TOPICS ot the DAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 262, 9 November 1906, Page 2

TOPICS ot the DAY.

SAIL CAINE AT DRURY LAKE.

(From Our Special Corresßpndent.)

LONDON, September 22

A very melodramatic play, finely staged, and on the whole very capably acted—such is "The Bondman," the great autumn attraction at Drury Lane. It is sure to be an enormous success. The gigantic circulation attained by Hall Game's novels proves that he suits the popular taste, and this new play of his is an adaptation of one of his earlier and most attractive novels. The great scenic effects introduced in the play are sure to "draw," and the actors repressenting the two half-brothers round whom the dramatic storm rages are skilled players on the heart-strings of their audiences. The chances are that "The Bondman" will be an even greater success than the Hall Came production of last autumn, "The Prodigal Son."

According to the author, the play is "intended to illustrate the conflict of the pagan ideal of vengeance with- the Christian ideal of love." It would be wearisome to follow the story throug.iall its elaborate complications and crises. The plot turns upon a well-worn theme of family feud. Jason and Michael are half-brothers, the former an illegitimate son of Michael's father/ Jason is burning with wrath because his father had betrayed and abandoned his mother. Michael, in his turn, haf.es his brother for trying to rob him /of the love of Greeba, his sweetheart. / Each one burning to kill the other, the irony of fate brings them together as convicts in a Sicilian sulphur fmine, and Jason, by a supreme act of self-sacri-fice, saves his brother fxrym a fiery death, and escapes with I._m to the mountains. His hatred h._s turned to forgiveness and later on, when Michael is again a prisoner, undqr sentence of death, the amiable Jason substitutes himself for his brother and sends Michael and Greeba back to the Isle of Man by ship. It looks any odds against Jason saving his own skin now, but- Hall Cainc comes nobly to the restue. The cruel old governor who had condemned Michael to death discovers in the nick of time that he is the prisoner's grandfather, and tears up the death-warrant. So Jason,.who hrid stepped into the real prisoner's, shoes./escapes also. In a final tableau we see the lonely Jason standing on a headland, waving farewell to the departing "Ship, while the audience j alternately dyies its tears and gives forth 1 thunders of applause.

It is all very moral, and pathetic, and pretty, and thrilling. There is no comedy, little sense of humour, and a good deal that is commonplace and hackneyed, but the story is undeniably exciting. It need not be taken too seriously. The people who will flock to see the piece want to be entertained and to be thrilled. . Few of them will be repelled by its atmosphere of unreality, or will care greatly whether its effects are or are not machine-made. The principal characters, those of Jason and Michael, are most ably interpreted by Messrs Frank Cooper and Henry Ainley. The former carries much of the great success of the play upon his shoulders; he has never done better work. It is strong and impressive all through. Very effective too is Mr Aipley's Michael, his style forming an admirable contrast to the more vigorous -treatment, required for the part of Jason. Mrs Patrick Campbell, powerful actress as she is, is rather lost in the' colourless role of Greeba, .wlreh might with advantage, have been given" to a more girlish interpreter. Mr Henry Neville, Miss Marie Illington, Mr Austin Melford, and Mr Lionel Brough may all be said to make the most of their As for the staging of the piece, it provides a wonderful panorama of pictorial effects. The first-night audience was wildly enthusiastic, and Mr Hall Came and the Drury Lane manager, Mr Arthur Collins, received a tremendous ovation.