REVIEW - Weston Mercury and Somersetshire Herald Friday October 2nd 1953 - DRAMATIC SOCIETY IN "THE GIACONDA SMILE"

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IMPRESSIVE PRODUCTION IS CHALLENGING START TO AMATEUR SEASON

 

There was a time when the productions of Weston Dramatic Society were unrivalled in local amateur theatricals, but in post war years the society has not altogether maintained its former status, and the choice of play has sometimes been scarcely worthy.

But now the other local amateur theatrical societies had better look out! The Dramatic Society is challenging strongly. It has followed up its ambitious excursion into "Peter Pan" with a production of Aldous Huxley's "The Giaconda Smile" that may prove the season's best amateur performance.

"The Giaconda Smile" sees the society firmly established once more, choosing very worthwhile drama, and putting it on with skill that recalls its finest traditions.

The decision to do this Huxley play could not have been taken easily. It is a strange mixture of ingredients that go to make a popular thriller, plus a great deal of Huxley metaphysics. Apart from the fact that the play so intellectually poised is far from easy to act, there are the local complications of presenting the last act, in which the action switches from condemned cell to cottage living-room.

        Problem Overcome

Knightstone's lessees have greatly improved the stage's facilities in recent years, but what they have not been able to do, of course, is to make the stage of the revolving type or add an inch to its width.

Personally, I should have ruled "The Giaconda Smile" out because of the problem of staging the last act at Knightstone, and I congratulate producer Leslie Titley on the fact that, perturbed though he must have been, he went to work and, with the co-operation of our local scenic artists, Messrs. Fredricks, and stage staff, difficulties have been so well overcome that the last act, far from losing impetus, is one of mounting dramatic intensity, and from acting and staging viewpoints, a brilliant achievement in amateur dramatic art. When the curtain rose on the setting for the last act at Monday's opening performance, there was a burst of applause.

This is a play every class of playgoer will appreciate. The low-brows should not be put off by thinking that Huxley is too high-brow for them. He could not have thought of a more popular or low-brow plot.

        In Some Respects Hackneyed

Indeed, in some repsects it is almost so popular as to seem hackneyed, but always there is that intellectual stimulus in the dialogue. On reflection, it seems incredible that people, given the play's situations in real life, would ever talk as they do, yet while the play is on, we accept its characters and what they do and say.

        In The Condemned Cell

Anyone in a condemned cell obviously has plenty to think about - the innocent more than the guilty. The guilty man knows he has his desserts, the innocent rails in vain against the fact that society has done him an injustice.

        The Innocent Convicted

Henry Hutton did not murder his invalid wife, but he is convicted. A rich artist, he took everything he wanted from life. He trifled with the feelings of others, and thought nothing of seduction. And then circumstantial evidence put him in the condemned cell.

The man who has lived egotistically, even callously, finds himself behind prison bars, awaiting execution for a crime he has not committed, and there is nothing he can do about it. Innocent though he is, there is some sort of justice in what has happened to him. If he is reprieved, will he have learnt a lesson?

        Best Leading Man

The part of Henry Hutton is played by Reg. Salisbury, who in the last couple

of years has made rapid progress in the art of acting, and whose performance

in this play stamp him as the best leading man in local amateur theatricals.

His acting is smooth, natural and sophisticated, and the character of Henry

Hutton is fully realised. One gets both the physical and intellectual stature of

the man. What Henry Hutton says, he obviously feels, and Mr. Salisbury is

most sensitively in character, convincing in the tender love scene and in the

emotions of a man standing in the shadow of the gallows.

Well as Huxley argues, one finds it difficult to accept the condemned cell

scene in which Hutton is talked into reconciling himself to his fate. The scene

for Mr. Salisbury, was the most difficult of the play, but he did it magnificently,

and so far as one could be persuaded, one was.

        The Murderess

Fortunate in Mr. Salisbury, Mr. Titley was also lucky in being able to call upon

an actress of the ability of Aileen Lundman to play the Pamela Brown role of

Janet Spence.  Janet is the woman for whom Henry Hutton's feelings have

never been more than platonic. Maybe he has mildly flirted with her; there has

been talk of their being soul-mates. Janet feels differently. She is in love with

him, thinks he loves her, and murders his invalid wife.

Henry thought his wife had died of heart failure, and when, shortly after her

death, he marries the young girl whom he has seduced, Janet has the fury of

a woman scorned. She sows the suspicion that leads to Henry's arrest and

conviction.

        Her Finest Part

Aileen Lundman's Janet is her finest contribution to local dramatics. The play's last act is a succession of cameos, with the scene switching to and from the condemned cell to the living-room of the Spence's cottage. In the one is Henry in the agony of the last hours before execution, and in the other Janet, her eyes on the clock, almost in a collapse, but fiercely resisting a doctor's efforts to make her confess to the crime.

Few amateur actresses could keep the part of Janet charged with the

necessary emotion over a whole act. But Mrs. Lundman does it. From

the gentle, likeable woman of the earlier scenes she is transformed into

a woman haunted by the horror of her terrible secret, but still full of hate,

unrelenting and determined that Henry shall die. The moment of climax

is superbly dramatic because of most effective build-up.

        Paul Dening's Impressive Part

A big contribution to the finely-dramatic effect of the third act is made by

Paul Dening in the part of Dr. Libbard. Mr. Dening refreshingly gets away

from stage-type doctors. He can be sympathetic, but he can also be

strongly dominant. Mr. Dening is impressive all through, and especially

so in the last act, in the scene in which he puts over the Huxley

philosophy so well that one does not wonder that the condemned man

is calmed. Then there is his contribution to the drama in the cottage, his

inexorable will to get the truth out of distraught Janet.

        Young Wife

Henry Hutton's second wife, Doris, is played by Diana Palmer. It is not a

part with any great depth of character. Doris is young, pretty, naive.

Diana Palmer plays the part with charm, and gives Doris essential

simplicity. Her lines are beautifully spoken, and she is a most welcome recruit to the local amateur stage. First night nerves undoubtedly affected her performance on Monday, there being a little lack of confidence in movements which, by now, has no doubt been eradicated.

        Deliciously Pointed

The most deliciously pointed line in the play is undoubtedly that by Joan Crewdson (Nurse Braddock), who, when Henry says that he and his new wife are very happy, remarks, with a whole world of insinuation to the contrary, "Are you?" Joan Crewdson, while making Nurse Braddock a most expressive and managerial soul, never oversteps the mark. A very clever character study.

Walter H. Brown brings welcome light relief as that cheerful invalid, General Spence. The General is a very expressive individual, and in his breezy, forthright way, Walter Brown plays him most amply.

Small parts are ably contributed by Phyllis Cooksley (Clara), Vivienne Holden (maid), and Foster Tanner and Kenneth Smith (warders).

Congratulations to producer Leslie Titley on a production which achieves the play's dramatic and intellectual qualities in first-rate fashion. The settings in general are splendidly done, and on all points this is a production of which the Society can be proud. Even the intervals have appeal, for Sydney Carmen gets a big hand for his piano contributions.

Stage manager is C.R. Lundman, his assistants being Jack Salisbury and Shirley Broderick.

The concluding performances are on Saturday.                                                                                               "EVERYMAN"