AustLit

'The central figure is Jessica Leonard, whose husband has been paying attentions to another woman and whose friends are advising her to bring him to his senses. The other woman appears and begs the wife to take her husband back as she is growing tired of his devotion. Thus Jessica suffers a double humiliation, and succeeds in turning the tables on both her husband and her rival.'

Source:

'Saturday to Monday', Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March 1933, p.10.

All that is known of this drama is that it is a 'serious drama' and won the Lyceum Club drama prize for 1932 ('Music and the Theatre', West Australian, 29 July 1933, p.5).

No performances of Pretty Sister have so far been traced.

'She sets her scene in a house that is to let, and weaves a baffling and withal amusing plot. Sue (Marjorie Kennedy), Georgia (Edna Lowe), and Freda (Marie Balfour) take occupation of the house and hope to be able to enjoy in it a good holiday free from the worries and cares of a city existence. Fate, or possible Mrs. banks (Leura Andrews), Dr. Crappp (R.J.T. Blackham) and Millie (Kathleen Walter), willed otherwise, for the house had long been used by them as a depot for drugs. There is a ghost, and much rumbling–all staged so that the house shall have a reputation for being haunted. It is all, however, of no avail, for Bill, a very able secret service man (Russell Lamble), comes upon the scene and unearths a veritable hotbed of crime and drug trafficking.'

Source:

'Amateur Performances', The Age, 12 September 1932, p.6.

Described in newspapers as a 'short but horrific melodrama in rhyme', The Mystery of Manfred Moon was a 'satire upon the old-time melodrama when the heroine was without spot, and the villain without a redeeming feature'. (See 'Little Theatre Company', Table Talk, 9 June 1932, p.41.)

The Mystery of Manfred Moon was one of Handley's more successful plays, and was performed intermittently until at least 1946.

'Penelope [...], who plans to elope with that strongly suspected member of Victorian society— an actor [...] — engages the assistance of a romantic middle aged spinster, Miss Battarbee [...]. The lovers are brought together as a result of the actor's audacity in posing as the newly-installed vicar, after capturing the reverend gentleman and borrowing his clothes. Then Miss Battarbee gains the reward of her kindness, recognising in the vicar her former sweetheart, from whom she had been separated by her parents.'

Source:

'One-act Plays: Entertainment in North Perth', West Australian, 22 June 1934, p.16.

A humorous boardinghouse mystery, including a murder, a garrulous landlady, fugitives from justice, and a newspaper reporter.

Little is known of the plot of this drama, although one review of a later performance labelled it a 'melodramatic trifle' ('W.E.A. Dramatic Society', Advertiser, 4 August 1930, p.7).

'The central figures in "Handcuffs For One" are Mrs. Mainwaring, a widow, and her daughter, who are in reduced circumstances. They have a wealthy friend, Mrs. Duff-Barton, who, while on a visit to their home, shows them a costly bracelet which she has just purchased for her daughter. The play concerns itself mainly with the strange disappearance of this bracelet, all the characters in turn being accused until the mystery is eventually solved.'

Source:

'The Savoy', Sydney Morning Herald, 8 March 1930, p.21.

'Harlequin and Columbine (convincingly played by Ruth Conabere and Eric Donald) decide to abandon romance and become modern, but are appalled by the behaviour of Jack and Jill (Frank Goddard and Maisie Bennett), whom they chose as their models. Ultimately they convert this ultra-modern pair to romance.'

Source:

'The Playwriter Theatre', Table Talk, 28 June 1928, p.18.

'The well-contrived little comedy treats of lessons in the art of impressing the opposite sex, offered by a woman to a girl and by a middle-aged man to a young one.'

Source:

'Three Australian Plays', Argus, 20 April 1928, p.11.

Mistress Betty Treads a Measure was not one of Handley's more frequently performed plays, and little is known of its plot, barring that it is set in the eighteenth century, and seems to be a comedy of manners.

'The mandarin coat of the title is bought at a Chinese curiosity shop for 100 guineas by Sheila Caldwell. Afraid of being reproved for extravagance by her husband, Stephen, she causes him to think that that the real buyer of the coat is her friend, Madge Torrance. The proprietor of the shop has been absent at the time of the purchase, but he arrives soon at the dwelling of the Caldwells, and shows anxiety to buy the coat back.'

Source:

'Entertainments: "The Mandarin Coat",' The Argus, 15 October 1926, p.14.

Little is known about the plot of this drama.

'The idea of six young marriageables, doomed by the will of their late father to live a life of monotony in a quiet village, is depressing enough. But when a handsome young man enters the village, and Rose, the eldest, hits upon the idea that all must impersonate distinctive characters in the race for the matrimony stakes, the idea becomes decidedly interesting.'

Source:

'The Six Miss Seymours', The Age, 26 November 1924, p.12.