ENTERTAINMENTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1207, 16 August 1911, Page 6

ENTERTAINMENTS.

.''.-■ ■. '' NICOLA. ....' . ) The feats of, seeming- magic which Nicola is performing at the Opera Hous-a still have their appeal to the public, and big houses are witnessing them. Last night Nicola was -hand-cuff«l, leg-ironed, and had chains twisted in various ways about him, and was -virtually screwed down to tho floor, and yet he succeeded' in releasing himself. To-iiight, which is to bo Nicola's farewell 'performance in Wellington, he is to be placed in a large iron tank, which will lie filled to the top with water.and a cover will be securely locked on with several padlocks. Nicola must effect his release. The Nicola combination leave for Dunedin to-morrow. THEATRE ROYAL. Fullers' Vaudeville Company at' the Theatre Royal is , in great favour at present, and the patronage- of the public is consequently very large. 'Borland and Uollinson are musical variety artists of great ability and originality, and arowell worth seeing. The Potter-Hartwell .trio are also appearing in.a lot.of new business, which is most entertaining. HIS MAJESTY'S THEATRE. The new programme of pictures .which was presented, to patrons of His Majesty's Theatre for the first time on Monday evening in enjoying a popular'vogue.- Tonight will bo the Inst opportunity of witnessing such interesting pictures as the ijinking by shell-firo of the- "United States obsolete battleship San Marco in Chesapeake Bay, the highly-sensational drama entitled "The Quavrel on the Cliffs," "Billy's Valentine," the christening ceremony at the launching of the Dominion's gift battleship, "H.M.S. New Zealand," and other excellent studies which ■ make "up the present very entertaining programme.

THE KING'S THEATKE. : .■Variety of "subject and artistic quality aro the conspicuous features of..the picture . programme at tho King's Theatre this week. Of the selection of dramatic, comic, and scenic topics, mention should bo mado of the sensational drama, "The Quarrel on the Clilfs," the diverting comedy sketch produced by Mr. .Prince, entitled, "Trying to Get Arrested," and the equally amusing burlesque, "Tontolini's Cousin/' tile attractive and most interesting scenes in Old California, Granada, and China, and the launch of H.M.S. New Zealand, the Dominion gift battleship. The programme will be re-, peated this evening. , THE'NEW THEATRE. • The majority of the films in the change of programme at the New Theatre last evening were' noteworthy for their striking realism,, which is largely the result of their setting. One of the best is entitled "Puritans . and Indians." This drama is placed in the American forest, and the spectator is taken back to. the time of. the • early pilgrim, fathers, the period of the' qnaint rough-hewn logca*bin and the log church, with its ponderous bell. " A young puritan seeks the hand of. a ■■ pretty' '■ puritan maid, .'and, though the ■ betrothal is allowed, the youth is subsequently expelled from the church, and.his , engagement broken off, because he had bepn inveigled into playing dice with.some friends of his rival. Then Indians appear on the-scene, and thore is depicted an exciting attack on the church, which is eventually repelled. Meanwhile the nraid has wandered down to the spring for water, and falls into deadly peril, but is rescued by her lover. Finally tho pioneers all gather again in the church, carrying their old bell- . mouthed weapons, and the young pair are made happy. Another frontier picture is "Redwing's Loyalty." The hero is a young American officer, who is captured by a half-breed—whom he had previously chastised in a settlement—and the Indians are preparing their tortures. An Indian girl, s;es the peril of the officer, remembers a kimlne.o ho had once shown her, and ridss off to warn a troop of soldiers. The latter make a timely appearance; and pheii follows an exciting depiction of Indian warfare, which, of course, has a happy, if a'sanguinary, ending.. Among the scenic pictures-, a' selection showin;; wuter-ways, , water-falls, and old picturesque oastles in Bohemia is the most interesting and the most beautiful. Tho "New Dress" 19 a pretty little drama set in Mexico, interesting because of the phtise of yillage life it introduces. Tho village markets and tho peasant.cottages, tho donkeys conveying iho products of the garden to the markets, are all most naturally and faithfully portrayed. "Foolshead" appears in a somnambulistic farce, and does many.weird things; and another comic > film is "The AVidow's Choke," in which • two brothers, both claimants for a ■merry widow's hand, aro "cut out" by 'their nmoroiis father. Tho programme will be repeated this evening.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK. To-morvow evening at a quarter to eight o'clock will be teen "Jack and tho Beanstalk," Mr. J. C. Williamson's fifth pantomimic attraction to travel the Dominion. A long succession of delightful scenes, sparkling comedy, dainty ballets, tuneful songs, astonishing effects, combinf.d with brilliant costumes, dash and go have' made "Jack and the Beanstalk" •a, great success in Australia and more recently in New Zealand. It is stated that tho. leading characters of the pantomime are. admirably suited to their respective parts. Mr. Jack Cannot has worked up for himself in the Old Country a fine reputation as a pantomime "dame"; Miss Mabelle Morgan has been the principal boy in the best pantomimes in Englanrt; while' Mi-s Dorothy F.irmin was the Princess at the Theatre Koyal,-Drury Lane, last year. Added to these such excellent artists as Messrs. Ttupert Darrell, Victor Leydell, Clive Cook, Bert Watson, and William Hassan, l a more than usually good interpretation of the extravaganza should result. The specialties promise to bo very attractive. Mr. Willie Pentzer and his company of acrobats, it would seem, are a show in themselves. . The high-class vaudeville manner ia shown in the Doherty Sisters.' Theso ladies hail from America, and give a remarkably clever sketch. The first matinee will be given on Saturday afternoon next. The curtain will rise eaeh night at a quarter to eight, and fall finally at ten minutes past eleven.. The usual late train will run to the Lower Hutf and Pelone, leaving Larnbton Station at 11.30, on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.