11:11, HEART OF A CHILD," BY GILBERT FRANKAU, FROM THE
NOVEL BY FRANK DANBY, AT THE KINGSWAY THEATRE.
" Little Jane was as good as gold,
She always did as she was told. The consequence was she was given in marriage To a first-class Earl what kept his carriage."
TEE elegant motto which I have chosen gives what is really a malicious account of the plot of the play at the Kingaway. The adventures of Sally Snape have in fact a subtlety which we feel must have been absent from even a four-act account of Jane's progress toward the peerage. Sally and her Lord are in fact human beings in improbable situations. The Heart of a Child is very well acted. Especially good is Mr. Arthur Pusey, the " juvenile lead." Miss Renee Kelly is quite a spirited girl from a jam and pickle factory, but she has an awful trick of putting a sob into her voice for no reason at all. A great deal of the play is shamelessly sentimental, and she sinks it ankle-deep in " soppyness " at every possible opportunity. Sentimental and obvious as it is, however, it affords a perfectly agreeable evening's entertainment, and the dialogue and situations often show both wit and observation. Next time perhaps Mr. Frankau will really try. Now that he apparently no longer hankers_ after " manliness " (in the Drydenian sense) he ought to write a play to please himself and to give us a comedy
Previous page
