The Live Wire

‘“The Live Wire” appeared at St Martin’s Theatre [on Friday] evening after one postponement. It is by Mr Sidney Blow and Mr Douglas Hoare, and proved to be a fairly exciting game of “Guess Who is the Spy" ... we had a wildly exciting evening at a little play, brightly written and well suited to the present mood’ (The Scotsman, 31 August 1918). ‘Spy plays have a vogue just now. A fresh one started at the St. Martin’s Theatre last night. It contains most of the needful characters, but has handicapped itself by complexity of the documentary evidence. However, enough of action remains to make up ... In a comedy of this kidney the ticklish point is not to hide the identity of the guilty party or parties too long or reveal it too soon. All false trails are legitimate' (Sportsman, 31 August 1918). ‘Messrs. Sydney Blow and Douglas Hoare have constructed their spy play, produced at St. Martin’s Theatre last night, on the familiar principle of making the audience suspect an innocent person and turning suspicion away from the real criminal. It may be it good principle, but it has great disadvantage: the audience has to take the plotting at second hand. We hear about it, but never see it ... although the denouement fell a trifle flat, the play was full of exciting incidents, and was received with enthusiasm' (Daily News (London), 31 August 1918). ‘The clever authors of the latest and jolliest of spy plays, “The Live Wire,” have realized the essentials of this type of drama to a T. From beginning to end there is continuous action, no sooner have they extricated one or another of the characters from the tightest of tight corners than somebody else with equal claim to our sympathy is in another congested angle, and tremendous demand is being made on their coolness and resource. The real spy is splendidly camouflaged until the very end, the only way to find him is to ask yourself for whom you would be least sorry if he (or she) turned out a bad egg, and even then you hesitate between two, at least we did. Then again the play is not too serious, everybody is gay' (The Era, 4 September 1918). ‘One of those plays one could not put down until one had seen it. Not a play at all, but thrilling enough and blind man’s buff enough to keep an audience going. Especially distorted to prove that one has no idea of actualities, not even of the actualities of the inside of a big newspaper office, and yet quite convincing in its thrills ... One thing more: in the midst of the ruck of stuff now being performed at most London theatres it is a joy to find a decent exciting play, well acted throughout, holding a decently excited audience. In these days of brass band jokes, American farces, and lace and stocking vaudevilles, a good detective story comes like a breath of fresh air from Fleet Street' (Truth, 4 September 1918). ‘A very lively, ingenious, and entertaining (perhaps unconsciously as well as designedly) spy play is The Live Wire … and it was received with acclamation by the bulk of the audience … It is a piece entirely of incident, without any attempt at characterisation, and chock full of such time honoured stage devices as false scents, “red herrings,” and artfully devised schemes for arousing suspicions with regard to the wrong persons’ (The Stage, 5 September 1918). ‘If the whole art of the spy-play is to keep your audience making wrong guesses at your secret, as no doubt it is, then Mr. Douglas Hoare and Mr. Sydney Blow are artists at the game, and successful artists. It is safe to say that no one in the first-night audience, until the confession came, had his eye fixed on the actual culprit; so that the playwrights pulled off their surprise, and provided their audience with a thrill satisfactorily enough. Where their story lies open to criticism is in its picture of the working of a newspaper office. Not only the proprietor-editor himself, but his staff generally, seemed to hang round doing little but talk and amuse themselves, while the paper made itself. In Fleet Street a live wire run on these lines would be dead in no time' (Illustrated London News, 7 September 1918). 'It is rather overloaded with incident, the interest of which, though cumulative in theory, is not always so in practice, while the lines, never very brilliant, are a mixture of good and bad. Often a point is overlaboured for the sake of rounding off the speech, after the stage interest in that moment’s business has evaporated, and occasionally the characters are made to utter those fatal sentences which make the audience smile in the wrong place. I should say that in peace time such a play as “The Live Wire” would have been a dead one in a fortnight, but nowadays spy plays obtain a topical success, for their characters are popular simply because they are spies or else spy catchers. Therefore the dramatist, who cannot build up character has the option of sticking to incident only ... What is more likely to harm the play than its improbability is its construction, for, although evidently pieced together very carefully, it yet has the effect of a number of children playing a series of small games than of grown-ups engaged in one straightforward match 'Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, 5 October 1918). 'A Home Letter to Soldiers Overseas (For the Daily Malta Chronicle) London, October 23rd 1918. Every now and again Theatreland is seized with an epidemic of a certain type of play. At one time no play was complete unless it contained a bedroom scene, at another period romantic costume plays were the rage, then there have been musical comedy booms and Chinese play booms and American drama booms and all sorts of others. To-day there seems to be an urgent demand for “Spy” plays. There are at least six theatres at which the hero or heroine or both achieve a happy ending by circumventing the machinations of a transparently stupid German spy. After a series of preposterously impossible situations the plays always move to a foregone conclusion and every one goes home happy - especially the managers and authors who are simply coining money ... if you like this brand of melodrama you can choose between “The Freedom of the Seas,” “The Live Wire”, “The Hidden Hand”, “The Luck of the Navy”, “By Pigeon Post” and “The Female Hun.” And, I believe, there are others yet to come. Spy plays are not the only epidemic from which London is suffering at the moment. An old friend, influenza, has descended upon us in a rather new form, and is rivalling the war as a topic of conversation’ (Daily Malta Chronicle and Garrison Gazette, 11 November 1918). 'Although a frankly artificial war-time spy-drama, it affords quite good entertainment, for it is full of thrills and tense moments while the bewildering twists and turns in its plot do not admit of a moment’s inattention on the part of an audience - which is kept guessing, moreover, all the time as to who will turn out to be the real culprit. In this respect, and even to a greater degree than most plays of its kind, “The Live Wire” triumphantly overrides what I believe to be considered an accepted principle of dramatic construction, namely, that an author should never mystify his audience. It must be admitted that Messrs. Blow and Hoare display considerable mental ingenuity to keep up the suspense and curiosity. They disguise the real villain by every means known to them. They do their worst to throw suspicion elsewhere (Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), 21 November 1918).

