT THEATRE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18544, 18 August 1928, Page 10

LEON GORDON TO PRODUCE NOVEL PLAY AT THEATRE.

“ The Trial of Miry Dugan.” commencing on Saturday next at the Theatre Royal, is probably v one of the greatest indictments of American criminal trials ever staged. It is more complete even than " Within the Law,” which presented only that part of ,thfe law dealing with the third degree methods in obtaining confessions. " The Trial of Mary Dugan ” deals with the, method of trial itself. By a stroke of genius the author has made the audience the jury. Their interest in the drama is active and paramount. They, it is, who have to be convinced by the arguments of counsel and tlu evidence of the witnesses. Appearances are so mych against Mary Dugan, and made even more so by the bludgeoning methods of cross-examination pursued by Thfe prosecuting attorney and the blundering stupidity (real or assumed), of her own counsel, that her guilt seems conclusive. A dramatic charge follows with the appearance on the scene of her brother. He unmasks the real murderer. Whri the real murderer is, is kept a secret to the end. To give reality to the proceedings, there is no rise or fall of curtain. When patrons enter the theatre they do so as to a Court-room. On the stage are the

judge’s bench, prisoner’s box. witnesses stand, lawyers’ tables, reporters’ desks, and all the paraphernalia that ore is wbht to associate with the law. When counsel plead, lawyers interrogate, and judge intercedes, they do so directly to the audience, for they are the jury. They are’ the ones who have to be convinced. The}’ have to decide whether Mary Dugan is guilty of the crime of ; which she is on trial for her life---the crime, no less, than the murder of ♦he man whose mistress she was. The '.effect, on the audience is, stated to be ■ tremendous and the end leaves therewith the conviction that they have been active participants, . not .passive spectators,' of a drama of real life. Leon'Gordon is the diabolically clever and bludgeoning prosecuting attorney. Miss May Collins, who is making her first appearance in Christchurch, is said to achieve a notable success as Mary Dugan. The box plan opens on Wednesday next at The Bristol Piano Company.