The Majeroni Company.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume I, Issue 65, 10 November 1887, Page 2

The Majeroni Company.

“FEDORA.” The above is the first piece to be presented to the Gisborne public by this talented Company. The following is a brief outline of the story :—Fedora, Princess Romuzoff, (Signora Majeroni) is deeply attached to one Count Viadi.mir, who does not appear, but whose death, caused believes, ;by a pistol shot from an assassin, takes place in an inner chamber almost within .sight of the spectators, who indeed are witnesses oY her agony as she kneels beside his bed and refuses to abandon his remains when exhorted to do so by the surgeons who have been called in. his scene is full of excitement, the stage being occupied in quick succession by the the police, numerous servants, the surgeons, and almost continuously by Fedora, whose restleness while waiting for the advent of her lover, agitation when she dreads that an accident causes his delay, anxiety on ascertaining that he is wounded, and agony when she learns that she is dead, are delineated with wonderful fidelity to nature. A species of inquest is instituted on the spot, and gives occasion for excellent elocution and by-play to many of the Company; the result being that suspicion is irresistibly turned upon Loris, Count Ipanoff (Signor Majeroni). Fedora, fully convinced of his guilt, devotes herself to bringing him to justice, and follows him to Paris, whither he has succeeded in escaping from the Russian police. All her efforts to convict him, however, fail, and through frequently meeting him in society where she purposely entersjinto the most friendly relations with him, the pain becomes mutually attached, and she dreads to discover that her convictions have been well grounded. She successfully overcomes her tenderness towards him, and takes advantage of bis declaration of love to draw from him a confession that he had killed Vladimir as a punishment This avowal and explanation confirms her opinion that Ipanoff is a Nihilist, and she denounces him by letter to the Russian police at Wt.* l etersburgh, also planning his arrest at her own house, to which she invites him to come that night. He comes clandesdnely, as she had asked him, and then explains to her that he had killed Vladimir to avenge that worthy’s seduction of his wife. Fedora at once believes him, and bitterly repents her precipitations. Regardless of compromising her own character, she begs him not to leave the house, knowing that he will be seized by the Russian police, and that his life will be sacrificed. They marry,subsequently, and all is .going well with them when letters come from St. Petersburg telling. Ipanoff how bis brother has died in prison, and his mother has died in grief, through the den uncial ion of some unknown woman. Fedora pleads excuses for the woman so earnestly that Ipanoff recognises the culprit in her, and denounces her as an infamous wretch unfit to live. Fedora in an agony of despair, takes poison, and her death brings the play to a close.