‘A spy drama is always a great attraction, and “The Live Wire,” one of London’s latest successes, has drawn good houses at the Gaiety Theatre, Hastings, throughout the week. The hearty thanks of local theatregoers are due to the Management for securing all the latest pieces. There is plenty of action in “The Live Wire,” and it is practically impossible to decide how the play is going to end until a few minutes before the final curtain. It is full of exciting incidents and false scents, laying suspicion first on one person, then another, and generally bewildering the audience. To relate the story of any spy drama is to spoil it for those about witness to its performance, so that all that need be said is that it is highly interesting and beautifully acted'. Bexhill-on-Sea Observer and the Hastings and St Leonards Observer, both 9 November 1918.

‘“The Live Wire,” a vibrant spy play, opened a week’s engagement at the Pleasure Gardens Theatre on Monday. The ban, so far as the military was concerned, had been lifted, and it was peace night (or as good as peace night) and - well, there’s not much need to say there was almost a crowded house, and that many bright sparks gave vent to the joyousness of the occasion. “Be little gentlemen” was the motto of the hour, and it must be confessed that the manager handled the situation with discrimination and tact. A play, to be successful on an occasion like this, needs to be strong in interest. “The Live Wire” is that, sure. It held the house, in spite of such diversions as we have suggested., and one was thrilled as the story developed (Folkestone Express, Sandgate, Shorncliffe & Hythe Advertiser, 16 November 1918). ‘A large audience assembled at the Pleasure Gardens Theatre on Monday night to enjoy the performance of “The Live Wire,” a spy play by Sydney Blow and Douglas Hoare, presented by Andre Charlot. In consequence of the news of the cessation of hostilities the “house” was in a particularly happy mood, and the younger military officers gave “side shows” in the intervals' (Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald, 16 November 1918). ‘At the Pleasure Gardens Theatre on Monday night between the acts of “The Live Wire,” officers of the Royal Air Force gave impromptu turns in front of the curtain, much to the amusement of the audience. At the Leas Pavilion a similar unrehearsed performance was given, but here again, the best of good humour prevailed’ (Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald, 16 November 1918).

'Although the war is happily over, there is no doubt that this class of play [i.e. spy plays] will retain interest for a long time, and in “The Live Wire,” as the name hints, there is an abundance of tension during the happenings that lead up the denouement' (Derby Daily Telegraph, 16 November 1918; also the Belper News, 22 November 1918). 'Although the war is now over, the play has lost none of its interest, nor any of its propaganda value, for it is well to keep the people of Great Britain alive to the danger of German spys [sic] and the deadly system of espionage, which, unless the nation exercises ceaseless vigilance, may spring up again in all its intensity. It is therefore desirable that “The Live Wire” and its kindred spy dramas should enjoy a long run in order not to permit that forgetfulness of past evils which is a trait of the national character, admirable perhaps, but impolitic where Hun unscrupulousness is concerned. Although at times tense with impelling sensation, “The Live Wire” is by means devoid of the lighter vein of true humour, and many an outburst of genuinely amused laughter is provoked (Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal, 23 November 1918).

