Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954), Monday 29 April 1940, page 10


"YOU

CANT TAKE

IT WITH YOU".

Underlying the almost' constant merriment of those who saw "You Can't Take lt With You" at the Playhouse on Saturday was the appreciation that this Indeed was an auspicious first night for the Hobart Repertory Theatre Society. The delightful comedy was presented most capably. -

"A crazy family, perhaps .... hut it would be fun to he one of them... " That probably was a typical reaction in the body of the theatre after tho strange assembly ot characters on the stage had said their.say. lt indicated that the cast had successfully transmitted the mes-sage ot the authors, Moss .Hart and George S. Kaufmnn, who ofter more than laughs In the play which won them the Pulitzer Prize.

"You Can't Take lt With You" ls another way of saying, that chasing money all the time is not the best way of getting the maximum Cnn out of life. Thc people who convey the lesson are a family and their friends living peace-fully somewhere about the middle bf New York's bustle. Father makes fire-works, and mother writes plays because a typewriter was left nt (ho house by mistake, and grandfather keeps snakes and ls always happy that he walked out of his ofllce 3ñ years ago-never to return. There arc sundry other charac-ters in the homo, and it ls a blt of a shock for a Wall St. man, well wrapped up in money-making conventions, when he linds himself there as a result ot his son having fallen in love.

Mainly the play ls composed ot uproarious situations, with nn Infusion of straight drama, gems of dialogue all the way through, deep human interest', nnd nn infectious atmosphere ot hap-piness. Its qualities have been exploited very fully in the Repertory production, which was .directed by James Prntt, himself one of the lil members nt the cast. For a first night, the comedy ran remarkahly smoothly, the players having an .assurance that revealed thorough rehearsal.

The most meritorious performances were those of Gwen Cox, as the play-writing mother, and Stanley Burbury as the grandfather. Each lent vitality to the character portrayed, and each was decisive in the spoken part..Good work also was done by Pearl Burbury, whose burlesque ballet practice was clever; by Sim. Edwarde, who was a most comical "darkie" In voice n's well as In appearance; by Phyllis Nicolson, who also for the duration of the play belonged to the negro race; by the pro-ducer himself, in a well-Btudled pnrl; hy Mary Hnrbottie, who had a romantic and emotional role; and by Darrell Mlley, as a Russian exile. Others were Alan Burn, Evelyn Ward, Nita Harris, N. P. Booth, Marlon Connery, Charles O'Conor, Nancy'Lethbridge, Noel Roth-ery, Jack Henty,' and Don Sharp. Finally, there was Jack Gunn, whose skill with the plano-occordeon was one I of the important details that helped the

play along. ,