"THE FIRM'S" DRAMATIC SEASON. THE SIGN OF THE CROSS."

Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 153, 27 December 1898, Page 5

"THE FIRM'S" DRAMATIC SEASON. THE SIGN OF THE CROSS."

JSecond impressions of " The Sign of the Cross" — a drama which has proved to its author, Mr. Wilson Barrett, one of the best money-makers of its time — confirm the opinion expressed on its initial production in Wellington, that "it is a play to admire and to seriously ponder over." Its excellence as a piece of dramatic literature and the splendid character of its mounting — for " the Firm " is never niggardly iv this respect— compel admiration, while tbe story of Christian fortitude triumphing over hideous paganism conveys its own lesson. Tbe play appeals, too, to a wide constituency on account of its combiuation of elements, subdued here and there with hymns and Scriptural extracts, then roaming away through the entrancing lanes of melodrama, with a little tragic halt here and there, and out into the bright fields of comedy and mirth. There is dramatic food for everybody, for their entertainment and for reflection, and if it teaches nothing more than we already know its author at least deserves thanks for interesting sections of the public who, until they saw this play, probably never saw the inside of a theatre before. The Opera House last night was literally packed from floor to roof—" we had to lock them out," ruefully announced Mr. Joe St. Clair— and the great house sat out the piece with the greatest attention. Chief interest to regular playgoers centred in the " new people " who accompany Mr. Julius Knight and Miss Ada Ferrar — the Marcus Superbus and Mercia now as of old —on the present tour. There is first Mr. Cecil Ward, who replaces Mr. Caleb Porter, and takes up for the first time the weighty mental cares and physical infirmities of the despot Nero. Mr. Ward, whose reception was most enthusiastic, gives quite a new reading of the character, forceful, subtle, scarcely so intense or with so marked an exhibition of physical decay as his predecessor elected to give, but throughout thoroughly artistic. Then there is Mr. Cyril Keightley, as Tigellinus, a character which is now treated with a somewhat lighter touch, than by Mr. Mervale, and with an air of callous indifference which fits the part well. Miss Harrie Ireland had an evident cold, and was therefore at some disadvantage, but she carried hex one great scene with Marcus in her own boudoir to complete success, and earned with Mr. Knight the "call" which followed at the end of the scene. Miss Florence Terriss brought into prominence i the character of Ancaria, Mr, George Majeroni made a commanding figure of Licinius, Mr. Oily Deeriu# appeared as the spy Servillius, and Miss Marie D' Alton was tueEtnpress Poppoea. But the most conspicuously successtul bit of acting among- the smaller parts was that of Miss Florrie Gleeson, as the boy Stephanus. She was intelligent and natural, and in the torture scene did so well that an involuntary exclamation of horror was wrung from someone in the audience at the apparent brutal treatment. The artistic and realistic manner in which a Romaa soldier yields the lash is also worthy of note. The two leading principals, Mr. Knight and Miss Ferrar, were, as before, admirable in all respects, and if we may say so, Miss Ferrar appears to have improved her reading in some parts. Mr. W. F. Hawtrey scores once more as the wine-bibbing Glabrio, and Miss Linda Raymond as the frivolous Dacia, while Messrs. Harry Hill and D. Glassford take up their old parts as Philodemua and Favius respectively. Excellent music is played between the acts by the orchestra under Mr. George Hall, and the chorus singing on the stage during the progress of the piece is also capital. " The Sign of the Cross" will run until further notice.