'The audience were most appreciative, and the play, which was exceedingly well staged, held one enthralled from the rise to the final fall of the curtain. It gives a graphic story showing the great prevalence of the Fatherland’s spies in England, the particular members of that spy system being “rounded up” to the great satisfaction of all by a young Englishman. It is a thrilling play, and one that should not be missed either by Liverpool or Birkenhead theatre-goers'. Birkenhead News, 27 November 1918.

‘Yet another spy play dealing with exciting war-time incidents is “The Live Wire,” which comes to the Royal bearing the hall-mark of a big London success. Andre Charlot is the producer, and there is a promise of an evening’s full enjoyment with a rousing racy play and a plot of gripping interest’. Manchester Evening News, 30 November 1918.

‘Those playgoers who enjoy something with real flavour in it can be recommended to try “The Live Wire" ... It is well conceived and executed, full of thrilling incidents, and thoroughly entertaining' (Blackpool Times, 11 and 14 December 1918). ‘A striking degree of popularity has unquestionably been enjoyed in recent years by plays of a martial character, and notably by those in which the spy element has been introduced with such thrilling effects. “The Live Wire,” presented at the Grand Theatre this week, is not only the most recent but certainly one of the most meritorious of these productions. Written by such experienced and well-tried authors as Messes. Sydney Blow and Douglas Hoare, the play possesses the high intrinsic merit of a progressive action as alluring as it is well defined and engrossing from the rise to the final descent of the curtain ... “The Live Wire” is superbly played by a Company eminently capable of giving full expression to its dramatic subtleties and thrilling situations' (Fleetwood Chronicle and the Blackpool Gazette and Herald, both 13 December 1918).

‘There was an appreciative audience at the Grand Opera House, Middlesbrough, last night when Andre Charlot’s company presented the spy play, “The Live Wire”. In the three scenes of the play some dramatic and at times amusing situations are depicted. The principal parts were admirably undertaken by Miss Eva Leonard-Boyne, Miss Thelma Raye, Mr Creagh Henry, Mr Howard Law, and Mr Jack Fortesque’. North Star (Darlington), 17 December 1918.

The Stage, 9 January 1919, listed The Live Wire (Andre Charlot’s Principal Company) as On Tour for three days from 9 January at the O.H., Harrogate.

‘“The Live Wire,” one of the most successful and certainly the most exciting of all the “Spy plays,” pays a visit to the Royal next week. It is chiefly concerned with the ingenious methods adopted by the German secret agents in this country, and, as such, is of interest, for, although we all hope that the war is a thing of the past, we shall still have to fight the Germans in commerce' (Halifax Evening Courier, 11 January 1919). ‘It is very rarely that one can say of a provincial production that it is up to the London standard. Yet this is the case with “The Live Wire,” which Mr. Andre Charlot is presenting at the Royal this week. There is less characterisation on the part of the artistes than at the St. Martin’s Theatre, and ... the result is that the plot is more incisive and the excitement more gripping' (Halifax Evening Courier, 14 January 1919).

‘“The Live Wire” strikes a new note in spy plays. Dealing with a late period near the close of the war, it emphasises the safety of the German policy of keeping all aliens behind “the live wire,” in contrast to our own dilatory internment scheme, which left many alien enemies at liberty. Smartly written, full of dramatic surprise, and modern to the last line, the play convincingly proves the feasibility of a German spy obtaining a post as the trusted leader-writer of a patriotic British daily paper, and actually using the leaders as a means of conveying information to the enemy by a secret code. Splendidly played by a first-class company, “The Live Wire” is a sure draw’. Lancashire Evening Post, 21 January 1919.

‘“The Live Wire,” a thrilling spy play, been secured as this week’s attraction at the Winter Gardens, and a well-selected company is engaged. Mr. Ronald Colman is highly artistic, as, in turn, the spy tracker, an escaped prisoner, and a staff officer impersonator, and he has an excellent helper in Miss Greta Wood, as the private secretary, whose ready wit so frequently saved the situation. Mr. H. Barbe West given an impersonation of a newspaper proprietor, obsessed with the idea rounding up enemy spies. The other characters are well played, and special word of praise is due to Mr. Howard Law as an Irish butler’. Liverpool Daily Post, 28 January 1919.

