MARLOW DRAMATIC COMPANY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1116, 2 May 1911, Page 6

MARLOW DRAMATIC COMPANY.

"NICK CARTER, DETECTIVE." "Nick Carter, Detective," n melodrama in four acts by Arthur Shirley and Benjamen Landcck. Cast':— Nick Carter Herbert J. Bentley Eustace Lea 0. li. Stanford Dave Crowley P. V. Scully Jim Colston Bert Linden Horatio Timmtns Thomas Curran Inspector Lilson Maurice Nodin Cyril Carter Little Thclma Flanagan Matilda Timmins Addio .Icnliens Bees Timmins Lilian Wiseman Stephanio Ida Grcsham Nancy Adele Kelly Madeline Carter (Nick's Wife) Ada Guildford It will be remembered by readers of detective literature with what unfortunate haste Mr. Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes ill tho Swiss Alps, and finding what a gold-mine lie had. lost, brought-him to life onch more to solve more intricate mysteries connectcd with tho criminal class. Tho incident is vividly brought to mind in the melodrama "Nick Carter," staged at the Opera House last evening by tho Marlow Company. Not by the likeness of Conan Doyle's hero to the protagonist of last night's drama so much as Ihe habit Nick lias of coming to life when ho should, according to the criminal code, bo very dead. 'Contrary, too, to the Conan Doyle stories, Carter is continually being outwitted by his enemies, and it is only by tho good grace of the dramatists concerned that he is able to triumph in the end. The piny is melodrama in the pure, yet has that interest common to all defective stories—ons. likes to fee how the hero is going to wriggle out of the maze of difficulties that beset his thorny palh. Nick is quite a placid individual rusticating with his wifo" and' child, when a. southerly buster strikes his hearth and home. This is 110 less a fact than that his wifo is not his wife at all, but dial of the notorious criminal Eustace Lee, a nice, soft-spoken individual with a pretty turn ot' sinister humour, whom both Nick and his wife thought dead. On learning the fateful news, Mrs. Carter leaves her husband and dons the black gown of the theatrically distressed, and when induced to return to the old home to see her child, finds that Lee has kidnappci! him. But as the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune fill the air Nick rises to the occasion. In a good disguise he enters the gang's quarters, and, with cheerful nonchalance, is admitted a member, only to 1)0 discovered before ho can rcscuc his child. Ho is placed on a tint) supported by lines with a rone round his liock. Candles are placed near the line in order that in so manv minutes the lines will bo burnt, through, releasing '.he tron and Nick's tenure of life. Tho guttering flame' is about to do its worst when in hops tho funny man and saves the detective from extinction. He then rushes off to tell a banker that tho train by which ho is dispatching tons of bullion is about to bo robbed by Leo and' his gang, and has himself substituted for the gold. Tho thieves detach the van, and on opening the safe are confronted by tho gleaming eye of Nick's revolver, but the picture is destroyed by ono of the gang felling the delectivc with a bar of iron or something equaliy unyielding. His body is placed on' the railway lino for dissection by the next train, but, presto, his wife appears, turns on a danger signal. and sna'.ches the body from tho Tails, just as a force of police rush on and capture the gang. So that Nick is only an accessory to tho coup after all. Nick Carter was played Willi plenty of spirit, by .Mr. Herbert Bentley, who gave o nice little touch of his quality as a character actor when disguised as n sharper. Miss Ada Guildford went through her manifold woes as effectively as the tear-stained role permitted, and Jfr. C I!. Stanford exhibited his usual sangfroid as tho arch villain, Eustace Lee. Mr. T. Curran dispensed low comedy acceptably as Horatio Timmins, and Miss Addio Jenkins was sufficiently acidulated as his hectoring wife. Miss Lilian '\Vi4mau romped gaily through the story as Doss 'J'iinmins, but would be more accent-able if she could blunt the edgo of her langhfcr. Messrs. I'. V. Scully ami Bert Linden were well onouch suited as members of Ihe Lee gang. "Nick Carter" will b 0 played up till Friday night. On Saturday the season closes with "iJast Lynnc." I < .