THEATRE ROYAL: THE LINGARDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVI, Issue 5633, 5 December 1879, Page 5

THEATRE ROYAL: THE LINGARDS.

The new comedy, " Old Bichel>rs," produced oa Wednesday night for the first time in tliis city, and repeated last night with consummate ability, wants nothing but the sympathy of numbers to make it even more successful than "Our Boys. In point of form it is not so legitimate as that celebrated comedy. It is constructed upon a novel p!an, and admits ii>to its best situations a farcical element which may be a blemish upon it as a comedy but elicited a great deal of fun. Three " old bachelors " —Judge Growler (Mr. George Leopold), who is a womanhater ; Professor Spirt (Mr. Lingard), who is something of a " spoon l-Jr. Braid (Mr. Warner), who is ready lo fall in love—reside in the boarding establishment of Mrs. Mouse. There arc several ladies equally prepared to fall in love : Mrs. Clair, a y..nng widow (Miss Lingard) ; fanny Beech (Miss Blauche Leopold), niece to the lodgiugliouse-keeper ; and Ada Hope (Miss Melrose), a companion to the widow. The professor, like the hero of one of Mr. Gilbert's comedies, persists in asking the ladies whether they had ever "contemplated the dastiny of woman," until he linds th-it he is engaged to all three. But each lady eventually discovers his iulidelity in the very act of making the next new proposal Judge Growler is called in to get rid of d'fii nlties, and disposes of the business in a summary way until he corner to Mrs. JU use, when ho finds that he also i 3 st oped to the lips in human folly aaolier name or which is, in— his estimation, a weakness for the marriage state. The current of fun is inverted, and it flows back on the professor with a rippling drollery. He wishes to be off his engagements with at leas*; two of the ladies. A street adventure biiugs about a solution of all difficulties ill a very felicitous manuer. The nephew of the judge has been sent by his father to propose to the widow. Ho meeta her in the street, and falls in love with her, not knowing who she is. He determines to be rid of his father's choice, and is persuaded by Giowler to feign drunk in her presence. He discovers too late that his father's choice is his unknown inamorata. The ruse is discovered by the widow, and this relieves the professor of one difficulty, the doctor relieving him of another. The curtain falls upon a quintupled wedding party. The acting of Mr. H. Lingard is admirable, The audience was kept in a continuous flow of merriment from the rising to the falling of the curtain. Mrs. Fitzwilliam as the lo3ging-housc keeper ; Miss Lingard as the young widow ; Miss Melrose as the expectant young spinster, played with complete effect and point. The piece is a real theatrical success, and is sure to improve by repetition. It will be played again this evening.