The Stage, 30 January and 6 February 1919, listed The Live Wire (Andre Charlot’s Principal Company) as On Tour from 3 February at the O.H., Southport. Similarly The Era, 5 February 1919.

‘This week a great spy play holds the boards, “The Live Wire.” The plot is stirring and well played. Excited interest gathers as the piece proceeds to find out who really is the spy. Many mistakes are made, and at last the revelation comes of the guilty party, “Mervyn Chester,” a leader writer, who has been sending messages by a cunning ordering of words in his “leaders"' (Surrey Mirror, 14 February 1919).

‘Of the making of spy plays there is no end. During and arising out of the war we have had them in abundance, and they have been, perhaps, amongst the most successful of all war-time productions, their authors having contrived to invest them with the necessary elements of mystery, sensation and humour. The Live Wire, by Sydney Blow and Douglas Hoare, is being successfully presented this week at the Park Theatre by Mr. Andre Charlot, who is represented by a talented and experienced company ... Events culminate in an exciting third-act scene, the end being in the nature of a surprise. The acting at this crucial stage is very animated, those concerned combining to give full effect to the dramatic climax'. Eastbourne Chronicle, 22 February 1919.

Reviewed in the Aldershot News, 28 February 1919.

‘Of the many spy plays which have been produced during the war, “The Live Wire,” by Sidney Blow and Douglas Hoare, is one of the best. Interest is maintained from start to finish, and it is only just before the final curtain descends that the mystery is solved and the spy discovered'. Richmond Herald, 8 March 1919.

The Stage, 6 March 1919, listed The Live Wire (Andre Charlot’s Principal Co.) as On Tour from 10 March at Chatham. Similarly The Era, 12 March 1919.

‘Lovers of really decent plays had a treat this week in Mr. Ernest Norris’ repertory company. “The Live Wire” was the attraction on Monday and Tuesday, this being a very clever spy drama, in which the secret was very ingeniously retained until the end of the last act. Mr. E. Norris, the powerful newspaper magnate and tracker down of spies, was a distinct success’. Runcorn Weekly News, 21 March 1919.

The Era, 12 March 1919, listed The Live Wire (André Charlot Co.) as On The Road for three days from 17 March at the New T., Oxford. Also: ‘The power of the Press has never been more in evidence than during the period of the European War, and the authors of the new spy play, “The Live Wire,” have made this subject the pivot of an excellent and coherent plot' (Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette, 21 March 1919).

The Era, 12 March 1919, listed The Live Wire (André Charlot Co.) as On The Road for three days from 20 March at the New T., Cambridge (3). Similarly The Stage, 13 March 1919. Also: ‘“The Live Wire” is very much alive. The play kept a large house mystified and interested throughout all three acts at the New Theatre yesterday (Thursday) evening. The appreciation of the audience showed that the popularity, so manifest throughout the war, of a good spy play is far from exhausted. The trouble with most of these dramas which are supposed to have a startling and surprising denouement just before the final curtain is that as a rule one can prophecy with accuracy after the first act how matters will be arranged at the. finish. “The Live Wire” is an exception' (Cambridge Daily News, 21 March 1919).

‘“The Live Wire” is an exciting and interesting spy story. Sr Hartley Merstham is well played by H. St. Barbe West. Thelma Raye plays Christina Andersen. Greta Wood plays with charm and character Sir Hartley’s private secretary. Jack Fortescue is good as the pro-German leader- writer. R. Colam [sic] makes excellent work of the character of Chips. Another excellent character is the butler, Howard Law'. The Stage, 27 March 1919.

Noted in The Era, 2 April 1919, ‘the cast being Messrs. Howard Law, St. Barbe-West, Jack Fortescue, Clifford Desboro, Miss Greta Wood, and Thelma Rage [sic]’. Also noted in The Stage, 3 April 1919.

‘Ernest E. Norris and company are here for a second week, playing “Mrs. Pretty and the Premier” … “The Live Wire” is also being played during the week’. The Stage, 1 May 1919. Also The Era, 30 April 1919.

