AMATEUR ENTERTAINMENT.

Evening Star, Issue 6914, 29 May 1885, Page 2

AMATEUR ENTERTAINMENT.

A dramatic entertainment was given at the Lyceum yesterday evening, under the auspices of the Otago Rowing Club and the Carlsbrrtok Cricket Club. The hall was tastefully decorated, and there was u large j attendance. The curtain rose on a farce j written by Mr I). Cargill, and entitled j "Jack's Device; or The New Way to '< Pay Old Debts;" The piece is an amusing , trifle, written with some cleverness, | aiid containing some goo.l situations. , It describes the straits to which an \ impecunious young fellow named Jack j Blobbs is put through getting into debt and the manoeuvres by means of which he ] manages to extract from his father the . money ho requires. Jack was capitally , played by Mr J. W. Cargill, who possesses j the rather unusual, for an amateur, gift of • confidence in a high degree. Blobbs, sen., was represented by the author of the piece ' very fairly, his only fault being that he did not speak loud enough to be clearly audible. Tom Dasher, a chum of Jack, found a good representative in Mr J. T. Stewart; , while Mr A. J. Bathgate's impersonation of the money-lender, Mr Aarons, created some amusement. Miss Aurelia Blobbs, a romantic spinster of uncertain age, was suitably played by Miss Grant* and Mr Blobbs's elderly housekeeper, Mrs Tippits, was in good hands when entrusted to Miss L. Reynolds. The farce went capitally, all the characters being played with confidence, while the stage fittings were all that could be desired. At its conclusion Miss Marion Norman, of the Pollard Opera Troupe, sang Mr Pyke's national song, and in response to an encore gave the pathetic recitation, " Little Jim." The next poition of the entertainment comprised a more ambitious effort on the part of the promoters, in the shape of Byron's comedy, "One Hundred Thousand Pounds." The piece is eminently Byronic in tone, having little depth or dramatic action, and it was therefore not surprising that a very passable representation of it was given. Mr J. W. Cargill was again well suited in the part of Joe Barlow, a well-to-do tradesman, who, during the progress of the play, comes to pecuniary grief through over-indulgence in speculation. The character is a very different one from that of Jack Blobbs in the previous piece, but it was equally well played, and Mr Cargill thoroughly deserved the frequent rounds of applause with which his sterling acting was greeted. The hero of the piece is Gerald Goodwin, a penniless youth who is lodging with Barlow, and between whose daughter Alice and himself a strong attachment has grown up. Gerald, however, shortly is supposed to come in for a large legacy, and then gives his humble associates the cold shoulder. After a short period of dissipation it is discovered that there is no legacy coming to him, his rich relative not having died after all, and Gerald is again reduced to pverty. The neglected Alice still clings to him, however, and in the end, of course, everything comes right. The somewhat contemptible and rather ditiieult part of Gerald was exceedingly well filled by Mr J. T. Stewart: while Alice Barlow found a pleasing though rather inanimate representative in Miss K. Spooner. This young lady requires only a little experience and more confidence instilled into her. The liverystable keeper Pennythorne, another admirer of Alice, was played with much spirit and rollicking vigor by Mr St. J. Branigan; and the solicitor (Mr Fluker) very faithfully by Mr W. Dawson. Major Blackshaw, a promoter of risky companies, and Pyefinch, valet to Gerald, were both very well played characters—their impersonators being respectively Mr W. Dawson and Mr J. Lawson. Miss Reynolds made another hit in the part of Mrs Barlow ; and in fact all round the acting was far better than that of any amateur company that we have seen in c -medy in Dunedin. The last piece dragged a little towards the end, but that is not to wondered at considering its length and that same of the performers had previously taken ivi.rt, in the farce.