"THE CHEAT."

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 700, 28 December 1909, Page 6

"THE CHEAT."

I THE WILLIAMSON DRAMATIC COMPANY. "Tho Cheat," a melodrama in four acts. Cast.— .. General Sir Christopher Blanchard, K. 0.8, Mr. George S. Titheradge Stephen Blanchard ...... Mr. Harry Plnnmer Captain James Blanchard , > Mr. Thomas Kingston Dr. John Yorland, .8.M.0.8., ■ .•••• , . Mr. Karaley Turner Colonel Facet .........Mr. A. E. Greenaway Captain Phillip Eivers ... Mr. .Oyril MackayCaptain Fraser Mr. Rowland Stavely Lieutenant Ohisholm ■ .Mr. Lawrence Hardinge Lieutenant Brabson Mr. Lewis Waller, jun. Lieuteniuit ...... Mr. Rcdgo - Carey 1 Larry . OBnen Mr. Fred Cambourne Isra Mahomet Khan ....... Mr. Boyd -Irwin Abdul Hamid - Mr- L. Hardinge All Khan Mr. Gregan MMahon Yussif Beg Mr. ,T. ,ff. Lloyd Mrs. ; Van Start, Miss Maud Wingfield Marjone Vorland ... Miss Marjorie Murray Joan Fielding Mias Nellie Calvin Ethel Hardy Miss Ethel Warwick