‘Mr. Ernest E. Norris’s Repertory Co. are at the Queen’s Theatre, with “The Live Wire,” “Brother Officers,” “The Ware Case,” and “John Barrett, Millionaire.” In the production of the first-named play last night, they displayed in agreeable measure the qualities of versatility, freshness and freedom, which flourish best, perhaps, under the repertory plan. “The Live Wire” is a spy play, dealing with matters which are already assuming an historic rather than topical interest, and it may be owing to the new perspective that it fails to convince so completely as of old. In their attempt to keep the riddle unsolved to the very end, the authors have constructed a complicated mosaic of personal history and motive which is rather confusing; but there is no confusion as to the identity of the spy after he has made the first few moves. One great merit the play has - simplicity and naturalness in the dialogue - and it was an ingenious stroke to make the spy a leader writer on the syndicated papers which were attacking the Government on the alien danger’ (Yorkshire Evening Post, 13 May 1919). An advertisement in the Yorkshire Evening Post, 17 May 1919, shows that The Live Wire was performed on the Monday and Tuesday of the week.

‘Ernest E. Norris’s company opened on Monday with “The Live Wire,” the interest in which was thoroughly sustained by the capable acting of the company. As Sir Hartley Mersham Mr. Norris was vigorous and decisive. In the part of Mervyn Chester E. P. Brannigan gave undoubtedly a very clever piece of acting. High praise must also be given to the manly portrayal of Wilfrid Carpenter by Alan C. Dene. Inspector Woods was characteristically played by Stanley Dennis. Hy. Monte as Mulligan was very amusing. Laurie Ellwood worked hard as Betty Byrne, a part in which she was both clever and sympathetic. The character of Christina Anderson was cleverly and delicately handled by Miss M. Richardson. “Brother Officers” and “John Barrett, Millionaire” are also billed’. The Stage, 29 May 1919.

‘Mr. Ernest E. Norris [is] in repertoire, presenting “Live Wire,” “The Ware Case,” “Brother Officers,” [and] “John Barett, Millionaire”’. The Era, 4 June 1918.

The Lincolnshire Echo, 21 July 1919, advertised the commencement on Monday 21 July of Ernest E. Norris’s season of two weeks at the Theatre Royal, Lincoln. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday he would present The Live Wire, ‘ the successful spy play from the St. Martin’s Theatre, London’. Also: ‘“The Live Wire,” with which Mr. Norris began, is entirely new to Lincoln. Written by Sidney Blow and Douglas Hoare, each a past master of stagecraft, the story shows a leakage of information to the enemy during war time, and while it is obvious there is a clever spy in close touch with the newspaper, on the staff of which most of the members are found, the puzzle is to know which is the guilty party. As a matter of fact, not until a couple of minutes before the fall of the curtain is the mystery cleared up, the audience meanwhile being set a rare task in guessing. Mr. Norris, Mr. Eric Page, Mr. F. P. Branigan, Miss L. Ellwood, and Miss M. Richardson smartly fill the leading parts' (Lincolnshire Echo, 22 July 1919).

‘A very lively, ingenious, and entertaining spy play is “The Live Wire,” from the pens of Messrs. Douglas Hoare and Sydney Blow, which, done at the St. Martin’s Theatre, London, as recently as last autumn, is to have its first production in the West of England at the Repertory Theatre, Plymouth, next week. It is a piece entirely of incident, with little or no attempt at characterization, and chock-full of false scents and artfully devised schemes for arousing suspicions with regard to the wrong persons. [That sentence is taken from The Stage, 5 September 1918!] It is well calculated to both thrill and amuse by reason of the skilful way in which the authors have managed to absolutely throw the audience off the track as to who is actually the spy acting behalf of Germany. Miss Marie Robson will be seen as Christina Anderson, supposed to be a Scotswoman, but really a Norwegian, who is one of the staff of “The Daily Wire,” one of many publications controlled by Sir Harry Merstham, a big newspaper proprietor, which part will fall to Mr. Richard A. Greene. Mr. Bernard Merefield is down for Wilfred Carpenter, otherwise known as Chips, whilst others in the cast include Miss Marion Boughton and Mr. Clifton Earle. It should be noted that the performances next week will commence with a short humorous and musical recital by Mr. Bernard Merefield, the possessor of a voice of great range and sweetness, who will include some of his own original compositions in this novel curtain-raiser. There will be the usual matinée on Saturday’ (Western Morning News, 25 October 1919). Also reviewed in the Western Morning News, 28 October 1919: ‘Efficiently cast, it had a most favourable reception’.