FAY COMPTON'S ARTISTRY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 41, 18 February 1938, Page 9

FAY COMPTON'S ARTISTRY

“VICTORIA REGINA” A COLOSSAL PRODUCTION "Victorian Regina,” the brilliant English comedy-drama, in which the foremost London actress, Fay Compton, will make her appearance here under the direction ol J. C. Williamson, Ltd., at the Opera House on Saturday afternoon and evening, February do. "Victoria Regina” resolves itself into ten impressive scenes—ten intimate cameos which the author, Laurence Housman, painted with affectionate brush to dramatise the life of Queen Victoria. So gracefully written are these biographical fragments, so humanly and tenderly is the QuSen presented, and so reverently moving is Housman’s sincere and simple dialogue that it is dillicult to defend the motive which prohibited the performance of such a patriotic play upon the British stage for several years. "The lifting of the censorship at the request of the Duke ot Windsor (when he was King Edward VIII),” wrote a Melbourne critic, "releases emotions which, as Saturday night's memorable performance showed, do more to secure the bonds of affection between monarch and subject than all the political preachments ever penned or spoken.” The New Zealand production is outstandingly important for three reasons. First, it introduces Miss Fay Compton in a great acting role. Second, it adds a scene (‘bereavement’), in which Mrs, Gladstone calls on Queen Victoria after the death of the Prince Consort, which was not in the London production, thus increasing the number of scenes from nine to ten. And third, it otters New Zealanders the unexpurgated text, which cannot even now be performed in England. The box plans will be opened at the D.I.C. on Thursday morning next at nine o’clock. A queue will be formed from 8 a.m.