Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 17 May 1952, page 2


Unripe Play About

Immigrants

»

New Australians offer thoughtful Australian play-wrights their most colourful social theme since the war,

and John Watson is to be complimented for being one of the first to realise this m

his new play, "It All Takes

Time "

But it is a pity that the play, which began a season at the Independent Theatre on Thurs day, shows no similar realisation of the elements of dramatic con-struction, of an artists need for wrestling self criticism, or of any playwrights obligation to search deeply into the themes he brings forward The play is immature and ill constructed, with crude comedy gags and threadbare platitudes fighting each other for three hours in an attempt to get the upper hand

Meanwhile, drama dies and slang erupts - 'Gee, these New Aussies cook up some bonzer grub "

SIDETRACKED

The problems of New Austra hans are never dramatically posed, only talked about preach fully, with trite half truthfulness This talk garnishes a magazine cover romance between a patron-ising young manufacturer and a Polish chemist's handsome daugh-ter-an affair which proceeds most hesitantly because of the playwright s unhappy way of sidetracking himself with sterile irrelevances about radio croon ing, trips to Honolulu, and quaintly misunderstood idioms

The romance is punctuated by doggedly unvaried outbursts of life-of-the-party waggishness from a canteen rouseabout-compere named Dulc

STYLE AND CHARM

The producer John Appleton

and most members of the cast unhelped bv the script per formed their duties creditably Inge Gessner acting"with style ind crisp charm is herself a New Australian-and a much bctter argument than any advanced in the written play. Aileen Britton, miscast, and hell bent upon caricature was the wag ind she pursued good bad and non existent laugrhs with india-

rubber unsquashableness.

-L.B. '.