Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 12 June 1954, page 6


Metropolitan Plays

For Schools

At the request of the Edu-cation Department, supposedly for the benefit of schoolchil-dren, the Metropolitan Theatre is now presenting a season of

three- well-known' one-act plays.

Unfortunately, last night's productions had almost no trace of distinction or even com-petence, and at best achieved merely a dowdy sort of respecta-

bility.

"Birds of a Feather," J. O. Francis's clever little rustic comedy about Welsh poachers, was plodding along on a level of steady mediocrity until it was utterly ruined by an inept cari-cature of the clergyman.

Synge's "Riders to the Sea" was done in a hesitant, prosaic style that completely missed the tragic irony of the piece. For poetic mysticism the cast substi-tuted sentimental melodrama.

Chekhov's "The Proposal" was quite vivaciously, not to say uninhibitedly, acted; however, the atmosphere of comic des-peration was hardly calculated lo bring out the author's satiri-cal subtleties.

It was sad to see such talented people as Lesley Lindsay, Ethel Gabriel, Beatrice Wenban, John Weiner, Kenneth Warren and Reg Lye contributing in various ways to these dismal failures.

—A.A.