THE THEATRE
Fanny's First Play." At the Arts Theatre.
Tins revival of Mr. Shaw's comedy, first produced in 1911, gives the core of the play without its epilogue, which, incidentally, is the only part of the play that dates, and it has been wisely—and certainly with Mr. Shaw's permission—cut. The play itself, with the rather tiresome Fanny and London's dramatic critics of a time before the last war, all but one of whom are certainly dead, is still very much alive, and it kept the audience at the Arts Theatre continuously amused. Indeed, it is surprising how revival after revival reveals the still dateless wit and invention of Mr. Shaw's plays. They stand out more conspicuously than ever now that even the best of their contemporary rivals are almost completely forgotten. The production under Molly Terraine was thoroughly adequate, and I must praise particularly David Bird's performance as the bogus butler Juggins, and Chris Castor's finely conceived Mrs. Knox. There is much wisdom as well as wit in the play, and time seems to be favouring the plays as against the prefaces and the pamphleteering of their author, which at one time were held in greater esteem by his more intellectual and diactrinaire readers. The reason being that in many of his plays—particularly the earlier ones—Mr. Shaw was at pains to use skilfully his really considerable stagecraft, and not to rely almost exclusively on verbal brilliance and the novelty of his ideas.
JAMES REDFERN. JAMES REDFERN.
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