ABBOTT'S OPERA HOUSE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXIII, Issue 7650, 29 May 1886, Page 5

ABBOTT'S OPERA HOUSE.

"IN THE RANKS." This play, which will be produced for the first time *in Auckland on Monday evening next, was performed for the first time at the Adelphi Theatre, London, in the autumn of IBS 3. For over two years it held the boards of that theatre, and gained the reputation of the longcut run on record for this particular style of drama. It is written by G. R. Siuis and Henry Pettitt, and Mr. Sims ie not a man that spoils paper, and in Mr. Pettitt he has had a most efficient collaboratcur. The story is good, and it is well and concisely told. It is interesting, exciting at passages, painfully pathetic at others, and sometimes lightened with gloams of healthy humour—in shcrt, a panorama of constancy, struggles, and sorrow—human nature battling against inhuman villainy, such as «nust be allowed to exist now and again in tho world, especially for dramatic purposes. It is pieced together with consummate ability, each scene loading up to a situation which invariably stirs the audience, and, seeing that there are thirteen scenes in the five acts, this is saying not a little. Messrs. Riguold and Allison first introduced it to an Australian public at tho Opera House, Melbourne, in October, 1885, and it ao hit the public taste that it ran for nine weeks in that city, which, as runs go in Australia, is a long one. The present company is almost identically tho same as on its original production in Melbourne, and they have won golden opinions from the Press and public in the Southern cities of New Zealand, where "In the Ranks" has always maintained its reputation. Great attention has been paid to tho scenery aud stage appointments, and every caro has been taken by the management to ensure a proper and effective production.