" Say When ! " A Farcical Comedy by C. Bagot
Gray. (From an After Dinner Story by Rupert Grayson.) At the Duke of York's Theatre.
Junemi by its rather clouded effects, the dinner must have been a successful affair, though its precise, or even probable, relation to the play in question is difficult to determine. Dick Vennables, under the shadow of being disowned by his prover- bially rich and eccentric uncle, Professor Hudihras Vennables, takes refuge in a forbidden matrimony and the equivocal delights of running a private detective agency. The exigencies of his profession cause him and his brother-in-law—disguised respectively as the Bishop of Borneo (IIudibras' long unseen brother) and his attendant Archdeacon—to descend on his uncle's country residence, where they engaged in a problematic duel with a caucus of crooks who are endeavouring to discover the secret of the Professor's latest invention, the "whiskey brick," a philosopher's stone contrived to supersede the existing tradition of siphon and decanter.
The fact that Mrs. Wy-nch, the professor's housekeeper, who is in league with Joseph l'. Washburn, the crook-in-chief, is in the habit of censoring her employer's correspondence, punctures the bona fides of the clerical visitors, and causes the Bishop to be afflicted with the unforeseen complication of a wife, Signorina Asti Spurnanti, hitherto tactfully described as Washburn's "chauffeuse and associate." The connubial storm is, however, eventually weathered, and virtue, after a tempestuous midnight scene in the Professor's laboratory, emerges gildedly triumphant.
Mr. Jack Hobbs was on somewhat uneasy terms with the part of Dick Vennables, and as Valentine, Viscount Surnrnerbrook (sic), alias the dear Archdeacon, Mr. Douglas Blandford was scarcely more comfortable. As the latter's sister, Miss Mereia Swinburne added charm and effect to the little she had to do, and Miss Barbara Gott gave skilful em- phasis to the pneumatic treachery of Mrs. Wynch. As her son Ozzy, the Professor's laboratory assistant, Mr. Richard Littledale ably presented the turning of the scientific worm, and Mr. Sebastian Smith did his best with an unevenly written Professor. As Shakespeare, Dick's man of all work, afterwards transformed into the Bishop of Borneo's native servant, Mr. Frank Bertram gave a performance of the highest distinction.
As it stands, the play does no more than balance on the brink of success. The spasmodic twitches of competence which it gives are the movements of a half-smothered body which could, given the right treatment, be restored to healthy existence. Without this, the brighter patches can have only the significance of detached cinema shots. As distinct "from many plays of this type, Say When! is not an example of oat- raged solemnity invoking laughter, but of mirth calling to mirth. Given a cleaner production and firm cutting it would command a more electric response. DEREK VERSCROYLE.
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