6 APRIL 1944, Page 11

" Uncle Harry." At the Garrick.

THE THEATRE

AFTER commenting last week on the tediousness of murder plays in general, I have to record this week a striking exception, which I strongly recommend readers to see. Uncle Harry is a remarkable play in which there is a murder, but a murder that is a psycholo- gically convincing incident, proceeding inevitably from circum- stance and character and not a mere mechanical contrivance to shock sensitive nerves or stimulate by fear. It is the story of a seemingly nice, gentle, long-suff.xing young man who lives with his two sisters, and he is the only interest they have in life. They are frantically jealous of each other and quarrel interminably about him. His unnatural amiability and tolerance have earned him the nick- name of "Uncle Harry " among the members of the Glee Club (the time is 1908-12) at the local pub at a small town in the North of England, which is the scene of the play. A young woman with whom he was in love but did not marry, because he could not bring himself to leave his sisters, calls on them with her prospective husband. His jealousy is aroused and his nerves are shattered by a terrible scene between his sisters, who are drawn as near-monsters but Just credibly human. One of the sisters buys potassium-cyanide to destroy his dog which is ill ; he secretly puts the poison in a cup of cocoa and induces this sister to take it up to the other ; very shortly afterwards screams are heard coming from her room, and the one sister rushes up to find the other dead. On her return with the news, her brother then tells her that he put the poison in the cocoa and when she, horrified, exclaims that he will hang for this he replies " I do not ;laink so." He has so contrived things that his sister is found guilty and no suspicion rests on him. He has arranged to meet his former sweetheart after the trial, and when the news comes that his sister has been found guilty he asks the girl to marry him now he is free. She rushes away in horror at the idea of marrying the brother of a murderess and " Uncle Harry " then tries to confess to the Governor of the gaol. His condemned sister is brought in and refuses to support the confession. She is taken away to suffer the death penalty and "Uncle Harry" is left, a social outcast, to live alone. How he lives is vividly shown in a brief prologue.

The play is constructed with great ingenuity. The character drawing is firm and clear, and as "Uncle Harry " Mr. Michael Red- grave gives an outstandingly fine performance. I have never seen this highly gifted actor to such advantage as in this truly con- summate display of magnificent acting. As the innocent sister Beatrix Lehmann gives one of her well-known sinister, breath-taking per- formances, and even more terrifyingly superb was Ena Burrill's per- formance as the murdered sister. The play is quite out of the common and it is (apart from the superb acting of the principals)