"CYRANO DE' BERGERAC"

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 257, 28 October 1907, Page 7

"CYRANO DE' BERGERAC"

* LLjOkTbY -THE, PONSONBY! : CLUB. Tie-reading on Friday evening at the jTlSttof "Cyrano de Bergerae-by SpoSonby Shakespeare Club is worthy tt ™ notice than is usually devoted, to rfl thereasoa **** ifc - only chance yet afforded' of modern drama of hear, " mist unquestionably be proonloi, if not positively the fin*S c i Produced during the rVStf years or more. On this score. -_* n»b certainly deserve congratula- ■ *t and their effort to give • of Rostand's ' to a great ex-. !*f Xcessful, That it was not.comall events, more so, was £et two eaus_. The firs, is that. ■ de Bergerac is essentially an g M U reading play Such magm, S calls on histrionic abihry as mapt iSSI in scene after scene of the for, instance, when Cyrano is | iSusioned-in the hope of Rosane's !' . w or where he bears for her sake tha ' tudied insults of Christian or, s tiU bet, *!r when he" becomes love's mouthpiece • lor that tongue-tied lover of hisi own • Sk cannot possibly be achieved --":- L mere reading.' Acting sueh_ as few are ■ '_i_ble of is necessary right through SHlay, which is essentially one of ae- ' tion making- the most exacting caUs ■Jn facial,expression,,by-play, and what 'ferVant of a better term, one must feVsilent:aeting. This, of. course, was mi within the power of any combination of readers to achieve, but we :'certainly /-■_> think that so great a play,'and so. ■ „eat an: opportunity, worthy oi " fore rehearsals than had apparently .:; been bestowed upon it. It was not that • -fli level of -the reading was or ■'-SA mediocre (considering the difficul--eoltieslviar'from it, but that it so ■■ 'obviously might have been very much "better with a little more care and a ' : Fe rr considerable amount mor e prepara.- ---■ iion vl lt was probably because the read- = "fee of Paola and Francesca was so par. -tirokTly well done (because well re- : that one felt a sense of some ■'!'- disappointment on an occasion which seemed !&<** eTen to edi P se even that ■for Uterary ' interest. Improvement ''" eonld, too, be made (if the play is read again, which would be worth while) in what'may be- termed the stage manage* >' -ment of the reading. The readers betrayed a tendency to huddle in groups, ■ aiia were slow in taking up their proper .positions, this making it exceedingly 'difficult to tell who was in- the east in the early part of the play. Much of the reading was very meritorious, the elocu"iion being, almost .entirely far aboTe the "average, and every character being audible. The lion's share of the work fell, of coarse, on Mr. Maxwell Walker as Cy- • raao, one of'the ' most extraordinary and most lovable characters in the drama ' of all time. No mere reading could do - instice to a part such as this, but ;Mr. •Valker did well, and almbst exceUently, : Where he failed was-in passion and inteHatyj and in conveying the inward and : latter straggles in which this splendid ..-lero is engaged right through the play! The halcony scene, where Cyrano -prompts ".Christian (Mr. E. H. North- * croft) in 'the "turning of pretty phra,ses, \fbi(_ Boxane (Miss B. Jackson) demands .—-from ler-lover, was the best in the play,

iU three characters rising to the Qccai heing <jaii.e ; at his f" whii; hS-losej __isclf' 6_aed" part of Christian, and. speaks • : spiadacß_y ! ' Ibis own : love in; language -.which is really superb. The other "and s__diary characters were fairly filled, He Hemus, as The Bore, deserving special _enfion, but lack of rehearsal and immffiaentV- study -were observaUe ' !;'_jroiighoui. " If, as the" playis read again, a.brief synopsis of the " 'plot~_Jgb.t<, with advantage, ba printed *on tie prograisiae, for Rostand is not Shakespeare, and almost wholly nn» I - &OWH, and some idea of the story prior '■'to the reading would be helpful to the -sridience : in- following the trend of 'the tragedy which, is, of necessity, ranch broken by cuts. ' The fall" cast was as fpllows:—Cyrano ; "-He ; Bergerac, Mr. -Maxwell Walker; . l(_r_tia : n dej-Neuvillette, Mr. E. H, .Sorfhcnrfi; Comte de Guiche, Mr. "Percy Bret, Mr. W. H. Gxiahanr; i t_(___, Mr. G. E. Adams; R_gue_au, 3—.-H.- Heimis; Cuigy and The Friar, •Mr. T. XL Weffls; Captain Carbon de . Cas_l-J__lo_i, Mr. G. Bujlen; The Bore, Mr. H. Hemus; Montfleury, Mr. Percy ,___9s Roxaaie, Miss Bertha Jackson; Wh& __;__.■ and• Sister Martha, Mia§ i&l<s Gillett.