"THE SIGN OF THE CROSS."

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12070, 25 February 1902, Page 3

"THE SIGN OF THE CROSS."

Mr Wilson Barrett met with a magnificent reception at the Theatre Royal last night on the occasion of his first appearance in Napier. The audience was very large and fashionable, and long before the honr fixed for the raising of the curtain admission bad to be refused in the downstairs portion of the house. Mr Barrett and his company were received with an enthusiasm and a hearty good will which must have shown them that here under the Southern Cross there is a warm appreciation of first-olaee dramatic work, especially when the leading actor is an artist who has established such a reputation as Mr Barrett. He opened, too, in a play that showed Mr Barrett and the full strength of the company at their best. The audience followed with intense interest the fortunes of Mercia and Marcus, and were moved and stirred by the incidents of a piece that has given rise to such criticism wherever it has been produced. It was certainly a notable performance, the most notable, indeed, that has probably been put on at the local theatre, and in point of staging and dressing could not have been surpassed. " The Sign of the Crose ” is, of course, not a new play to colonial audiences. Two companies, Julius Knight and Ada Perrar, and the Crane-Power Company, have familiarised theatre-goers with the drama, whilst the book itself has made most novel readers acquainted with the author’s conception. Thus Mercia and Marcus are well-known characters. But there was an additional interest lent to last night’s production by the fact that

wo saw for the first time the author ia his own creation, and the impression made was in the highest degree favorable to Mr Barrett as a playwright and as an actor.

Corneille’s great tragedy “Polyeuete” and "I Matiri,” of the Italian.it has been pointed out, dealt with early Christianity and its martyrs long before “QuoVadis” —the work o£ that great Polish writer who, amongst other artistic lights, found a congenial soil years ago in sunny California—and •' The Sign of the Cross ” appeared. The theme of the latter, therefore, presented with the aid of all that modern stagecraft can do to heighten its theatrical effect, is by no means new. yet whatever may have influenced the author in his work, no one will deny the fascination of the play, its powerful scenes, and the skilful methods employed to show that religion on the stage once called “the poor, degraded stage," can be represented for strong moral purposes. Of course, there is no necessity for either pulpit or stage to come into conflict; by joining hands, as Beecher truly said, the one is strengthened and the other is purified. In his realistic picture of Pagan Kome in the height of her licentiousness and the Christian persecution of Nero’s time, the playwright has done a great deal towards bringing to light much of interest that is buried

in history and perhaps alone known to the student The play leaves its strong impress upon the mind of the spectator, for apart from the hymns and chants and the meta-

physical and theological argument, which may prove unpalatable to the seasoned theatregoer, no one can witness “The Sign of the Cross " without feeling that he has seen a play of exceptional interest. As Marcus Mr Barrett showed ns his

conception of the part. It was a masterly performance throughout, and in the third and fourth scenes his acting was very fine. Miss Lillah M'Carthy won the sympathies of her audience by the grace and power with which she represented Mercia, her scene with Marcus in the third act being an impressive piece of dramatic work. Stephanus was admirably played by Miss Gertrude Boswell. Nero, Tigelliaus, Licinins, and Glabrio had capable representatives in Messrs Atholwood, Edwards, Majeroni, and Manning, whilst the same may be said of Berenie, Daoia, Poppaja, and Aneatia, taken by Misses Latimer, Belmore, Bonser, and Crawford. The remainder of the heavy oast was very satisfactorily filled. “THE MANXMAN.” Very great interest, as shown by v a J splendid booking, is being manifested in

the first performance to-night of "The Manxman,” a dramatisation by Mr Wilson Barrett of Hall Caine’s powerful and widely-read novel. When the piece was presented in London it received the highest encomiums from the Press, there being consensus of opinion that it was one of the strongest plays of the class ever presented on the English stage. J'/io Times, in a lengthy review, said"lt is lohg eince a play so commanding in its pathos as Mr Wilson Barrett’s version of ‘The Manxman’ has been seen in London, Itisnndonbtedlyafinepiay, The homely, rugged virtues of the character of Pete Quilliam display Mr Wilson Barrett's powers at their best.” The Daily Telegraph wrote: “The emphatic success was due as much to Wilson Barrett the actor as to Wilson Barrett the dramatist. Hie Fete Quilliam is perhaps the beat thing of the kind that the English stage has seen since Charles Dillon played in ‘ Belphegor ’ 30 years ago.” Mr Clement Scott, the well-known critic, also wrote: “ I can conceive no more beautiful and poetic ending to a fine drama, extracted from what I have not hesitated to call a noble book.”