THEATRE ROYAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXVII, Issue 9700, 14 April 1892, Page 6

THEATRE ROYAL.

“JANE” AND “BARBARA.” The popularity of the Myra Kemble Company certainly does not lessen as the season draws to a close. Last night the Theatre Royal was crowded, and the audience was most enthusiastic. And well it might be, for the bill of fare provided for the evening was both plentiful and appetising. The first piece was Barbara, a pretty one-act drama from the pen of Mr Jerome K. Jerome. The characters were few, but efficiently represented, the following being the cast:—Barbara, Miss Nellie Lyons; Lillie, Mias L. Clitherow; Cecil Norton, Mr H. Diver, and Finikim, Mr J. Walsh. The plot of the piece ia related chiefly in the dialogue. Barbara is a waif rescued when an infant from a wreck. Though she possesses documents and other evidence sufficient for her identification, should search be made for her, she has no clue to lead to the discovery of who she is. Chance has made her the bosom friend of Lillie, who loves and ia beloved by Cecil. Finikim is a lawyer who has learned that Cecil is entitled to the reversion of a legacy, worth £3OO a year. The legacy had been left to Cecil’s only sister, but she is believed to have been lost at sea with her mother. A comparison of notes between Barbara and the lawyer proves Barbara to be Cecil's sister, but she, rather than deprive her friend Lillie of so comfortable a provision for her married life, destroys tho proofs of her identity, and trusts to the young couple to treat her as a sister. In the hands of the artists who were entrusted with the piece, its success was perfectly Jane, the second part of the programme, ia a farcical comedy by Messrs Henry Nicholla and W. Lestocq. The action takes place during one day and in one house, so that the unities are exceptionally well preserved. Jane (Miss Myra Kemble) is a domestic servant in the household of Charles Shackletofl (Mr E. Owen Harris). She has that morning been secretly married to ; Sbackleton’s confidential “ gentleman’s gentleman,” William Tipson (Mr Edwin Lester). Shackleton is an extravagant young fellow who is entitled to a fortune on condition that he v marries. For some years he has been drawing his allowance from the trustee, Mr Kershaw (Mr George Leopold), whom he has led to believe that he is married, and that his wife has had a baby. He has, moreover, accounted for his heavy drafts upon his trustee by complaining that his wife is very extravagant. On the morning of. Jane’s Shackleton receives a letter from Kershaw to the effect that the latter is about to visit him and remonstrate with Mrs Shackleton.' Charles is his wits’ end, but induces Jane to parse® te his wife for the few hours that Kershawj's visit is to last. The fun of the piece is easily evolved from the many complications that arise, and the audience is kept in uproarious merriment through three acts.

Miss Myra Kemble, as the somewhat mercenary bat decidedly coquettish and clever Jane, revelled in the laughable " business ”of the part. From first to last she acted with that artistic finish that has gained so high a reputation for her. The gentlemen already named supported her most efficiently, as did Miss Nellie Lyon?, as Mrs Pixton (the mother of the baby which had to be produced for the satisfaction of Mr Kershaw), Mrs Walter Hill as Mrs Chadwick, the elderly aunt of Lucy Norton (Miss M. Corcoran), Mr H. W. Diver as Mr Pixton, and Mr E. Leonard as Claude. At the close of each act the curtain had to be raised in order to allow the spectators to testify their hearty approval of tho efforts of the company; To-night will be the last of toe season, and Miss Myra Kemble takes a benefit. The programme will include Jane and The Cape Mail, in each of which Miss Kemble will take the leading role.