PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3510, 15 October 1868, Page 3

PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE.

The performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre la«t evening was for the benefit of the tick and destitute, and we are glad to state that every part of the house was crowded to excess. The piece selected for performance was Lovel's play, in five acts, entitled "Love* Sacrifice; or the Rival Merchants." Ihe incidents of the plot are briefly these : Mathtea Elmore (Mr. Carey), a French merchant, in hii younger days is deeply in lo»e with a noble lady who, through force of circumstances, is compelled to marry the Count da Barry, although she is herself attached to Mathieu. After the marriage the husband becomes jealous of the discarded lover, and his conduct towards his wife is in consequence harsh and unseemly. This has such an effect upon her that she dies in giving birth to a son, Eugene (Mr. Ryan). After her death, and as she is about to be buried, a meeting takes place between her husband and her' former lover, when a quarrel ensues which ends in Mathieu stabbing his former rival and throwing the body into the river. The assassin then retires to England where he' marries a lady, who takes compassion on his apparent state of distress, and a daughter is born, who is named Margaret (Mrs. Heir). In a few years Mathieu retarns to France, taking with him hw daughter ; and there Eugene, son of the murdered man, is introduced to the daughter — pays his addresses to her, and Obtains ber father's sanction to her hand. But another party comes on the scene, namely, PaulLafoht (Mr. Kemp), who also falls in love with Margaret, seeks her hand, and is refused. It appears, however, that he has learnt the secret of the wretched father from a French priest and threatens him that, unless he consents to his marriage with the daughter, he will give information to the authorities, and so de- • liver him up to an ignominious death. The father refuses to sacrifice his daughter even to save his own life, but Paul seeks an interview with Margaret, and no works upon her fears that she consents to give up her lover (Eugene) and marry him, on condition that he never reveals the fatal secret. She is then conveyed, without her father's knowledge, to the abode of the monk who has gained possession of the secret and imparted it to Paul; but, just an the fatal knot is about to be tied, the old man rushes in and forbids the marriage. The monk then throws off his disguise and diioloses himself as th© former rival of Mathieu, by whom he was thought to be murdered. The old quarrel is at once made up, and the two fathers consent to the marriage of their, children, while Paul, defeated in his objeot, rushes from the house. Such is a brief outline of the pieoa performed last evening, and which was played throughout with great spirit by most of the members of the company. Mrs. Heir, as Margaret, displayed all those powers of delineation for which she is so justly celebrated, and in two or three of the scenes her acting was so true to nature that she wan greeted with enthusiastic and prolonged appUuse. The scene with Paul, where she consent* to sacrifice herself for the sake of her father, and marry the man she hates, was a magnificent piece of acting. The struggle in the heart of the daughter to save her parent 'by casting off her only love, and marrying the man who threatens Mathieu with the gallows, was most admirably pourtrayed. Mr. W. G. Carey played with much power, and the scene where he > learns that his crime i 3 known to Paul, and that his daughter is demanded as the price of silence, was curried out to the very letter of the author's intention. Mr. Bj*n as Paul played very well on the whole, but w e thought his acting far too tame in many of the Bcenei. This fault cannot be said to hold good with Mr. Kemp, who was as energetic ard demonstrative at the part required. Most of the other members of the company ably supported the leading characters. At the end of the 4th and last acts Mrs. Heir and Mr. Carey were called before the curtain, and greeted with a perfect ovation of applause. The performance concluded with the musical burlettaof " Jenny Lind," in which Miss Harriett Gordon appeared, and sang several 'excellent songs. Mr Bydes too was very amusing ; and the audience left the theatre with the conviction that they had both spent a most pleasant evening's entertainment for themselves, and had been instrumental in doing good to a cause of charity. [ |