THE THEATRE
" Full Swing." At the Palace Theatre.
THE cascades of glowing colours, the nodding plumes mocking Nature's hues, the sequins glittering like the eyes of rococo birds— all these surely belong to those far-distant days before the Coupon Era, and are now as gratefully accepted as they were yawningly passed over in the glamorous days of peace. For its colour and movement alone, Full Swing would most certainly be worth a visit ; but far above the lavish dresses and the impeccable rhythm of the chorus—
"Beauty, love's scene and masquerade So gay by well-plac'd lights and distance made "- far above these must we rate Cicely Courtneidge and Jack Hulbert, whose essentially English fooling makes this the very paragon of musical comedies.
Cicely Courtneidge really deserves an article to herself. She is absolute mistress of every mood, from comedy to sentiment, from broad slapstick to the most delicate mime. In Full Swing, out of a richness of material, one may at least select for special reference her rumbustious performance, in the guise of what Punch used to call a " stout party," of an ultra-purple swing number entitled " Music Makes . Me Mad " ; or again her indulgence, with Jack Hulbert, in .a prolonged ecstasy of pseudo-Dalcroze eurhythmics, dominated by an alarming and highly surrealist female who recites tit poem about pixies and running rills, punctuated by screams reminiscent only of the Flying Scotsman at full speed.
Like all musical comedies, Full Swing has the usual apology for a plot (for which incidentally no one ever bothers to apologise). This time it is apparently about spies and fifth columnists in Rio, and it gives ample opportunities for Kencth Kent to behave villainously, for Nora Swinbume to emulate the aplomb of Mrs. Nick Carter, and for Gabrielle Brune to look pretty, sing vigorously, and dance deliciously. But it is Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge we remember, moving, speaking and singing with an engaging intimacy against a vast background of well-organised colour.
BASIL WRIGHT.
Previous page
