A young girl whose early fascination for a foreign ventriloquist leaves her with his doll, £1,000, and an accompanying "dark enchantment".'
Austlit here. First produced Minerva Theatre Sydney in 1949. His wife Thelma did costumes see here.
then toured England in 1950. Hubert Woodward backed it see here. He rewrote it for Nora Pilbeam and is had a second provincial run see here.
Set in a London boarding house of 1895.
Adelaide News review here. The Truth review here. The Sun here. Another Daily Tele review here. Smiths Weekly here. Sydney Jewish News here. Bulletin review here.
Dail Tele review
"Thriller" disappoints
Max Afford seems to have written his thriller, "Dark Enchantment," with an ear for the radio rather than an eye for the stage. This Australian author's play, which had its Minerva premiere last night, left most of its. thrills to explanatory— and trite — dialogue. Set in a London theatrical lodging-house of, 1895, “Dark Enchantment” clusters murder and mystery around the doll left by a dead ventriloquist. Max Afford failed to give his good, if derivative, thriller idea any sense of period character and atmosphere. He certainly created the sus pense in Act 2 when the ventriloquist’s doll became as frightening as the Monkey’s Paw of W. W. Jacobs. The cast handling this idea was mostly colorless and deficient in timing. Neva Carr-Glyn, whose seasoned technique carried the improbable gipsy role, Betty Duncan as the Victorian maid, and Charles Zoli in the obvious ‘role of the organ grinder, were the exceptions. Richard Parry as the ventriloquist. who should establish the mood in Act 1, was lament ably miscast. Producer Fifl Banvard failed to establsh both the essential points of the play and its latent melodrama. But the promise in “Dark En chantment” is strong enough to demand reconstruction by M& Atrora. — J.U’JN.
SMH review here.
First Night For A New Thriller
Max Afford’s mystery thriller, “Dark Enchantment,” was pre- sented for the first time last night at the Minerva Theatre The author of “Awake, My Love,” has turned m this new play to the modest dimension of ;nclo dramg, in which he proves his ability to lease with suspense and to administer shocks of horror He can tell a story with macabre inventiveness and ingenious twists The tortures of Julie, to whom a sinister ventriloquist bequeaths a doll and a legacy of £1,000, are nicely calculated to communicate that tingling of the spine which, even in an uncomfortable world, is for many people a desired sensation Last night the cast performed gallantly with the help of improvised lamps-not, happily, altogether out of place in the gaslit interior of a London boarding-house in 1895 The producer, Fifi Banvard, served the dramatist well by excellent Timing, conscientious attention to detail, and robust speed of action Ihe players, proud to present Australian work, threw themselves into their parts with a gusto which was welcome io observe Richard Parry, who appears only in the first act, was haunting and formidable as the ventriloquist, Paul Kurtner Neva Carr-Glyn was first beguiling and, m the climax, frantic and ag- gressive is the fortune-teller, and Daphne Winslow and Georgie Ster- ling were effective as the mother and daughter upon whose lives the ‘ dark enchantment” of the doll is shed The weakness of Max Afford’s play fies in much of the dialogue, which is ui parts trite, and in other parts, as m the speech of the gipsy, not true to character His people-as, for instance, the ham actor, Orlando Partlett-are types who have flatness without depth If his inventiveness in action, which achieves a master stroke in the approach of whistling outside the window at the end of the last act, could be paralleled by origi- nality in character creation, he might make of this thriller a play of distinction and roundness com- parable with nhe work, in the crime department, of Dorothy Sayers - A.T.
Awake my Love (1947)
Rewritten from Colonel Light the founder, South Australian Centenary Prize-winning play, 1936. Read Austlit on that here.
Complete text of play here.
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