MR. DAMPIER IN LONDON.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 8994, 5 January 1895, Page 4

MR. DAMPIER IN LONDON.

(Illustrated Sporting and Dramatia Newa.) "No charge of obttinate adherence to a

managerial policy after it has been proved unpopular can fairly be brought against an entrepeneur who follows up Sardou'i "Odette" with Damper and Walah'e " Robbery Under Arms." The nature ot

Mrs Anna Ruppert's second venture at the Princess's could not well have been made to differ more strikingly than it does from that of her first; nor could her own share

in the two performances have been marked

by more varying degrees of merit. From almost every point of view, and most or ail from Mrs Ruppert's, the revival of •♦ Odette " was a failure. In many wayn, and particularly in Mr* Ruppert's,bright and easy embodiment of a heroine who Has to ride about the ataee on a cream-coloured steed," Robbery Under Arms "is a distinct success. As a work of dramatic art the play does not, of course, run very higU Adapted from a novel of Australian adventure, it is over-crowded with incidents and characters, very hazy In some of its motives, and much ton lengthy in its elaboration. On its first performance at the Princess's ltd five acte* lasted from

half-paat seven till half-past eleven,

was full of " alarms and excursions " which

had, perhaps less of sense and significance than of sound and smell of gunpewder; and more than one of Its episodes imposed a considerable strain upon the credulity of its audience. But these defects, some cf which may easily be made to disappear under the influence of a blue pencil and a

pair of ecistors, are more than counterbalanced by the piefcureaquenese of the- , ' Hucceseive scenes, the vigour of the cony. , fused action, and the general melodramatic

" go " of the whole production. The central figure of the piece i« Captain Starlight, described on the playbill us "a bushranger yet a gentleman," and thus obviously akin to our old friends Claude Daval and Captain Swift. Of coarse Cap- ~ tain Starlight has a tender chord in fch nature, especially when the safety of ladle* is threatened by his law lee* comrade*; and equally of course he tries to justify his lehmael-lUce attitude towards society by finding fault with eoclety'e laws. 'I be best thing, however, in the estimation o! pit and gallery that be does, is hi*conduct of the robbery of the Australian niali, which Iβ duly introduced behind the footlights, wirh a handsome team of hewe* and a gold escort. Another excitinp achievement of hie Is his resent of Si: Ferdinand, chief of the mllltary-looklnp but imbecile local police, who has been j tied to a stake in order that he may be i<: offered up as a burnt sacrifice by a bush- V ranger, leas chivalrous and perhaps | more consistent than the gallant Can- 'i tain Starlight. These stirring episodes ;! occur in the earlier acts: In Act \ 111. we are taken to the races— J though we do not see the actual contest -■>. between the horses—and the gentleman § bushranger with the two most faithful of 'J, hie followers, Dick and Jim Mars ton, cotnf s to signal grief. _ After much firing nnc £ noise Starlight is lt-f r, for dead, while Jim is really killed, and Dick is captured and 1 condemned-to death. Inasmuch, however, jj as Starlight is hero as well as villain, h« z cannot be allowed to die off like thin. The '.i long-deferred end of the play, indeed, ~i'i Teees him restored not only to health bat to freedom, the latter strange conces- '-*J sion being presumably due to Sir Ferdl* 4 nand'e gratitude for faia natural enemy , ! =; generosity in day's gone by. Dick % Marstou also manages to escape from 4 prison, and much to the delight of his sweetheart and his sister, obtains a. * free pardon, on what leflt&l groood we •' cannot imagine, but mucß to the eetw "• :. faction of a simple minded audience. There : is a deal more than tbi«t In the stage storj v of " Robbery Under Arms "—a great deal too much for anything like symmetrica* or lucid effect. But in its straggling way u< piece may perhaps interest hearers tan exacting and more unsophisticated th*n the patrons of the average West End theatre. Of the acting not very much needs to w ■ said. Mr Alfred Dampfer, one of th< : -_ authors, proved hitnuelf an Starlight to b* an actor of some experience with a slow . quiet manner, fairly impressive in Its y; somewhat dult way. Mrs Rupperfc looks ,-, well, rides well, and speaks here lines far :><. better than she was able to deliver he* ;. long speeches in 'Odette.' Better art !*«*'< exhibited by Mr Bernard Gould in tin spirited impersonation of a genial IrUb < police-officer; and valuable aid is gives ;- also by Mr Herbert Fieraming, Mr Berton, % and Mr Clarence Holt." Mo mention, U , : V will be seen, la made of Miss Bos< f; : Dampler, who is in the cast. >