THE THEATRE
" Parisienne." At St. James's.—" Hi-de-Hi." At the Palace.— "Magic Carpet." At Princes.
HENRI BECQUE'S famous comedy, La Parisienne, is being given a series of matinee performances on Mondays and Tuesdays through- out June, in a translation by Ashley Dukes, produced by Michael Redgrave, who himself takes the part of Lafont, Clothilde's lover. The date of this brilliant comedy is Paris of the 'eighties, but its
portrait of Paris upper bourgeois society remained substantially true until the outbreak of the present war, with the qualification that its underlying materialism- had become progressively cruder and more blatant, and its manners grosser and less civilised. Clotfulde—whose artful management of her husband, her children (never, of course, visible), and her lover, was a model of the finest discretion—gave Rejane one of her best parts, and in the present production Sonia Dresdel gives a performance which her great predecessor would, I am sure, have applauded. One of Miss Dresdel's greatest gifts is her command of facial expression, and her immobility of pose, with map-like countenance radiating every shade of exasperated boredom as the well-worn phrases of her lover's accusation fell on her un- willing ears, was a great moment in her excellent performance. Her
movements are full of grace and intelligence, and she wore the becoming dresses of about 1885 (which seem so much more feminine than fashions of about 1935) with an irresistible coquetry. But, as I have said before, she must beware of letting useful and charming little tricks of gesture become habitual mannerisms, and when she speaks sotto voce you cannot hear her from the sixth row in the stalls. She is so gifted an actress that she ought to overcome this defect by a special study of voice modulation, for this is the weak spot in an otherwise superb technical equipment. We are accustomed to expect a fine, polished performance from Michael Redgrave, and he did not disappoint, nor did I think his romantic ardour misplaced, for surely there is more than one way of playing this part. Mr. Vernon Kelso was well in the picture as the husband, who is rather a lay figure, and Marione Everall gave an accomplished little performance as the maid. The period interior was quite charm- ing, and Sonia Dresdel and Michael Redgrave's brief pianoforte duet was a nice unexpected touch.
Hi-de-Hi is a more attractive musical show than Magic Carpet, both musically and pictorially. It also has the advantage of some clever if unequal impersonations by Florence Desmond, some ex- cellent dancers, and the individual humour of Eddie Gray. As always in a show of this sort, the items vary greatly in quality. No. la. " Her Great Secret," for example, is very provincial for a West End audience. Though Magic Carpet takes the spectator scenically from Arabia to Brighton and New York at every place he has the impression that he has never really moved. JAMES REDFERN.
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