"CLAUDIAN."

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 221, 11 June 1908, Page 8

"CLAUDIAN."

JULIUS OIGIIT-OLA HUMPHREY e • COMPANY.: '.V. I. . There .were few vacant seats at. the Opera i- Houso last evening, when the curtain was " rung;up on the first performance in Welling--0 ? n °L) ,• m^" s ancl Henry Herman's ' play Claudian, which might be scheduled as melodrama of a. somewhat rpi, mote school Mr. Wm.G. Wilf s ™f ap £ S and P'ays some twenty years ago, s and . though credited with several fair suc- " nnv V 6 T 6 W ite , d tho '' di vine. spark"Tn " "OKvif"j best known success was ' I I V ; product 5 d m Wellington quite re--3 thfl n' f t®!v th f e he did not fully realise W , P fi ot , e "h ,aht7 , ? f Goldsmith's "Vicarof Wakefield," and : in "Claudian," whilst asa E g rW= grea f 1 dran i atlo heigl'ts, his achievej ment does not nearly reach the snow-line of -tn fl,„ r ma ' , For <L hls f-hfeme.lio harks back 3 it fh't M e i n Pagan sneered t l he , humb] e heralds of Christianity when - trafGc in men and maids' was a thriving local 3 t , ho ,. ma 'n' he invested his Vrt , a , te<llou s« e ss, and his situations with a melodramatic baldness that fails +?r & "i lm P res ?ive ' as'. was unmistakably intended. Some faults may be condoned. Twenty-five . years ago 'it actors ?nnT v. i 0 & tin? char- ; acterS- ; long speeches -it suited the 1 .artificial, old . school to hold the 8 4? r \Y OTd , y tlvc ""nutos—and they ' ere a " right when , the . true poetry rang clear or sublime thought.'was suitably expressed, but.in the case of "Claudian"- there is a dead level of mediocrity'"that' fails to lift one to any degree of enthusiasm. - briefly, the story' concerns the Prefect Uaudian, a gaudy pagan, who attempts' to steal by purchase the of the sculp". tor-Theorus. When ahout to claim the woman Theorus effects a'rescue, and the girl " f ■ f °r sanctuary to the cave of' Holy Clement. Claudian, discovering her retreat, attempts to seize the girl, but is prevented by , the holy man, who in defending his charge is slam by the pagan. As ho dies Father Uement curses Claudiau to. everlasting youth ai a ; condition attached to the ' offcct ■ that whoinsoever. he, may lovo or bo beloved by shall wither away and die. The play opens a hundred years later. Claudian troubled sorely with his, burden, -. still looks bright and giddy in a tinted toga. He meets a woman who begs for money to keep life ; .within her sick ■ child, and-on receipt of it the child dies. Then falls he in with Almida, the beauteous daughter of Alcares a rich farmer. Almida loves and becomes betrothed'to Agasil, a sturdy blacksmith scorns the illicit proposals of t\ie Tetrarch of the place, then looks on is lost.:. The latter is distressed, but what can he do? The farmer's daughter forgets her smith.and declares her love for Claudiau and is , immediately struck blind for her pains. . Claudian leaves. her,' but she follows him,, and,- evading the sensuous/ Tetrarch (who is an easy,. butt for the noble Prefect's snubs),. seeks" him out again. On this occasion she is evidently irresistible, and Claudian, throwing .virtue to the winds, hotly embraces her,' and as ho does.so the, place is shaken, into chaos by an earthquake. Seeing that the curse is too much, for him; Claudian begs for death in a prolonged, apostrophe, and gets it from tho same lightning flash. that restores Almida's sight. The smith is thye to receive back his lately bewitched love, and though the scene is one of graphic ruin the assumption is: there is happiness ahead for the proper parties. Competent in figure, posp, and. elocution, Mr. Julius Knight •as Claudian' might be: a revival of Marcus Suporbus in ."The Sign of the Cross." An able, earnest, picturesque-actor, .ho- could not do otherwise than appear, to" advantage,\biit with all hi 3 art, ; even Mr; Kiiight' cannot make a good, out of an'indifferent play. - Miss Ola Humphrey made Almida quite the-- reverso > of' what, is usually expected- ,in a farmer's daughter. 'She is made a palefaced /ethereal. being, sighing for a lovo. that would surely have ; a humanising effect. Miss Humphrey-is-a trifle gaspy- in her elaborate attempt' to idealise ■ the part, • and yet 'was not without; a certain fascination of ' personality. 'The bold bad \-Tetrarch of -Mr. Harry. Plimnier was a picturesque villain, aiid the actor-struck a-high dramatic-note in pleading to Claudian for his life.. Mr. • Reynolds Denniston as Agasil (the smith) 1 had the best of the . subordinate parts, but 1 was rather more -. colourless ;■ than could be 1 found excuse for. in; the -play. The comedy; which - seemed strangely: out of place in- such I a play, was in the capable hands of Mr. < Dudley Clinton as Belos, a young bucolic, who degenerates into, a wine-bibbing soldier. 1 Apart From.- its inconsistency, Mr. Clinton's j foolery was . more than welcome. > In the prologue, . Mr. ! Leslio Victor gave a trenchant character sketch as ' Volpas, a patrician, but Mr. Bentloy suffered from hoarseness and incoherency as Theorus the sculptor. Miss Elsie Wilson, as Serena (a slave), looked her part well, and Mr. Geo. I Chalmers got ill-somo heavy work as Holy Clement, whose curse is a whole chanter in c

"Claudian" is'very well mounted, and tho earthquake effect, representing a great deal of sconic and mechanical labour,. was cleverly managed. The last scene of all was illumined by the best stage moon wo have seen. During tho action of the play songs wero'well sung by Mrs. Trueman and Miss Caldow (of Wellington). "Claudian"; will be repeated this ovening, but .will give way'to'"A-Royal Divorce" to-morrow ovoniug, when ■ Mr. Knight and Miss; Humphrey will appear. as Napoleon, and Josephine respectively. Among thoso present at tho performance wero tho Primo Minister, Lady Ward, Miss Ward, and party. .