THEATRE ROYAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XCVII, Issue 11188, 9 February 1897, Page 5

THEATRE ROYAL.

THE POTTER-BBLLBW SEASON. , A full house, in spite of very inauspicious weather, greeted the first appearance of Messrs Williamson and Musgrove’s Royal Dramatic Company yesterday evening, proving that the public of Christchurch are not slow to appreciate the entorprise of these princes of caterers for their amusement. The reputation of Mrs Potter and Mr Bellew as exponents of the histrionic art had not a little to do with the "bumper”' welcome accorded to the company, and when these artistes made their appearance they received a cordial reception. It is evidently something more than superstition that causes Mrs Potter and Mr. Bellew to prefer making their debut for the season in La Tosca , for this work of the great French dramatist, Sardou, is a really powerful and entrancing drama, giving splendid scope for emotional acting as well as for the finer lights and shades of feeling. The story is one of revolutionary plot,’ of love, of jealousy and of awful tragedy. Through the whole of the five acts the interest is sustained at almost fever heat; the action is spirited and full of variety; while the dialogue is forceful and pointed, relieved by occasional gleams of humour and satire. There are three central figures in the story, to whom all the rest are subsidiary. These are Baron Scarpia, the astute and unscrupulous servant of the Queen of Naples; Floria Tosca, an opera,tie dwa ; and Mario Cavaradossi, her lower. The parts are played by Mr Bellew, Mrs Potter and Mr Cyril Keightley respectively. The plot turns on the triumph of Aliachiavellian cunning and diabolic cruelty ever love, honour and patriotism. The ardent lover of liberty, Mario, gives asylum and protection to an escaped revolutionary prisoner in his villa near Rome; La Tosca coaxes the secret from her sweetheart, and she is made the means, under Scarpia’s keen deductive mefchods,.of betraying both Mario and the fugitive. In the working out of these ideas the anther has contrived some very fine dramatic situations, several charming love scenes and others of engrossing interest. The first act shows La Tosca in the character of a weak, vain, but intensely loving l woman, justifying her lover's remark (when he chooses to arouse lier jealousy rather than confide in her) that “ a woman is only thorougMydisereot when she knows nothing of the matter-to be kept secret.” In the second act, her jealous fury is skilfully aroused by Baron. Scarpia, and in the “fan scene” we havean incident analogous to that with the handkerchief in OtheUo. The ouhonnating point is reached in the third-act, when La Tosca, m her haste to resolve her jealous fears, betrays the residence of Marioto-the Baron and his agents. Then comes Scarpia’s master stroke of devilish cruelty and wisdom. He causes Mario to be put to the torture, in order to force him te reveal the hiding place of the fugitive; and on the high-spirited man proving obdurate, he ha? recourse to torture by proxy. By this refinement of cruelty he develops a strong trait of fidelity and.fhmness in . the character of La Tosca ; but ultimately her resolution gives .way as she hears Mario’s shrieks and groans of anguish, and she is persuaded to reveal the secret of the hiding-place, under-the specious promise that no one wilLever know that she has done it. The prisoner, who-has killed himself rather than be recaptured, is brought in dead as Mario is rolesraed from the torture-chamber, and a terrible scene ensues, in which the revolutionary feeling proves stronger than love, and Mario denounces La Tosca as a betrayer, and vehemently tells her he hates her. The closing acts dea 1 with further intrigues, in which the woman*s witof La Tosca is pitted against the astufceness-cf Scarpia. In the tragic termination the once weak woman shines as a heroine; she kills the villainous Baron, and then,.findingthat her lover has been executed, commits selfdestruction in order to rejoin him. In all the difficult situations to be filled and complicated emotions to be depicted in the course of the play, Mrs Potter proved herself an actress of sterling qnahty, with a vivid' perception of the character to be enacted, and a complete mastery of' the . histrionic art. Mr Keightley played Well up to her as the lover, and spoke and acted his part excellently. It is not too much to say, however, that the acting of Mr Bellew, as Baron Scarpia, was the most remarkable feature in a masterly performance. Prom beginning to end there was not a flaw in his portraiture of the cruel, cunning, cynical, unbending old Baron. It was a piece of 1 stage portraiture worthy to rank with the very finest known. The other characters in the piece were well sustained by a company that showed great all-round efficiency. Miss Linda Raymond as the Queen, Miss Maggie Ford as the Princess Capreola, Mr Berkeley as Angelotti and Mr Montgomery is the Yicomte de Trevilliao are most deserving of notice, though all are most meritorious. The scenery, by the Messrs Gordon, is superb, and the orchestral music all that could be desired La Tosca will be repeated to-night, but cannot again be staged during the seasoii.