“THE PARAGON”

Wanganui Chronicle, 22 November 1950, Page 6

“THE PARAGON”

An Intensely Dramatic Play (By H.C.J.)

CAST In Order of Appearance Kate Jean Evans Delivery Man Sydney Hanlon Jessica .loan Gardiner Joan Phyllis Barraud Earl of Clandon Howard Cairns Sir Robert Rawley . Roy Herbert Angela Hilary Scrymgeour Maxwell Oliver Sinclair Bowden The Unknown Man, Clifford Marchant Producer: Olive Tarrant. This play has splendid dramatic material, leavened with incidental hu« mour which does not run out of the plot but assists it to its finale. It opens up very well indeed and Jean Evans is precisely the actress to carry the play from its incidentals to the real business. She is the character actress par excellence in amateur work and I should not be surprised if she is unsurpassed in New Zealand. The second humourist, who is also a character impersonator of high quality, is Joa'n Gardiner, These two players not only make a real study of the parts which they have to play but they are well trained elocutionists, which enables them to explore the phonetic advantages of their roles. In this play much depends upon the way in which these two make their contributions, for the play is, if anything, a little too intense and, without relief, would put the nerves of the audience well on edge. There are only two suggestions which I would advance without being dogmatic about them, to carry the patience of the wife Joan a little farther on in the quarrel with her husband, as this would throw the husband’s unreasonableness into greater relief and make the climax the greater bombshell: and to import some quieter passages into the second act in the presentation of Sir Robert Hawley, as this would imply greater subtlety in the mind of the blind man. With the foregoing in view, hi which I might be wrong, I would still say that this play is presented at a very high level of attainment. There is a real appreciation by each actor of his part and a finish in the work which is to be expected of leading amateurs in a society which has so much experience and talent to draw upon. Phyllis Barraud’s portrayal of Joan was a heavy task as she is on the stage practically all of the time. She plays opposite a very dominating stage personality in Roy Herbert as Sir Robert Rawley, but sustains the siege very well indeed. She has full sympathy and insight, into the part. Roy Herbert succeeds in carrying intense parts and highly dramatic scenes with absolute conviction. Howard Cairns presented changes of mood with the appropriate restraint. Hilary Scrimgeour, as Angela, had a difficult part, it being secondary in line of importance, but nevertheless requiring considerable intensity of feeling with but limited opportunities for producing it. Sinclair Bowden’s Maxwell Oliver was an important role and particularly in the incidental passages which were much more difficult to sustain than the more dramatic duel of wits with the blind man. In that important scene the skill of the medical man has not {been made much use of by the authors of the play, leaving the doctor with no more defences than a layman. The playwrights here lost an opportunity which seldom presents itself In the construction of a play. This limitation of the material makes the sustaining of the part in a convincing manner a task of more than usual difficulty. The Unknown Man gave to Clifford Marchant splendid opportunities and it was highly gratifying to see how almost, flawlessly he exploited them. The deterioration was complete with no vestige of the former front-rank cricketer who, in life, could have been expected on occasion to have some manners still clinging to him. Whether a salting of the former polish which made him acceptable to the world of cricket, would have made the man’s fall appear more intense is a question worthy of consideration in the interpretation of this part. The staging was very well done and the floral arrangements which are a much appreciated feature of Wangaanui .stagework added both colour and interest. The set was certainly substantial and sustained the desired atmosphere. The Paragon’s metamorphosis to that, of the Unknown Man was convincingly told and the production must be given very high marks. The producer. Olive Tarrant, and her team have every reason to be gratified with the result.