Her Majesty's Theatre, Dundee

Performers: Cecile Barclay, Rupert Lister

‘If every man who stayed at home” had as sufficient a reason for it as had Christopher Brent, the hero of the play produced for the first time in Dundee at Her Majesty’s last night, there would be no need even to talk of conscription, for Brent remained here because he could give his country best service in England. The play was enthusiastically received by a huge audience ... There is always intense interest in the doings of a clever spy, and this is still keener when rival spies are at work, and the patriotic spirit counts for much. The war element, of course, pervades the whole play, but there are no horrors, not even any bloodshed, and the only audible shooting is the boom of the big guns from the two British cruisers which at the end demolish the German submarine U11’. The cast included George Tully, C. Haviland-Burke, Frank Woolfe, J. Augustus Keogh, Ernest H. G. Cox, Laurie Flockton, Esty Marsh, Gladys Hamilton, Christine Jensen, Eugenie Vernie, Valerie Richards. Dundee Courier, 5 October 1915.

Performed Friday and Saturday matinee.

The Dundee Courier, 9 October 1916, advertised Hilda Trevelyan and Percy Hutchison in A Kiss for Cinderella at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Dundee in the following week. The Dundee Courier, 13 October 1916, published a preview of the production. The Dundee Evening Telegraph and the Dundee Courier, 17 October 1916, published reviews of the production. Letter from Percy Hutchison published in the Dundee Courier, 20 October 1916: ‘Sir, - Through your columns I should like to express my great astonishment at the indifferent support accorded to my company and production of Sir James M. Barrie’s beautiful play, “A Kiss for Cinderella.” In spite of the fact that I have engaged Miss Hilda Trevelyan for her original part; that I have brought down the London company and the entire original production, the theatre has only been half-filled at every performance so far. On Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday there were under twenty dress circle patrons. At Glasgow and Edinburgh the theatre was crowded every performance, hundreds being turned away, and the play had an exceptionally long run in London. A few years ago I produced “Brewster’s Millions” in Dundee, and the theatre was crowded nightly. Why it that an American farce should be so successful and a beautiful play like “A Kiss for Cinderella” fail to attract a Dundee audience? I am afraid it is not an inducement for me to present a Barrie play in Dundee again. With apologies for troubling you, I am, &c., Percy Hutchison. Her Majesty’s Theatre, Dundee, Oct. 19, 1916’. Letter signed ‘More Satisfaction’ in the Dundee Evening Telegraph, 29 December 1920: ‘Managers have found out people want to be amused if their theatres are to be paying propositions. “Art” is all very well, but there’s no money in Dundee. I well remember Barrie’s delightful “A Kiss for Cinderella” at Her Majesty’s, and the deplorable business it did, and heaps of| others I could name. Through lack of support we lost the theatre, and, though I was a frequent visitor there, I don’t think the opposition hurt the “King’s,” and I’ve faith enough in the “King’s” to believe it would fight the opposition if there were any’.

‘“Kultur at Home" … is a contribution of unique interest to war literature, for it presents a fair and honest, if satirical, representation of German life in a garrison town. It emphasises the contrast between Briton and Teuton, but does so in a kindly manner'. Dundee Courier, 1 December 1916. 'This stirring play gives a faithful picture of German life just before the war, and shows amusingly to English eyes the arrogance, bombast, and conceit of the Prussian military classes'. Dundee People’s Journal, 2 December 1916. '‘The war play, “Kultur at Home" … is a most interesting and absorbing play, although perhaps a little belated so far as its intention goes. The moral of the play is that it is dangerous for an English - or British - woman to marry a German officer. Surely after two years of war this moral does not require to be pointed'. Dundee Courier, 5 December 1916. '‘Frankly it, is impossible at the present moment to be deeply interested in any play which deals with German character and takes place on German soil. We know that German character, our lads on land and sea know it, and we don’t like it. It does not need a play such as “Kultur at Home” to bring home to us the barbarous traits in the Teutonic nature and purpose, the names of Edith Cavell, Captain Fryatt, and the tragedy of the Lusitania are enough for us. True “Kultur at Home” deals with domestic affairs, but the characteristics of the German nation are as prominent in home matters as in their world politics. Of course drama ought to be judged from a broad point of view, and such a narrow outlook as the above ought to be disregarded in art criticism. But it is there, and will persist besides that the authors have given us a play in which sentiment and patriotism are woven into single scheme'. Dundee Evening Telegraph, 5 December 1916.

‘It was good to be alive last night and to be with so many sailors and soldiers in Her Majesty’s Theatre, and thus share in a modest, if not absolutely silent, fashion in the joys of the first evening of peace. It was truly a great and unforgettable night. The house was full. The navy and the army were in large numbers, and by their singing at the interval and their good-humoured appreciation of the show they helped the rest of the audience, and also the members of the company, who played with a will and a spirit which added much to its charm. “Bubbly” has real claims to being a proper revue, for it takes off several modern plays. The famous Old Bill of Bairnsfather fame is happily caricatured when the real Old Bill is tormented by a Press Agent dying to interview him, by a music-hall artiste anxious to get him to do “Duo” with her, and by a youthful Duchess, whose Duke of ninety-one is dead, and who wants to marry him. Old Bill’s cup of bitterness runs over when Captain Bairnsfather himself appears, and is roughly handled ... The whole entertainment is bright, lively, and clever; the staging is excellent, and the dresses artistic and pretty. The chorus sings well, and the band, under an experienced conductor, plays the tuneful music with spirit and dash. “Rule Britannia” and “The Marsellaise” [sic – Marseillaise] struck a rousing patriotic note at the beginning of the performance’ (Dundee Courier, 12 November 1918).

Performed Monday and Friday.