AMUSEMENTS.

NZ Truth, Issue 72, 8 December 1906, Page 3

AMUSEMENTS.

OPERA HOUSE. "The Little Stranger." Next" Wednesday night, Dec. 12 (Lord, how near Xmas draws and we poor devils far from home and mother !), Messrs Meynell, Gunn and Varna, who brought that wonderful child-show "The Fatal Wedding" here, only a couple or three months ago, re-open at the Opera House with another marvellous kid attraction entitled "The Little Stranger." In "The Fatal Wedding" we saw a girl child m dramatic tragedy and all, pld and youne;, fell at her feet and loved and worshipped her. In this latest play we have a boy, Willie Parke, who is a born comedian, and who, though only nine years of age, practically carries the show on his young shoulders and carries it easily, too. To give a real idea of what is m store for Wellington playgoers it will be as well to quote, from the Sydney "Evening News" of Nov. 12 :— "The new play which was produced by Meynell, Gunn and Varna's Company, under the direction of Mr Allan Hamilton at the Palace Theatre on Saturday night, is one of those amusing absurdities at which one laughs and wonders why. But if the author has failed to furnish a feast of reason he has at least given us a flow of "soul." And this is how he has contrived it. Into the body of a baby boy he has, for the purpose of his plot, placed the soul of the little one's father, so that, when a spiritualistic humbug moves with mysterious mein m the midst of a company of kindred spirits, (the infant's intelligence and tricks are so astounding that the men and women become terrorstricken. , . There is a little playfulness on the part of the midget towards the nurse., after he has donned the Allenby baby's clothes. He suffers himself to be caressed for a while, but finding it irksome surprises the nurse by expressions of a kind which makes her gaze m wonderment. A few familiar : chucks under the chin, and; she shrinks .from him m fear, goes into hysterics 'm the presence of her bewildered mistress, and finally throws herself on the i neck of the butler, who pathetically . exclaims, addressing the lady of the house, "I assure you, mum, I haven't given her the slightest encouragement.". A little lat<?r, Mrs Allenby, j with true maternal instinct, taJtes Wie ''child m her arms, with the caressing phrase, "Mamma will look after you now," but when the unexpected reply ■comes, "And it's about time you did," she. 'drops him on the floor and piws him a wide berth. The situations whi h follcnv are full of humor. From behind a miniature curtain screen the little strantrer pinches legs, while a sceptical general, averse to the darkness into which the room , has been plunged at the instance of Vronski, : clamors for a "respectable" light. But it is m the scenes where the little -stranger addresses himself t 0 - the whisky and soda, and smokes cigarettes, that the laughter reaches its height. Mirth provoking, too, is the situation m which he makes the change from " his baby garments to those of trousers and- a frock coat.v In fact, he is the life as well as the "soul" of the piece." v . The Sydney "Truth" of NoV. 11 said' of this play and the extraordinary, child :— To say that he. must jhave been fully satisfied with the najture of his reception scarcely expresises the situation. His greeting, m jnoint of numbers, could not liave been IS ••eater, for the reason that the dimensions of the building absolutely prevented a further unit being got into it, while the enthusiasm evinced m him— expressed, by the way, m the shape of lauchter and delight— was uproarious and deafening. Indeed, "The Little Stranger" is not likely to remain a stranger. He must go on making hosts of fresh friends every nieht for a very considerable time, and when at last he has to move on, with a view to making the conouest of fresh friends elsewhere, he will have m Sydney a circle of admirers, bearinc the pleasantest memories of him. the size of which it most rarely falls to any visitor to leave tehind him. Messrs Meynell, Gunn, and Varna, who are Responsible for the production, have certainly got hold of a wonderful child m Master Willie Parke.