BEN TRAVERS FARCE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20277, 11 April 1934, Page 3

BEN TRAVERS FARCE.

Tivoli to Show “ A Cuckoo in the Nest.”

“ Voltaire,” starring the incomparable George Arliss, will conclude its successful season at the Tivoli Theatre on Friday night. Two respectable married couples, the missing of a train by the husband of one and the wife of another, the enforced companionship of the two in a lonely country village, and the search of the other parties interested, form the circumstances of many humorous sequences in the Ben Travers farce, “A Cuckoo in the Nest,” which will start on Saturday at the Tivoli Theatre. Tom Walls and Ralph Lytfm enact the leading roles, which suit their style of acting to perfection, just as did “ Rookery Nook,” by the same author. In fact, Tom Walls and Ralph Lynn are the picture, although they are ably supported by Yvonne Arnaud, Mary Brough, Robertson Hare and Grace Edwin. In the disguise of an old major with a fondness for liquor, Tom Walls is even more humorous than he is when playing “ straight ” comedy. As for Ralph Lynn, he is at his best in the situations which arise during his association with Yvonne Arnaud. In one scene he is shown making a determined effort to find a comfortable bed under a washstand, with his room-mate resting in a cosy bed and laughing at his struggles. Another humorous situation is that in which Tom Walls and his wife, an acrimonious lady of uncertain age and temper, have a taxi ride through the pouring rain to a small village where their son-in-law is reported to be staying with a person of an unknown reputation. Through the film Tom Walls is compelled to resort to numerous subterfuges to obtain liquor, owing to his wife’s bitter and noisy disapproval. From the point of view of story, acting and setting, the production reaches a high standard and is never wearisome. Box plans open to-morrow at the D.I.C.