REPERTORY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 84, Issue 190, 14 August 1940, Page 7

REPERTORY

“QUIET WEDDING” 1940 SEASON OPENS. (By H.C.J.) The production of “Quiet Wedding' (Esther McCracken), by Mrs. A. D. Jenkins, registered yet another forward movement in the standard of achievement by the Wanganui Repertory Society. The Play. The play is a good one. but it has its difficulties, tor instance the main character is the mother of the bride, who is always at tension, from first entrance to final exit. There is no relief. The bride is difficult most of the time, leaving the bridegroom nonplussed almost throughout the whole of the performance. The father of the bride doesn’t have much more to do than to hover about the scene, which is to a large extent true of the rest of the secondary characters. The dialogue, however, rises to a high level of comedy at times, but even in this an unevenness exists. For instance, after a hectic scene in which everyone is talking good comedy at once, the contrast of the two young people in the. r future fiat home is a tremendous contrast, which really requires to be supported by better lines for the couple. Cleland Corbett as the bridegroom, could havehelped himself by being r more explosive quarreller, implying the possibility of mayhem, murder or a disavowal of the wedding. Then the reconciliation could have been more ardent. The play itself, however, did not provide the best of material for this. The Production. The producer’s general conception of the play was sound and she overcame the main problem which was to avoid overbalance in the main character. This was achieved by enlisting strong players who made the best of the secondary parts and their cumulative effort resulted in the maintenance of a general balance, which, in this play is no mean achievement. The Players. The outstanding players were Grace Williams as the mother, and Jean Evans as the maid. Here the

dominant. fussy lemale rules, but with Grace Williams every movement, every word has its proper value assigned to it while every entrance and exit was an eloquent movement. The play was actually saved from tedium, however, by Jean Evans, who extracted from a minor part every ounce of comedy without losing character. It was an exceptionally line exhibition of the importance of minor characters and the extent to which they may be a contributing factor to success. Roland Young probably gave the best periormance of his career by his interpretation of the lather of the bride, a part which could easily have ueen dull. He invested it with an atmosphere of possible intrigue. Stella Scouller and Elizabeth Briton also carried their parts well, maintaining their characters which, being shallow , are difficult to portray without descending to pantomime. Alison James as Flower Lisle, the poseur, had a more effective, but easier part than either of the two former ladies, but the last named avoided the pitfall of overdoing an obvious part." Neville James and Norman Owen both have, as yet, undeveloped possibilities as actors and they carried their parts with plenty of reserve strength. Gwitha Haggle as the bride, was under severe handicap. Her part has too much sameness about it and her opposite, Cleland Corbett, as the bridegroom, was altogether too bewildered, to give the bride a chance to play up. The playwright was a little ungenerous to the part of Mary Jarrow, the explorer aunt, a part which had possibilities, but which, being denied, robbed Margaret Robinson of all but a few chances of which she made the best. Leslie Paine, the French costumier, Geraldine Aves as Marcia Brent and George Langslow as her husband Jim, were well played. The play as a whole actually went to success on the strength of the players in parts which gave the actors inadequate opportunities. None but a strong cast should attempt this play, for without an evenness of talent throughout it could easily fall fiat. “Quiet Wedding" is certainly a dangerous play and it speaks volumes for all concerned that it was performed so very well.