Bernina Café, Bath

‘Arnold Bennett’s three-act comedy, “The Title,” was read by members of the Bath Playgoers’ Society on Wednesday in the Bernina Cafe before an appreciative audience. Mr. Harold Downs (hon. secretary) prefaced the reading by remarking that Bennett’s best work was as novelist rather than playwright. Nevertheless, it was interesting and useful to see how Bennett the novelist applied his literary skill in playmaking. The cast was:- Mr. Culver, Mr. Harold Downs; Mrs. Culver, Miss Isabel Chisman; Hildegarde Culver, Miss L. B. Clarke; John Culver, Mr. Michael Brosnan; Tranto, Mr. R. A. Rawlings; Miss Starkey, Miss Doris Cox; Sampson Straight, Mr. F. J. Matthews; Parlourmaid and stage directions, Miss Margaret Elwood. At the conclusion Capt. A. W. Annand (Chairman of the Committee) spoke appreciatively of the all-round excellence of the reading, and expressed the members’ regret that Mrs. Downs (producer) was unable to be present owing to indisposition. Mr. Downs said that before the reading took place he did not wish to give a lead to criticism of the play. Members would probably agree, having heard the reading, that it was essentially a play of the theatre with flashes wit and smart lines, but weak in characterisation and with little of special significance in the treatment of the theme. It was, however, the type of play that readers could easily interpret in different ways, and from which much illumination of life could be obtained’. Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, Saturday 17 November 1928.