CONTEMPORARY ARTS
THEATRE
fig Excellency." By Dorothy and Campbell Christie. (Princes.) THE Mediterranean island of Salva is a colony with easily traceable affinities. It has for its new Governor, as Bengal had not so long ago, a Trades Unionist who had been a sergeant major in his day ; as with Cyprus, its recent past includes an incident in which Govern- ment House was set on fire by rioters ; and it resembles Malta in being the site of a naval base, complete with dockyard. Mr. . Harrison, the new Governor, is in the latest proconsular tradition of " jobs for the boys," and the authors provide a fascinating and on the whole very fair study of a pillar of the Trades Union move- ment converted overnight into a prop of Empire.
To the precarious economics and combustible politics of Salva Harrison brings drive, courage, singleness of purpose and complete inexperience. Tactically, he is a shrewd man; strategically, he is pig-headed, woolly and rash. A fatal blend of doctrine and senti- ment impels him to initiate reforms whose unsuitability to local conditions provokes a crisis ; the same blend of doctrine and sentiment prevents him—until his hand is forced—from restoring ordei by calling out the troops. But he learns fast from experience ; and though he calls off his half-baked crusade he does not abandon its objectives, which at the end of the play we see him, cheerfully brazen, approaching by methods of the most unscrupulous kind. Though not, I think, concerned to point a parable, General and Mrs. Christie have embodied in the Governor's character a lot of just comments on the principles and practice of militant Socialism. We see on the one hand how much more likely an administrator is to right a wrong if he has suffered the wrong himself ; and we see on the other hand the dangers inherent in this subjectiVe approach— the blurring of the vision, the distortion of the judgement and the tendency to extremism which inhere in administrative action based ultimately on a personal grievance. The Governor knew at first hand the pinch of poverty and want ; and as a soldier he had himself been involved in firing into an Indian mob. We respect the emotions that these bitter memories arouse in him ; but we feel that there is a certain egotism as well as a lack of perspective in the extent to which he allows them to influence his handling of other people's destinies.
Mr. Eric Portman plays this honest, likable, opinionated, North Country idealist with real brilliance, doing full justice both to the capabilities of his spirit and to the limitations of his mind ; it is a wonderfully fine performance of a very good part. Mr. Sebastian Shaw is scarcely less excellent as his deputy, a regular official of the Colonial Service in whom personal and political prejudices strive- unsuccessfully—with a loyal sense of duty. Mr. Arnold Bell, as the general commanding the garrison of an island where the Governor is also commander-in-chief, acts with a wry restraint which is highly effective. Miss Annabel Maule is charming as the Governor's daughter, and Mr. Derek Sydney contributes a lively, clever sketch of a Salvan A.D.C. Mr. Philip Leaver is amusing as the chief of police, and would be still more amusing if he over-acted less. I can thoroughly recommend His Excellency as a most enjoyable and entertaining play.
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