“THE PRISONER OF ZENDA.”

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1354, 10 February 1898, Page 18

“THE PRISONER OF ZENDA.”

From Mr Anthony Hope’s fascinating novel “The Prisoner of Zenda,” with its trans : ent air of probability, the dramatist, Mr Edward Rose, who has had.no small experience in the art of the, playwrigbt, has evolved at leash a picturesque and romantic play. His task certainly was not an easy one. Naturally the story had to be reduced considerably to bring it within the limits of a four-aot drama, and as the book is entirely ( wßiioot padding each i f its many shining , incidents coming as a logical sequ 1 of that which precedes it, it will be recognis ed as j unavoidable that in the a iaptati n much ©f ' the power and force of the original w >rk h ive had to be sacrificed. What rem dnR, how- I ever, is full of string iutere.-t, and has in it all the elements that go to make a successful play. Monday nigh/s performance went with delightful crispness and finish, and the crowded audience was deservedly enthusiastic. After an unnecessary prologue, wholly devoted to a so mdal whioh in the book is explained in a few words, the drama opens in the forest of Zenda, shows the real King of Ruritania in his stupor from the effects of Black Mchael’s drugged wine, and the departure of Rudolph Rassendyll to assume hi 3 place in the coronation ceremony, takes the audience to witness a pageant at the Winter Palace at Strelsau before and after the coronation ceremony, contrives some effective scenes between Rudolph and the betrothed of the real King, the Princess Flavia, and without much of the bloodshed of the novel, follows it to its conclusion in the rescue of the King from his | dungeon of Zenda and the separation ot tbo lovers Rudolph and Flavia, the one to return to England, the other to p'-iy her weary part as the Queen of Ruritania Mr Julius Knight played superbly in his dual role of Rudolph and the imprisoned King, while Miss Ferrar was a most attractive Princess. As if to make up for the vigorous style in which the book itself is written, the dramatist has introduced a vein of comedy into bis work, so that Rudolph Rassendyll is represented to us as a somewhat harum-scarum young fellow who enters into the conspiracy of the rugged Colonel Sapt in a spirit of mad frivolity. This reading of the character was presented with admirable judgment by Mr Knight, who suggested with whimsical gaiety the irksomeness of the pseudo-King under the demands of Court etiquette in the scene in the Strelsau Palace when the foreign Ambassadors are presented to him. In this saeno the climax of the play, from a spectacular point of view, is reached. Here Rudolph, garbed in the striking white uniform and glittering casque and helmet of Germanj, receives the Ambassadors before setting out for the Cathedral for his coronation. As each foreign representative entered, clad in his distinguishing uniform, each one but the Turkish Ambassador accompanied by a lady inlsumptuous Court dress, the display of costumes • was indeed brilliant, the tolling of bells* the

cheering in the streets outside, and every other sign of popular rejoicing, impressing v the imagination vividly. It is in this scene that news is brought to Rudolph that tie King has fallen into the hands of the Black Elpliberg. In a moment the mad joke is such no longer, The demeanour of Rissendyll changes from playful comedy’ to desperate determination. He will rescue the King, and bring him back to his own again. “ And the Princess!” suggests Sa.pt at his elbow. . A gesture cf despair and a bowing of the head is Rudolph’s only reply. He has loved the Princess from the first moment he saw hor, and it is now a conflict between that love and his duty. “By heaven, yon are the finest Elphberg of them all,” is the cry of the stern old Sapt—“ but I \ have eaten the King’s bread, and I am the | King’s servant.’ “We will go to Zenda,” | says Rudolph, simply, this effective situa- ' tion proved one of the best in the play. In tho next act, the third, a powerful scene has been framed in which Rassendyll, much earlier than in the book, discloses to the Princess Flavia his identity. In this incident Miss Ferrar and Mr Knight gave as one of the finest pieces of acting Been for some time. It was a scene managed with excellent judgment and. sincerity, and never once overwrought. This and the final scene, the parting of Rudolph aud Flavia, which in the drama occurs within the walls of the Castle of Zenda, immediately after the release of the King, were artistically played. Miss Ferrar, who showed that she is a thoroughly capable actress, comported herself with gentle dignity, and looked a lovable Princess. She was especially striking in the Winter Palace in her brilliant Court attire. Miss Elliott Page was Antoinette de Miuban, who, instead of the subsidiary part in the novel, has in the play an important role, since she is brought on to the stage in the Forest of Zenda as the unwilling agent in the plots of Duke Michael, then after the coronation ceremony to warn Rudolph of thb con? spiracy against him, and later on in the Castle of Tarlenheim in a scene of selfhumiliation at the feet of Flavia which is quite a departure from the book,’and the object of which is not fully apparent. Miss Page, in an unthankful and difficult part, acquitted herself well, though sometimes her voice was unsympathetic. The character of Dnke Michael, the villain of the piece, found an able interpreter in Mr Gaston Mtrrale, who was well set up in his military uniform, and was of sufficiently commanding presence, Mr W. F. Hawtrey acted faithfully as Sapt, who reminded one of the Man of Blood and Iron# as he propounded and carried through hia scheme for the orowning of a sham King in order to defeat the intrigue of Black Michael, t-ther characters were sustained , by Mrs Maesmore Morris, Messrs W. F. Giant, H J. Carvill, R. Stewart, Harry Hill, D. Glassford, J. Athol wood, T. Gates, T. Foster and Atheistone. In the prologue, in' which a period 150 years before that of the drama is represented, a duel fought between Priuce Rudolphs and the Earl of Rassendyll was cleverly gone through by Mr Julius Knight and Mr Carvill. Mrs Maesinore Morris acted creditably in the prologue as the erring Countess of Rassendyll. • ' ' . '