The Theatre
WHAT with oaths, knives, and guns there is certainly an atmosphere of bloodiness at the New Theatre. This "cave- man stuff" is a change from the nasty sophisticated plays that are so common, and undoubtedly it is better entertain- ment than sex or drug problems for people like myself who go to the theatre to be amused. This is not a play which need make anyone blush, although certainly a word with which Mr. Shaw shocked pre-War London is here used as a term of endearment by the fierce and furry cut-throats whose quarrels in a Greenland log-cabin hold us enthralled for two hours.
It is a short play, the action all taking place between the darkness and dawn of a night in May, in the living-room of Uncle Job's hut (Mr. Sam Livesey), where he keeps the harpoons, cartridges, and other picturesque accessories of his gang—six companion desperadoes who are hiding from justice and passing the time by trapping and getting drunk, Their cartridges and pelts handed in, they settle down to a night's amusement—consuming bootleg alcohol and bullying Naroutcha, the Esquimaux girl. In mid-orgy, news comes of a derelict pinnace. Its frozen occupants are carried in. One is "a stiff "—contemptuously thrown outside into the snow. The next corpse is unsvraddled and "Gee, it's a dame ! they cry. It is, in fact, Miss Olga Undo, daughter of a millionaire whaling man, who opens her wide eyes upon the revelry.
Pierre (Uncle Job's debonair and seotmdrelly second-in- command) used to be in her father's employment before he was "wanted." He claims her. They all claim her. The first act closes to an excellent curtain of Job and Pierre with pointed revolvers.
One watches Naroutcha closely, knowing she loves Pierre, and will have her revenge if he takes Miss Olga Lindo to his lithe and hungry arms. He does, and whack ! a whaling knife is plunged into Pierre's back ; but not before a mort of adventures too long to describe.
As in so many of these plays, the third act is the weakest. However, it is all thoroughly exciting—so much so that one freely forgives the big swear words. The acting is excellent. Mr. Livesey and Mr. Keen are sharply contrasted types, and two of the most convincing and lovable ruffians one could possibly meet on a Spring night in the Arctic Circle. Miss Lindo has little to do except look shocked, an unaccustomed role for her, but she does it well. F. Y-B.
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