THEATRE ROYAL.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 10015, 13 June 1895, Page 4

THEATRE ROYAL.

"EAST LYNNIS" BURLESQUED.

The Theatre Royal ai?ain well filled when the Darrell Company closed Us season lD6t Dight, Bud staged "East Lvnne," or ratber a burlesque of Mrs Wood's masterpi.ee. The audience again failed to take Mr Darrell aerioiißly, and we did nob wonder at it, for he continually departed irom bis text) hi search of the humorous and occai-ionally found it with effects extremely incongruous and grotesque. The "East .Lynne" of our younger doyß wna a drama of the weeplug variety, a pourtrayal which caused the niO3C hardened critic to feel nndemonstratlvely for bis handkerchief, and to use tbe same as a receptacle for hlB nnbottled grief, Mr Darrell'a version makes one sad, not because of its pathos, but because of its extreme bathos, or toe abominable way in which he has Bncceeded in mixing these antithetical elements. Sir Francis Levieon, as played by Mr Darrell, waa aa unlike the original as a grasshopper to a kangaroo : while Miss Stuart's Corney Carlisle admits of even a more extreme comparison, in fact this Impersonation was everything that the archetype was not. She waa lively, larky, occasionally even hilariouß, and naturally enough the effeot was demoralising all round, I* was in vain that Mias Ireland as Lady Isabel and Mr Dobson aa Archibald battled against tbe prevailing hilarity. Neither were at their very best, and if they had been they would not have scored a great snecess, as the parts were utterly nnenlted to them, Aa Madame Vane the former was distinctly unsnccessiul, her disguiso being bo imperfect as not to deceive the veriest tyro, and' she showed a very imperfect acquaintance with the requirements of the death-bed, being under the circumstances far too strong and energetic In no sense was she fitted for this impersonation, and it is a pity that It should remain for last night to dim the lustre of her earlier successes. Mlsb GUI had a felicitous part to play as Barbara Hare, and as Richard Hare Mr Atholwood gave a fair impersonation. Master Joe Collins, a youthful actor known to fame locally, played tbe part of Little Willie very prettily.