BLAND HOLT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 300, 28 December 1897, Page 5

BLAND HOLT.

OPENING OF THE AUCKLAND v SEASON.

"FOR ENGLAND."

I Bland Holt never fails to fill the Opera ' Those to overflowing on his periodical and 1 prTweleome visits to Auckland, and last I Vfffht proved no exception to the general I - ni?' onff before the curtain rose on the ! I^in«, piece of the Bland Holt season I II house' was packed to overflowing, * A scores had to be content with I iiS room .only Bland Holt's ! name has "a magic effect on the Auck:l tad Public, aud fche P°Pular act? r could find nothing to complain at 'in I &come last night. The play staged I was a new one to Auckland, a stirring I Dec tacular four-act melo-drama entitled \ hor England," written by Sutton Vane, I aa thor of "In Sight of St. Paul's," "The ! 5 Mo f Life." and other sensational plays. If As the-title-indicates, the piece is: highly 1 and the British national feeling I Ls very strongly through the drama and 0 red coats and guns and British colours t [bound. The plot is a stirring one,' and 1 tKesceaes embrace some most excitingstage I Lgtnres. In the course of four acts a plot is ! worked out descriptive of the gallantry i honour of Lieut. Cecil Cranbourne I „ contrasted with the villainy and i treachery of Major Fordyce Dangerfield, a cashiered army officer. Dangerfield is anxious to supplant Cranbourne in the affections of Alma Dunbar, a South African heiress whose banking account is the only possible means he (Danger-field) can see of employing to restore his position. Dangerfield lias seduced and deserted Lesbia Perm, a daughter of an old Quaker whom he subsequently murders, I after failing in an attempt to throw the S blame of the girl's downfall upon. Cran- | bourne, against whom he also plots in § an; endeavour to transfer the charge I of murder from his . own shoulders. I War breaks out in the Transvaal, and I Cranbourne is ordered, with his regiment, 1 on active service to South Africa. DangerI field also goes therein the guise of a war I correspondent, but really as a spy in the 1 pay of the Boers, which treasonable posiI lon he employs to again attempt to i-ain I] the hero and' get Alma Dunbar into his I clutches. That lady, accompanied by her > maid (Keziah Perm) and Vera Cranbourne 1 lias also found her way to South Africa, I and the three ladies do much to circumvent 1 the efforts of the .traitor. Manasses Marks. H a Jew money-lender, who has lent money I to nearly all the officers in the regiment, | and also to Dangerfield, follows his 1 creditors to the war, and always turns np 1 at the right moment to do Cranbourne a 1 good turn and bring confusion on the | heads of his enemies. Naturally, this. I teing a play, everything turns out happily I m the end, and Marks is. the individual I ?ho unravels the tangle. He is the sole I witness of the murder of Perm. AfterSi wards he interceptsDangerfield'sdespatches |l to the Boers, and although he is supposed I to have been shot by Dangerfield, he puts 1 in an appearance again in the last act, and '•.; finally vanquishes the villain, and virtue m is at last triumphant. I ..The chief interest of the piece was, of II cowse, centred in Mr Bland Holt, and that 'fentlenian, in the congenial role of ManI asses Marks, the business-like but good- ■ hearted Jew, was greeted by a roar of ]k Janghter whenever he made his appear- || an'ce. Mr Holt was the life of the play. fs and his drolleries were amusing to the S last degree. In the third act, when he | appeared in the wilds of Africa, dressed 1 asa Zulu, the amusement of the audience I mew no bounds.

iMrsßland'Holt received a-most hearty wJcome from the audience, and as Heziah Perm, the Quaker's daughter, lie played with great piquancy and artistic sense. Mr W. E. Baker assumed the part of Lieut. Cranbourne, the hero, and he made the most of that responsible

I role. Mr Albert Norman played Major i Dangerfield, the villain of the piece, and 1 did" his work well. Miss Elizabeth Wat--1 Jon made a charming Alma Dunbar, and Miss .Frances Ross was equally successful and attractive in the role of Vera Cran- . bourne. Miss • Fitzmaurice Gill played '■ with credit as Lesbia- Perm, and Messrs CoUese, Charles Brown, and John Cosgrove, ■ were most successful, and earned well- ■ deserved praise in their characters, respeeH tively, of Matthew Perm, Private Jeremy ij Grattan, Lieut. " Baby" WE. Bemrose. I . The mounting and scenic effects were ex- -; ] cellent, and the African scenes were es- : 2 genially exciting, particularly so the f| tableau representing storming of Fort ' Dnnbar and the rescue of the British . prisoners. The orchestral music was of the H best, and Mr Percy Kehoe acted as conM ductor. "For England " will be repeated •-': this evening.