THE VIVIAN COMPANY.

Evening Star, Issue 7933, 14 June 1889, Page 2

THE VIVIAN COMPANY.

_ The Princess’s will be tenanted to-morrow night for a short season by the Vivian Company, of which Miss Helen Vivian and Mr W. G. Carey are the principals. They have had good seasons in the northern towns, and been well received by the Press. Their opening piece will be * Current Cash,’ the plot of which may be stated thus There is a prologue and four acts. The story opens in Afghanistan, where Captain Mark Milton is unjustly condemned of cowardice in the presence of an enemy, and is condemned to death. He sends for his wife and child to take a last farewell, and on the morning of his execution he learns from his wife that a fortune of LIO,OOO a year has been left to him. He gets his friend and superior officer, Major Challis, to draw up a will leaving the whole of the property to his wife. His friend proves a traitor, and, instead of the will, he gets the Condemned man to sign a paper leaving the whole of his property to Major Challis himself. A sentry and Private Bowles are witnesses to the document. The right will is set fire to by the Major, but before it is destroyed it falls into the hands of Bowles. Protesting his innocence, Captain Milton is taken away to be shot, and his wife wakens just in time to hear the volley of the firing party. Just at that moment there is an attack by the Afghans on the fortified post, and the curtain descends on a stirring picture. Mrs Milton returns to England and contests the substituted will, but the Major is successful, and the wife and child are penniless. The curtain is raised after a supposed lapse of ten years. Major Challis has adopted his niece Delia, who is in love with a poor “sub,” but is compelled to accept the attentions of a wealthy young clergyman. Requiring a maid for his niece, the Major engages Miss Sybil Morton, the daughter of his former friend. A strong friendship springs up between the two girls, but on learning who the maid is she is dismissed by the Major, The Major does not feel himself quite secure, as Bowles, who witnessed the signing of the false will, and has the correct one in his possession, levies blackmail on him, as also does a mysterious stranger called One Eye, who is supposed to be the sentry who was the other witness. Mrs Milton and her daughter occupy a cottage belonging to the Major, where, befriended by One Eye in many ways, they eke out a scant subsistence by needlework. Determined to get rid of neighbors whose presence is a continual reproach to him, the Major places a wellfilled purse in the pocket of a jacket owned by Mrs Milton with the view of charging her with theft. But he is seen by both Bowles and One Eye, and the former takes the purse himself, so that when the Major returns with the police he finds his plot has failed. But be secures his end by finding a pocket book belonging to him in Mies Sybil’s workbox, she having found it some time before, Mrs Milton is arrested. Meanwhile One Eye, by adroit manipulation, secures the original will from Bowles, and after having extorted from him a confession, he throws off his disguise and shows himself to Major Challis to be Captain Mark Milton, who was not shot after all. A straggle ensues, in which Challis tries to murder Milton, but Mark drags him to the Court, where his wife is being tried for tiieft. Challis is arrested for forgery. Milton and Challis meet in Pentonville, and in an endeavor to escape both meet. Challis is shot by a warder; Milton lives to receive the Queen’s pardon, and all ends happily. This drama will be produced exactly as in Sydney and Melbourne,