"©The Cat and the Canary"
'The mystery play entitled 'The Cat and' the. Canary" did not mystify last Friday's audience at the Olympic Theatre. They were, however, at times genuinely amused, for the piece is m the main broadly farcical, with some slight pretentions to mysticism, but more. to charlatanry.
It would spoil the sport to tell the whole story, even if we understood all the ramifications of the first two acts. There were rather too many complications, with the result that the audience had to perform mental gymnastics as the price to he paid for being mystified.
From the shivery moment when a ghostly hand stretches over the sleeping form of the heroine, things brighten up considerably, but the final thrill is muffed. The villain could really have been detected a little more dramatically. He was unmasked quite cleverly, but there was no drama in his unmasking.
The pace at which the play was taken is too slow. Surely these pieces should be played rapidly or else the mystifying element vanishes.
Miss Dorris Kemper acted with charm and humour as ihe heiress. Miss Betty Barnicoat specializes in such parts as that of the fatuous Susan Sillsby. Broad farce is her strong suit. Mr. T. Daniel Frawley as the Doctor had little to do, but did that little well.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.