TALENTED PLAYERS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 301, 19 December 1931, Page 31 (Supplement)

TALENTED PLAYERS.

Joan and Betty Rayner Give Fine Performance. Misses Joan and Betty Rayner have rolled the years back to find novelty, and with what perhaps was commonplace when the world was younger, they have provided entertainment that is new in this day and which provides a refreshing change from the modern round of amusement. The T-O-Y Players have dared to challenge modern mechanism as the only medium of public amusement, and judging from the public support which they have been accorded during their stay in Christchurch, they have done it successfully. Quite apart altogether from the ability which they display, there is something singularly attractive in the form in which “ Cottages and Castles ” is presented. Cottages are dealt with just incidentally and castles still less, but manners and customs and human emotions are depicted in a manner that is forceful because it is so poetically simple. Folk-songs figure largely on the programme, telling the simple tales of simple folk in a fashion that is always alluring. The ladies responsible for their presentation are very capable actresses. But for this, simple melodies, charming in themselves, would still lack the appeal which last night’s numbers carried. The freshness that is always maintained is one of the features of the entertainment. From beginning to end there is an air of spontaneity that is very acceptable. “Cottages and Castles ” proved as successful as the programme that had preceded it, and an audience that comfortably filled the Radiant Hall responded with warm appreciation.