"The Cheat,", one of tho newest melodramas,;; was introduced to, a packed audience at the Opera-'House last evening, by ono of tho strongest dramatic companies, Mr. Ji C. Williamson has dispatched to. New" Zealand within recent years. ,': The showing it made last night was satisfying in. the, extremq, and those who tako an earnest, interest jn dramatics may with confidence anticipate some enjoyable ..performances, during tho . season. "The, Cheat," which found favour with tho vast - holiday, audionco last ovoning, is a melodrama, . which,-while it -em-bodies-certain of, the conventionalities of ■its type, ;contains;, many; elements.... that ilitt it above. tho piano: of avorage play ithat is held up to us as melodrama proper, but-which is very often a distortion of tho -legitimate idea. ; The story. of "Tho.Cheaf'. is so strong that it hejd tho audience intensely interested'throughout, at times almost to an enthralling degree, anil was certainly • enhanced, by- tho finished - performance it r&jeived..: It con-' . cerna' chiefly the .fortune's>, of Captain James Blanchard, and his cousin, Captain .Phillip Rivers, 1 brother officers- in "The Guides." The .latter, a loose-living tanglo of nerves, whoso lax code of morals makes him at once tho unwelcome lover of his: cousin's fiancee . and the ■ ,betrayCT -of ' her friend. •In his frenzy ht the success of Captain Blanchard's suit to Ethel Hardy, Phillip .deliberately pricks:tho aces in. a pack of cards whicn his cousin has produced , for play with his brother -...officers,"', and, seeking-: a fitting opportunity, he brands him as a .cheat. Tnero is a. scene. James insists on an inquiry, and the weight, of 'evidence is such that: his brother officers. decide that he • is. guilty, and he is forced to. resign his commission just' as the regiment is ordoied to. India. James contemplates suicide, but is saved from that ignominy by the love and faith of his lover, who urges him: to sec the tronble through.: So resolved, ho ]oins tho "Gordons" as a ',"ranker." A counter-plot on' Stephen Blanchard, the wealthy ancle of the•,two 'boys, .who' is engaged to Joan .Fielding,, the victim of Phillip Rivers's. villainy. So base- has Rivers proved tbat ho: hints to Stephen that James is the culprit, which serves as l ample . reason why he' also ■ should''visit; India. Tho third: act opens in, the native ..fort at Ghizeh, on the north-west, frontier, of India, .where: the "Guides" 'toe-/'stationed' under 1 Captain Rivers,''who/has bcQome a wreck,' and has 'imperilled thb .life .of' the 'garrison :by his acts of wanton, cruelty and meaningless savagery. There is trouble over a prisoner; whom; Rivers', desires to'ishoot.'' -.Ho "is implored not' to do so,- as the garrison is small: and- could .'-be easily.-wiped out by the 'prisoner's - countrymen. '• On; top of this: comes news that there are whito women in the Pass, coming 'up under Eromise . of ..support..', fromßivers,' 1 which olp 110 never, sends. ' A picturesque : Af--ghan, under tho proteclion of the white iflag,/tells' of. the capture. of tho.. little (band/ for the release of which :ho will: •make terms to be "related; by a- special! messenger.' This is none, /other . than Stephen' Blanchard, whose, eves have: beenblistered .blind,' and his-hands :burnt with slaked •quicklimey in torturing him to ;give information as to: tho 'strongth and disposition of the British: troops that'aro coming . up. This' blank-eyed, '■[ .shaking! ■wrock telJs his awful tale, and then delivers his message—that the English ;memsahibs':will-be ..delivered :in return, for 1 tho body of/Ri'vers—alive;/ The- ladies lire, :• of- - course, Captain - Blanchard's fiancee and the girl Rivers has .betrayed. As-Stephen; relates;bis ; story he; uiimasks; the ■ perfidy of Rivers in, the .presence :of Captain Blanchard, wrho, as a private in tho "Gordons," has. arrived exhausted at the fort. Jt is then Rivers's'move. Maddened with drink and drugs, and a moral and 1 physical coward,' he shrieks out his ' fright ,at the prospect .of being delivered .over to the. enemy,• but■ Stephen and, all present v insist : tnat the renegade must bo sacrificed .for the- woman,/whereupon Rivers shoots himself., Captain Blanchard then agrees' to impersonate Rivers .in. 1 order that Jhe : women shall be saved, and in a scene high up in a rocky fastness, is about to pay. the prico, when Captain: Blanchard's father, General Blanchard,-, and claims his son's .life in return for services he had- rendered'. this /particular .hill tribo during the. cholera scourge many years'before.! The debt, is remembered, friendship ■is sworn 011 the hilt and haft of the Kyber knife,; and/there is peace and prospective happiness 'ifor all concerned—all.. but' Stephen 'Blanphard, whose aghtloss" eye's haunt the picture to .the end. " Such; a, play.'needs strong, acting, and .itV'gets- it. v,-, Mr/ Cyril: Mackay gives a .strikingly realistic .portrait of the young officer.:'whose.' initial -slips only servo/ to. blaze tho track to heinous crimes-and. moral degradation. In -'make-up," gesture, and speech, lie"paints'tho course of: the hopeless -degenerate' i'with-. artistic skill ■' an-1 judgment. - Csptain James Blanchard suffered nothing in tho ex-' poncnced hands of • Mr. Thomas King-ston,-whose 'acting in the trial scene ;.wos most effective. . One of the most vivid bits 'in/the play was the powerful acting of Mr. -Harry Plimmer as Stephen Blanchard in; that; act where he .relates the : horrors ho has endured at the hands of tho hill-men. ■. His story. made . the/ flesh oreep, arid the mode'., of its delivery was such' that. the actor: dominated- the whole of the act. • Another excellent performance was' thjs l'sra-. >" Mahomet: Khan ~of Mr., Boyd Irvjin, whose picturesque "make-up" was ' a striking.imitation of,the real.thing, t Mr. Geo; S. Titheradge liad little ■to do as General Blanchard, btit that little was managed with-: all ,that. cultured actor's' reserved 'strength .and! polish;.. Mr. Eardley Turner as Dr. Vorland arid Mr. A. E. Greenaway as .Colonel Paget were also nicely in the picture. Humour is not a strong-feature"of- the play. It was in the hands of Mr. Lewis Wallor, jun., as Liout. Brabson. and Mr. Redge Carey, as Lieut. Nevlond. who have their serious moments. The play introduces' a tiiow leading liidy; in the person of Miss Ethel Warwick, a young lady/of. much personal' l charm,.-whoso acting!is singularly nitural and .pleasing; /Miss Nellie Calvin'madc the most- of .the distressful role of:Joan.Fielding, and Miss Marjorie. Murray ! "frivolled": lightly enough '-as Marjory .Vorland. lli&s, Maud Wingfield, mado a liandeomo Mrs. Van Start. .

, "Tho Cheat" is adorned .with some fine scenery, - the: two scenes representing the country at tho back of Peshawar town, wliore the rifle is, mightier than pen or sword,! are two , striking, bits ,of stage omboliishmont that -reflect, credit on -the brushes ■'of Messrs. Gordon, .Little, and Board. . An orchestra, under Mr. ,W. J. Rico is an incidental worthy of mention. "The Cheat" will bo played throughput ttio• week. ~-- -;:! / , /: s,v