THE ST. JOHN-HAYMAN DRAMATIC CO., "THE VAGABOND."

Evening Post, Volume LIV, Issue 21, 24 July 1897, Page 6

THE ST. JOHN-HAYMAN DRAMATIC CO. , "THE VAGABOND."

The fortnight's dramatic season of the company was begun at the Opera House 1.t.-l night. The company deserved better luck in attendance, and let us hope this will come early, and stay. " The Vagabond "is a familiHi\tv.pe of melodrama, reminiscent of rural England, with just a sensation of Sdr-:pr:iy thrown in. There is plenty of the 1 irooil ! wholesome sentiment ' ch:i»cteristic of all the- staas work of Messrs. Sims < and Ppttit; and those other constituents without which no melodrama would be worth its salt— namely, the wicked son who poses as the sonl of honour, but conveniently allows his sins, which range froni the forgery of his fathers name to attempted parricide, to fall upon the broad shoulders of his frank and fearless brother ; the pretty heiress who it has been arranged shall marry the alleged good young man, but who persistenUy— of course, just like a woman— sticks to the downtrodden hero; and that most indispensable , article of all, the comic Jew. The only element missing is the betrayed heroine, but her absence i.« rather a blessing than otherwise. Here, then, .with settings of effective scenery, is the material to work with, and which the company handles with generally satisfactory results. The piece is not exactly new, and has been seen in Wellington before, under another title we fancy ; ' but that was long ago, and it conies back with the freshness of spring. As to the characters, Mrs. Harry Marshall, who met with a hearty recognition, played prettily in the somewhat limited histrionic field allowed the heroine, Leslie Gray; Miss Madge Corcoran dressed and looked well in the soubrette part of Patty Perkins, hostess of the Red Lion ; Miss Dora Mostyn, in the " Jo" part of Ned, a waif, lent the necessary pathos to the character, though perhaps she did not altogether look it; Miss Marie Dalton and Mr. John Bruce, as Mrs. and Squire Peyton, were good in parts; Mr. Charles Field as Will Peyton performed his villainies with a fair amount of ease ; Mr/ Bert Bailey made an excellent hero as Jack Peyton, and would have done much better if he did not shout so much. Mr. Joe Tolano, with his lines of poetry, got off " on the spur of the moment," never failed to raise a la.ugh; and Mr. Ernest JVanks deserve a word of praise for his conception of the minor part of the Stonefaker at Portland. The Jew of Mr. Irve Hayman, though drawn on conventional lines, was drolly and cleverly acted, his atrocities id conjunction with the more gentlemanly ■villain jbedng accomplished ' with such genuine good humour and qaaintoesß that the pit even forgot to hoot him at appropriate season. Such a Jew only exists in dramas, and he is rasponsible in this one for many a hearty laugh. J "The Vagabond" will be repeated thiq evening. ■ IUIS "We have received from Dunr din a memo jetting forth the difficulty, £S the reporter laboured wb^ was responsib i e for the- -recently pub' llshed im< } mmes in the report of t\ ie Ward enquiry The P ' dinfc of the stat ; ment » that the . ciiflficultles in the way of an accurate ndense d re p O rt were of an extraordinary kind) while the quegtionß of account y[Q SQ involved to need ft prac . xisea acco' >in tant to be precisely accurate in II T V- a 'd}hem. There is no question but inai ide jj m r n5 actirac i eSj and there were only y ro serious ones, were only and entirely d uf » to misconception. 'The New Plymouth Harbour Board was Confronted with a new trouble at its last meeting by a claim for compensation by one of the contractors who tendered for the cartage of goods to and from the breakwater at the time when the Board seriously thought of flaunting the Government and removing the railway line from the local wharf. It was felt by members that the contractors were entitled to some consideration, as not only were their deposits retained, hut one man had done nothing for about a month in expectation o£ getting the job. It was proposed to vote the lowest tenderer £10 as compensation for his loss and trouble, but as there waa some, doubt as to the legality of making the grant, it was finally resolved to pay interest on all the deposits for the time they had been kept by theßoanU