AMUSEMENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 216, 10 September 1903, Page 5

AMUSEMENTS.

'•THE CHRISTIAN."

"A hit—a palpable hit," the majority would have said last night had they known their "Hamlet" (vvihch some •of them are said to do). People grew more and more enthusiastic as the play developed,, and the curtain man must have ■felt dubious as to where his work began and ended/ The audience hardly, noticed, though the critic did, that it was ■ half-past eleven o'clock before its final fall. This says that the play was popular. By implication it says that it will be popular again. The critical formulate the intelligent premiss that this .may mean anything or nothing, and look to the rest of the argument for themselves. One has seen "Christians" galore, each with its John, Storm, its Gloria Quayle; its howling mobs in the wings, its nurses ond its Prime Minister. ■ Most of them are. noisy, frenzied> unlikely, hysterically didactic. Miss Williamson has knocked out all) that is -quite idiotic, most of what threatens to be so on a slender provocation, and much of that which is really cheap. The result is not prodigious; still more certain is it that it is not insignificant. It is on the upper side of that- mediocrity which a manager regards as, business-likely speaking, a very good working ideal. Again,' it is a popular play; and it may be-added that it is above the average in that not necessarily exalted kind. ' From the start we. plunge in modias res. John Storm appears in the Isle of Man scene as a full fledged cleric, which he does not in some of the other versions. This saves cant. John himself is Hall ■Cayie/s John, thoroughly ex,p*\rgated for three-quarters of, the piece of fttUrj aticism, this essential of the never-pro-bable conclusion of the play being developed in the penultimate act. For the opening scenes he is quite a fresh, young man, whose only aius arw the un-Came like faults of giving voice to some too everyday remarks that grate,a little on one's ears through a certain lack of grace and refinement. Similarly, Gloria should not talk about •'stopping the mouth" of anyone. But as the action becomes intense and emotion has full sway these faults drop out, atyd the remainder of the piece is highly creditable to most of those concerned. The only remaining points of weakness are an occasional laying en of , the'colours'too thickly, a caricaturing by some of the characters and an underestimate yb others of the manners of the demimonde., and a tendency to accentuate the obvious. Against this there is the magnificent -acting of Mr Woods, who in the scene in which he seeks to kill Gloria, and in his death scene, equalled his fine performance as Dan Mylrea in "Tlie Gates of Londage" (saying which is meant to be, and is, the warmest praise). His fine elocution, his full appreciation of the requirements of his character, that is to say his reality, hia passic.'i, his nover-failing self-command, made for an interpretation-of unquestionable merit. Miss Williamson's Gloria was extremely good after the first act (ill which she was too naturally natural to appear by the laws of art convincing). Her work in the Boardroom scene and in the tragic developments towards the end of the play reached a «high level of emotional acting, which merit the warmest congratulation. Mr Boothman's Canon Wealthy was not quite delicate enough in the handling, but was throughout very much to the liking of the house: a little more unconscious and he would be very good. Mr Buckler, as Drake, made an excellent foil to Lord Robert tire (well but a little unevenly taken by Mr Geo. Hassell). Miss Williamson had made him (Drake) less repulsive than in most of the versions, and with good effect. Mr Buckler played him with consistent grace and presence, and latterly with strength and.power. Father Lamplogh (a less prominent character than in the. earlier dramatisations) is very carefully and intelligently played by Mr Harry Beaumont! The-rest of the long cast is satisfactory.. The piece is admirably staged, the first and last scenes being especially good. The singing before the rise of the first curtain might br abandoned t improved. In brief the , play is still "The Christian" (Vhough, generally speaking, improved), and it must stand or fall according as one does or doe's not admire that flight of Hall Game's genius; while the acting, if it is hardly less creditable than the very good work done by the same company in "The Ga£es of Bondage," a commendable effort which is sure to be rewarded.