"THE FATAL WEDDING."

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 142, 16 June 1906, Page 13

"THE FATAL WEDDING."

The above drama is to be presented to Wellington audiences on the 25uh inst. by Messrs. Meynell and Gunn's new English, company. In Auckland it was a great success? and " oi tne °P enin e performance the Star says :— "The piece is frankly melodrama— but melodrama that is free from all tine worst absurdities of its class, and that after the first ultra-con-ventional act has some decided advantages over nearly all recent plays of tlhe same typ. Then the acting is so divest of the usual snarls of villainy and creams of virtue, that it preserves always some semblance of tihat despised thing, Reality. Last but most) it introduces to us the prettiest glimpse of tihe sweet little world of the children that has been, seen for many years past. The plot of the play is threepenny enough in outllino, but there i» much in it that touches sometimes even upon the three-a-nd-sixpenny ; and the usually fresh comedy saves it from the monotonous sorrows of the old-fashioned heroine." After criticising the adult performers, the .Star has this to Bay of tlhe children, w"ho play an important part in the drama : — Lastly is grand little Maisie Posner (Jessie.) This dainty little person — with her archness, her tenderness, her whimsical performance in her role of "The Little Mother" — is alone worth an evening at the theatlre. Excepting Miss Addie LoTking, no child actress seen in Auckland these past few years can hold a candle to this clever child for natural, graceful, and convincing impersonation. Butf all the children are immense, from the grand little bit of a Queenie Williams to the clever Maggie Dickenson and Mollie Wilson. First came the Tin Can Band, a novelty of the most refreshing description, with tlhe aforesaid babe Queenie to lead with such self-possession and vigour and humour as would make even a dyspeptic laugh. And all the time those other young people danced and acted and did their by-plaj so wonderfully well that one asked oneself how ever mero training could have done so much. But then it didn't. Miss Maggie Dickenson is a young marvel. Her singing of "Ma Zu Zu" was better than that of many an applauded "grown-up." This young lady will go far. Mies Rosie Fitzgerald ("The Kids from the Alley)" andl Miss Mollie Wilson ("Madcap Dance") are also- most promising young people ; while several others by tiheir clever acting and dancing would have an encouraging word if one knew their names. "The Fatal Wedding" is itself good, but those children will long be a delightful and inspiriting memory.