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It seems that whenever an actress can't get a job these days, she writes a play in which only she can star. "Dark Eyes," this week's offering at the Cambridge Summer Theatre is by several such actresses and concerns their escapades in trying to get their play produced. Originally produced on Broadway with the autsshors, Elena Miramova and Eugenie Leontovich, in the cast, the transition from the big time to straw hat seems to have taken its toll and proved one thing: that only Mirainova and Leontovich can star in this show.
The play itself is very comically constructed, and though the tendency of the players is towards farce in places, the sheer funniness of the lines themselves refuses to be obscured. A variety of Russian acconts further complicate the proceedings and tend to bewilder both the audience and the players. Handsomely set in another of Andrew Mack's distinctive settings, however, the production shows some amazingly fine acting from some of the Jesser characters in the play.
Lonore Ulric, fresh from her triumph as a Russian in "The Doughgiris," does not yet seem quite at home with her lines, and in places is over-expressive with her hands. Louise Valery is by far the best of the three Russians and in places achieves a rather genuine accent. Robert Perry has evidently spent more time in directing and less with his own part in this show; and Richard Hart continues to show that he is an outstanding young actor of whom greater things can be expected.
Perhaps it is the heat, but "Dark Eyes" is definitely one of the lesser productions of the Cambridge season. Contrary to previous publicity, this one is not sophisticated, it doesn't sparkle-- it merely fizzes.
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