MASKELYNE AND DEVANT'S MASTERIES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLIII, Issue XLIII, 4 March 1909, Page 2

MASKELYNE AND DEVANT'S MASTERIES.

Much interest is manifested in tomorrow's opening at the Theatre l?o---yal of Maskelyne and Devant's Mysteiies. The entertainment is novel and peculiar, treating of mysteries, disappearances, ghosts, and startling tricks. Comparison is irapo&isble, since nothing quite similar has been done in Australia, and certainly the box trick in "Will, the W^itch, and the Watchman" has never previously left Britain, where its secret was jealously guarded by Mr Maskelyne. Mr Barclay Gammon, monologiiist, talks at brtak-neck speed, establishes jokes with fio wli i? yndiuicj, telis stories against himself — all with an abandonment of great fun. Then comes a little intsrliido which is slyly funny, when you cannot be quite sure whether he is playing Mendelssohn's "Spring Pong" or "I Wouldn't Leave my Littlo Wooden "ut." His musical feats are difficult, but this fact is half-con-cealed by the ease with which they are tossed off. Mr Owen Clark is an expert conjurer, doing extraordinary things with such commonplace accessories as handkerchiefs, guinea pigs, doves, playing cards. Gintaro, a Japanee, does sensational feats with spin-ning-tops, bows and arrows, and quivering towers of tubes. The box plan is at Jackson's.