THE BLAND HOLT SEASON.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 10601, 10 March 1900, Page 9

THE BLAND HOLT SEASON.

■::; London town." As an intraveller of the web woven by villainy around helpless virtue commend us to JJland Holt. He is the bright hope of the pit, in whom tliey put then- fuilh. La*t night tho audience at the Theatre Royal was buoyed up during three hours and ten minutes of heartrending.suffering, secure in the knowledge that Mr Holt would eventually put a,n end to it all and restore his darling child to an afflicted parent's arms. Nor were thay disappointed. The piece—one of the most melodramatic of melodramas— is called "In London Town," mainly because* the greater portion of the action takes place there, and, "it pour-trays that city iv such ■harrowing colours that on© might blush to be v. cockney. The persecuted heroine, utKlergoes more suffering than the general run of heroines care to tackle, and e»cupes death too thrillingly for words. Also the characters betray a' tendency to crop up unexpectedly at various unlikely upots in an extraordinary maimer, and the play .s long, but it is well mounted. It is fre.ueutly amusing, because Mr. and Mrs Holt cannot bo ot. tlie f.tag© to-get'ber _oi" two n__iute_ without creating some fun, nnd the spectator is hurried from one incident tt> ailother with startling directness. Briefly, the heroine, nik.td by a villain, finds herself in London-ca.t on her own resources, ,wlulo..an adventuress masquerades ,in her place. Tho < villain derives nunh direct' advantage from tliis, b.cause he is thus enabled to tup tlie heroine's fond pamnt for unlimited casli, tbe latter, hay ng just re--1 turned after years of alid being deluded- into tho belief that the aforesaid adventuress is his-daughter. Eventually, by the medium of Bland Holt and a waterspout- tills,diabolical fraud is defeated and the curt-aim drops. Miss Frances Ross played the persecuted ...roin. pathetically and with success, while Miss Harrie Ireland as the adventuress who temporarily supplant- her, was equally .uccefsful. -Mrs Bland Holt had a congenial part, which she made- tb.3 most of. as Liddy Blist. the sweetheart of Jack Parker (RJand Hot). and the other ladies fuliined all the requirements of the price, faith fully and excellently. Mr W. E. Baker, as tho fond but, dcCuded parent, ivas quite- melodramatic enough for the most hypercritical taste, and Mr Albert Norman made, a refreshingly remorseless villain. Mr Arthur Styan gave a clever «tudy of Morrison, a blind thief. Mr Styan's forts is evidently character, and his .performance was a.v artistic one. „ As Eli Finch, an oily villain bf.anoth.er type, Mr Charles Brown wswaiso cxceeding.y good. ' Tin's notice would be , incomplete without a word of praise of Miss Brightie Smiths portrait of Matt, a cripple boy. The oilier characters were welt played, and the dan_nig in the second _ct was very good. Some excellent music was discoursed by the orchestra. The piece ' will be repeated to-night.