hiedssouper
4.5. Abs
box 8/2
Addrsg er Publcation
Ijges dattd —
Issee Jastd
GAIETY.
MANCHESTER GAIETY.
Five Plays in One Night.
Miss Honwrman and her able lieu¬
tenants are to be heartily con¬
It seeme that one can hardly go wrong in
gratalated on what can truly be
seeking for good wholesome entertainment at
termed a memorable achievement.
the Gaiety Theatre. Even tho curious and
To produce five distinct plays, varv¬
rather daring experiment of filling the bill with
ing from airy amusing farce to tell¬
aseries of short pieces pasned off most success¬
ing tragedy, and all excellently
fully last night, and all that was really lacking
staged and acted, within the spacc of
was a theatre quite full of applauding people.
three hours is surely something for
But even that highly desirable thing was barely
the local playgoers to thank the gods
on, and unless thrt numerical gentle¬
missed, for those who wera present gave a very
man and his wife or best gir. visits
full measure of their approval.
the Gaiety ere the week is spent, he
Comedy predominates in the five pieces
will assuredly miss one of the drama¬
played, but there is a strong note of tragedy,
tic treats of the season. Charles
almost startling in its effect, in a clever playlet,
McEvoy’s breezy farcical“ Gentle¬
Bringing it Home,“ by Mr. H. M. Richardson.
men of the Road'' and Dr. Sackville
This item in the programme was welcomed last
Martin's“ A Question of Property.
night with great enthusiasm, which was
thoroughly well earned. There is talk of motor
have already been mentioned in these
accidents from the point of view cfthe stony¬
columns. Miss Horniman’s latest dis¬
hearted aristocrate who own cars. Ihe husband
covery is a brilliantly written one-act
is expected home in his motor, but before he
Tcomedy, from the pen of the versatile
comes there is great anziety about the absence
Miss Gertrude Robins, entitled
of the“ little precieus“ from the nursery.
K
Makeshifts.“ It deals, in a word,
Then the father hurrying home runs over some¬
thing and without knowing what, and it is only
with the tribulations of two hard
wlien the curtain rings down on the bringing
working girls of the middle-class,
home of the body of bis own child that he
each expecting a proposal from 4
realises the awful natute of the acchlent. It
blundering brute who has simply come
is an intensely tragio scene at the close, and
to inform them that he is engaged
Miss Darragh again rose to greatness in her por¬
to the “other girl,“ and hopes to re¬
trayal of the mental agonies of the mother. The
story is told with much ekill, though the endin¬
ceive their congratulations. Up to
is just a trifie too glainly foreshadowed half¬
a point all goes with a ripple or a
way through.
roar, and then comes the fatal stab—
This playlet was quite new, and so also was
and tears. The little piece is most
an excellent little comedy of middle-class life
cleverly written and constructed and
called Makesbifts,“ by Miss A. G. Robins.
flawiessly played by Messrs. Mudie
For a first effort this was remarkably succeseful,
and it held out the promise of some clever
and Bibby and Misses Wheeler and
work of a more imposing kind in the future.
Holbrock as the sisters. Cast in an
The authoress has drawn a life-like picture of à
entirely different mould is" The
middle class household, and the slangy, self¬
Farewell Supper,“ a comedy with a
sufficient boastful young man (delightfully
distinctly Parisian flavour, from the
played by Mr. Charles Bibbv) is a memorable
figure. The young man“ hangs round“ two
pen of an Austrian dramatist. It is
maiden sisters, whose charms are fading but
adequatelv plawed by a clever French
who are still hopeful. They are excusably mis¬
actress, Miss Camilla Dalberg and
taken about his feelings towards them, but each
her own company. The quintette of
in her turn suffers a grievons disappointment;
plays is completed by a new one-act
his talk of love and marriage is merely #
„lumsy disclosure of his engagement to another
piece by H. M. Richardson, a well¬
party. This sitnation is mansged with great
known local writer and dramatist,
skill, and the humour, not unmingled with
vhose recent“ The Few and the
pathos, is perfectly in the picture. There were
Many?’ was noticed in these columns.
many hearty laughs last night, and the piece
Bringing it Home?' deals in effeo¬
made a great hit.
tive fashion with one Cyril Unwin, s
In striking centrast but still in the humorous
vein wasa rather Frenchv piece The Farswell
scorching motorist and tender-hearted
Supper, by Dr. Schnitzler. This has many
(?) magistrate, who pays the penalty
subtle touches of light comedy, and was briskly
of his madness by running over and
payed by Mlle. Camilla Dalberg and company.
killing his only son. There is a
The cleverness of it was enhanced by the ex¬
salutary lesson conveyed, andthe wel¬
cellent acting of Mlle. Dalberg as a dancer whe
come new play is superbly acted by
unconscionslv forestalls the favoured follower
about to rid himself of her.
Miss Darragh, Basil Dern, and an
The other pieces were Mr. M’Evoy’s tramp
excellent cast.
sketch,“ Gentlemen of the Road,“ and Dr.
During the week special matinées
Sackville Martin’s Socialistic plavlet,“ A Ques¬
have also been given of“ The Hippo¬
tion of Property,“ both of which we have en¬
Ivtus of Euripides, transiated by
joyed before. Altogether it was an evening
very agreeably epent, and if the general impres¬
Gilbert Murray, and beautifully
sion of so manv good things was confusing it
musicked by Granville Bantock.
was all Hlsheindtothe palate.