THEATRE ROYAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10303, 22 March 1894, Page 6

THEATRE ROYAL.

T3E GRIP OP IRON. Messrs Howe and Spong have rendered • a distinct service to lovers of sensational drama, by introducing to their notice the powerful five-act play by Mr Arthur Shirley, bearing the above title. Last night was the occasion of its first representation before a Christchurch audience, and , the success was marked and instantaneous. The characterisation throughout the drama ! is ■ excellent, the situations are novel and i exciting without being in the slightest degree etrained ; the plot is desply interesting, and the incidents follow each other in rapid succession, and have all a bearing upon the uaravolment or a tangled web. The Grip of Iron is the story of a crime committed by a mysterious assassin, the chief of a Parisian gang known as "the. stranglers.” This criminal leads a double life—being known as Simmonet to his accomplices, while to the outside world ha ia Jagon, a respectable and sympathetic elderly gentleman who follows the occupation of lawyer’s clerk. Though surprised in’the very act of strangling Captain Guirin and stealing bis wealth, the'murderer contrives to escape, and by tho help of Lorens de Ribas, an accomplice, tho ciima is fixed upon Paul Blanchard, a ticket-of-leavo man. Fortunately, Robert da Belfort, counsel for Blanchard and affianced husband of the daughter of (ho murdered mao, believes B.anohard’s protestations of innocence, as does M. De Boaudin, of the secret police, and with the assistance of Dodot, a detective of the old school, and Ooucou, one of tho new school, the crime is ultimately fixed upon the real perpetrator, Blanchard is liberated, and Simmonot is led off to prison, after adding to his other crimes by strangling Do Eioai in revenge for his ill-treatment of Simmoaet’s daughter, whom he had married. There are other complications and crimes, which it is unnecessary to describe; but after witnessing this most exciting drama one has no difficulty in uudert-tanding the fascination it possesses for London audiences, who may recognise in Simmonet thq st; angler -a- resemblance to that mysterious criminal in real life known as “ Jack the Ripper.” Tho drama wus last night staged and ■acted in a manner deserving of high ima.-'s?. Mr Spong’s sceneiy provided a worthy getting to the piece—tho . representation of Captain Guirin’s house and i garden, with in eclrwucal effect showing & change from tho exterior to the interior of iha room where the tragedy is enacted, .being specially good. Mr Walter Howe impersonated Jagoa, alias Simmonet, with masterly realism and force. It is.a highly complex character, -for, in addition to being a nnreiless ciiminal, a sympathetic gentleman, and a cool, calculating villain, Simmonet has a, strong. human.. affection tor his only daughter; but in biis delineation of ail these phases of real and simulated character Mr Howe had evidently a consistent conception of a true personality. It was a triumph of histrionic art as genuine as it ia rare. The part of Mario Guiiiu, in the hands of Miss Hilda Spong, was acted "with a beautiful simplicity and naturalness that could hardly be excelled. Dodot ■ and CoucOu, the "detectives, personated by. Mr Charles Fabart land Mr Scott luglia respectively, supplied s'good deal of in ‘event and amusement combined. Each has his "theory” ; and bach has his “method,” the development j of : which ’ is; decidedly' tdvga oa the old- • school detective, woods as much the butt of the audience as he is of the convicts. |Mr Cecil Owen was sufficiently cool and composed as De 'Ribas, the gentlemanly 'accomplice of the strangler; Mr Green,awr.y did well in the character of the risuig young- advocate ; and Mr Cathead; .showed considoiable power c.s the'convict •Paul Blanchard. In the part of Sophie Blanchard, Miss Fieri Anstesd acted most -ably, while the ■ remo'Line; chir'ioters were creditably filled by other members of the company. Of the minor parts that of Loustdot " the Kinder.” entrusted Lo Mr Stagrave, had moat outstanding merit. Taken as a whole, this drama io one that is well suited to show the company’s powers to advantage. The scene depicting the revolt ou the convict ship, with explosion of the powder magazine, is highly effective, and the tragic denoihneni of the play w robbed of half its horror by t:he cranialic oompletenesu cf the poetic justice metid out all round. The Grip of Iron io to ha r*pfat>-d this evening only, end from the hearty and frequent mi.rka of approval that greet d it l«sb n gat we should amieip&fe another large audience. In the cmrse of the evening results of the local opt on polling in Lyttelton electorate were announced-from tno stage, and were received with some applause.