Kingsway Theatre, London

'produced by the Liverpool Commonwealth Company at the Kingsway Theatre last night, Mr. Galsworthy is seen at anything like his best. "A Bit of Love" is weak in character-drawing and indecisive in purpose. Against a background of West Country folk, narrow in outlook and vindictive in their ignorance, he has set the mental and moral tribulations of a young curate deserted by his wife after a few months of married life'. "The Globe", 26 May 1915.

‘Lovers of a pretty play and an artistic production will learn with pleasure that Mr. Percy Hutchison has taken the Kingsway for Christmas, and will put on there a special production pf “A Kiss for Cinderella,” the Barrie fantasy which enjoyed so much popularity at Wyndham’s. There will be two performances daily during the Christmas holidays, commencing on Dec. 23. Miss Hilda Trevelyan will again appear as Cinderella, and Mr. Hutchison as the Policeman-Prince, supported by a powerful cast, and a special feature will be made of the ballroom scene. The company will be sixty strong. During the wonderfully successful tour of “A Kiss for Cinderella,” which finishes on Saturday at the Grand Theatre, Leeds, the receipts averaged from £1,200 to £1,400 a week. Miss Hilda Trevelyan, in her original character of Cinderella, repeated her London success, and she and Mr. Hutchison have had enthusiastic receptions everywhere. The inclusion of the piece in the London Christmas entertainments is a distinct gain to the metropolis’. The Era, 6 December 1916. By a happy arrangement with Mr. Frank Curzon and Mr. Gerald du Maurier, “A Kiss for Cinderella” will be played at the Kingsway Theatre twice daily from Saturday, Dec. 23 onwards under the management of Mr. Percy Hutchison, who will himself play the Policeman-Prince. Miss Hilda Trevelyan, who delighted London with her character of Cinderella, has fortunately been secured for the heroine of the Barrie phantasy, and a powerful cast has been engaged’. The People, Sunday 17 December 1916. The Times (26 December 1916), The Pall Mall Gazette and The Globe (both 27 December 1916), the Western Morning News (1 January 1917) and The Sketch (10 January 1917) published reviews of the production. ‘Mr . Percy Hutchison announces that, owing to the strain on Miss Trevelyan in playing twice daily, he has had to curtail the evening performances of “A Kiss for Cinderella” at the Kingsway, which will now be played on Thursdays and Saturdays, with matinées daily, as usual’. The Stage, 4 January 1917. ‘I am delighted to hear that the revival of “A Kiss for Cinderella,” at the Kingsway, is meeting with so much success that Mr. Percy Hutchison has decided to prolong his season there ... I should not be surprised if “A Kiss for Cinderella” does eventually rival “Peter Pan” in the affections of the play-going public’. The People, 14 January 1917. ‘Mr . Percy Hutchison, owing to his outstanding provincial contracts, is compelled to withdraw “A Kiss for Cinderella” from the Kingsway on Saturday. The spring tour opens at Portsmouth, followed by Brighton, Bristol, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, York, and Southport’. The Stage, Thursday 1 February 1917.

On 12 July there was a cast change, with Hilda Esty Marsh taking the role of Mrs Alving from Miss Darragh, and Ernest Milton taking the role of Oswald Alving from Basil Sydney.

In August, preceded by a performance of 'The Invalid' by Frank Layton, performed by Percy Foster, Edith Smith, Henry Millar and Hilda Bruce-Potter. In September preceded by 'Augustus in Search of a Father' by the late Harold Chapin, performed by Charles Groves, Roy Byford and H. R. Hignett. Performed every evening at 8.45 with matinees Wednesday and Saturday at 2.45.

New Sketch by Ernest G. Batley. (The Stage - Thursday 22 August 1918)

‘The next production of the Interlude Players, on Sunday, at the Kingsway, will be Dion Titheradge’s “The K.C,” which was first produced at the Liverpool Repertory, and later was done at the Gaiety, Manchester’. The cast would be: Sir Benjamin Oddington, Jerrold Robertshaw; Dorothea Oddington, Elma Royton; David Hyslop, J. Smith Wright; Arthur Dawson, Kenneth Kent; Lilian Alvin, Olivia Burleigh; Beagle, Sydney Paxton; Inspector Hitchin, Alan Stephenson (The Stage, 14 June 1923). 'It is a pity that so much sound acting as was given last night by Mr. Jerrold Robertshaw as the K.C., Mr. Sydney Paxton as the butler of convention, and Mr. Kenneth Kent as the wicked Arthur should be wasted on such unreal and insincere stuff as this' (Westminster Gazette, 18 June 1923). Reviewed in The Era, 20 June 1923. ‘The plot of Dion Titheradge’s play of crime, law, and love, “The K.C.,” which the Interlude Players presented with success at the Kingsway on Sunday, June 17, has been discussed by us several times. For instance, when it was brought out at the Liverpool Repertory, when it was given at the Gaiety, Manchester, and more recently, whilst it has been played on tour. Mr. Jerrold Robertshaw, who is familiar with the title-rôle, Sir Benjamin Oddington, the retired K.C., brought back to the Law Courts after six years spent among his roses and his books, resumed the part with the former skill, finesse, and command of detail on Sunday, when he produced the piece, together with Mr. Evelyn Roberts, and had to say a few words of thanks on behalf of the absent author. In the circumstances not much need be said of the story of an interesting play, the third act of which is drawn out unnecessarily in the course of explanatory or rounding-off scenes, forming almost a double anti-climax ... How Oddington’s mind, formerly as “fine as steel,” had the “rust” worn off on his return to the Law Courts is the most interesting thing in Dion Titheradge’s play’ (The Stage, 28 June 1923).