Hokey but very effective, something you could also say about Teahouse of the August Moon, also written by John Patrick. Patients at a hospital in Burma towards the end of World War Two are informed that they’re going to be joined by a soldier who is terminally ill (dodgy kidneys) but he doesn’t know it yet. They try to be nice to him but he’s a dour Scot – orphaned, miserable, proud, penny pinching, into kilts and playing his bagpipes. It’s a cliché character but it wouldn’t work if it wasn’t – the humanisation of Lachie/Scotty is very moving, and you feel for him as he falls for the nurse. The Aussie character in the play gets a few lines, the African a few grunts (he gives Lachie beads, of corse), but the biggest roles are to “the Yank” and the nurse. I didn’t recognise any of the cast - apparently Ann Burr, who plays the nurse, did that part on Broadway.
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