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  The
Argosy Players in: The Shadow Passes by Mabel Constanduros and Howard
Agg
Staged: 29 October 1954 in the Basement theatre Head Office
Water Street Liverpool
With only a month to go before staging a major production (“On
approval”)in front of a public audience, the Argosy Players and their
colleagures from the Manchester Players entertain member of Martins Bank
society of the Arts to two plays. You can read more about the Manchester
Players’ production of “Inquest on Holiday” by clicking HERE. In what is described as a tense drama, the Argosy Players
present a murder play with an all-female cast. Typical of this period in
history, Martins Bank Magazine comments: “All-female plays are pretty dull as a rule, but this one is
a definite exception”. This is of course at a point in British
employment history where women are banished home to the kitchen upon
marriage, a practice that doubtless killed many a good career, and set back
the cause of equal treatment for all genders by several decades at least. For
this special evening of drama, the top brass of the Back from both Liverpool
and London are in attendance in the somewhat intimate surroundings of the
Basement Theatre at Head Office. As ever, Martins Bank Magazine has a front
row seat, and sets the scene for us in its Winter 1954 issue…
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 Under the auspices of the Society,
the Manchester Players and the Argosy Players entertained members in the basement
theatre at Head Office on October 29th. Among those present we were pleased
to see Mr. and Mrs. Verity and Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell. Mr. R. H. Price,
Chairman of the Society, opened the proceedings by welcoming the Manchester
Players whose show was put on first, and at the conclusion of the evening
Mr. J. L. Shenton thanked the Society on behalf of Manchester for the
evening's hospitality.
There was a long interval between the two plays, due in
part to a complicated change of scenery, but no one minded as the
refreshments provided were the excuse for turning the evening into a very
pleasant social occasion. The Argosy Players chose a tense drama, The
Shadow Passes, by Mabel Constanduros and Howard Agg.
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Maud Melville, Heather Bartlett. Marlis
Harvey, Pauline Rae, Nora Owen and
Kathleen Horsburgh
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The story centres round a murderer hunted by the police,
who is aided by the daughter of the owner of the house, in a room of which the
action takes place. The five characters are divided on the issue—two lor
helping, two for betrayal, and one a fatalist, and finally the issue is
decided without any action on the part of anyone, though the house is
shaken by the passions which the passing of this shadow evokes. All female
plays are pretty dull as a rule, but this one is a definite exception. Maud
Melville gave an outstanding performance of sane, well-balanced behaviour
when everyone else was going temperamental. Kathleen Horsburgh, despite one
or two prompts, gave one of her best performances as the worried mother and
somewhat ineffective head of the house. Nora Owen, who succours the
murderer, gave us an excellent portrayal of sloppy sentimentality and
muddled thinking, put over in an intense and dramatic way which only a Maud
Melville could puncture. In the excitement of the part, however, Nora,
usually excellent on her lines, had a bad black out, being put off by
someone who skipped something. Pauline Rae, appearing with the Players for
the first time, managed to detach herself from the prevailing passion as a
fatalist would. Marlis Harvey, also appearing for the first time, gave a
sultry performance first of anger and then of shame which was most
commendable. The part of the little maid was taken by Heather Bartlett, a
neat portrayal of a part which gave more scope than such a part usually
does. The producer was Sydney N. Rimmer.
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