AMUSEMENTS.

NZ Truth, Issue 161, 18 July 1908, Page 6

AMUSEMENTS.

j OPERA HOUSE*. '' " WHeB! Knights Were Boldi" Mc Prank- Thornton and his Comedy} Company opened a nine nights' season at the Opera House on Thursday evening lastj and judging from tlie great wejpome^ that the ever popular comedian received, the. Wellington season is going, to be 'ftuite a record one. The opening piece was•the new dream-comedy by Charles MarMowe entitled, "When Knights were Bold." ,It is the "finest comedy seen for years," .and it ,comes to Wellington from Lon--Nlop, where it is now m its* 6ooth night,, 7and; everywhere produced m New Zealand;,' »and. Australia has been enthusiastically- • received. The comedy, as its title would, is of the quaint and whimsical' isort. It is a dream and the audience are. ; relegated back to the days of Richard the . Lion-hearted. Mr Thornton naturally takes the lead and he represents Sir Guy de Vere, who belongs to an old noble . tfamily of Yorkshire,. He is to marry a young lady named Lady Rowena Eggiington, whose aristocratic time is greatly occupied m conjuring up visions Of the iold and chivalrous days when Knights 'were hold. As a resplt of this yearning : for ye olden times khiglit, a compact, or rather a> conspiracy, is ento^cd into be-, tween the young' laxly and Sir Guy's: aunt, jthe object of which is -to force Sir Guy (into emulating toe deeds of his- forbears ias the Lady Ro.weaa yearns for. Here ivSdced is fine material fer many ludicrous .situatians. He * refuses to act the silly .ox and learns, as is natural, that he has a rival m Sir Bryan Ballymote (Mr Kepyiel Stophenson), who, while posing as a ■direct descendant of an Irish King, ;is nothing short of a spieler. Sir Guy, ehaving contracted a cold, resorts to the [modern remedy of whisky hot and gets a load on, falls' asleep, and then » comes the dream. Everybody but the modern Enie^t masquerade m the character of by-*g.ohe chifa&cus days, and it 1 is- only when forned, to fisht his rival 'that he dans himsalf m a suit 01. mail, :,.-bait--tbis is anwfcwasd for lii-in,, and m. true, '. feistesh style, he h'elts hisses, out of Sir 'Bejavn. Tittie last act ends, toe dream- and ! [it is. tbaa that lie vJoleatly clwirses into jan old. sui* of mail, and this brings on l, t_ae...seeue toe othei? inmates of the house,, who reckon toe valiant &_misi!it has. gone 'barmy. Sox Bryan-s villainy lis exposed, •so al^o is that of Mr Isaac Isaacson(Mr D. -Moiniitoni)', a stock- and share bro[ker, who has had a scheme on . foot to (Palm off his dajightor, Bliss Isaacson !(Miss C. Mainfieid) to Sir Guy. Everybody is then made happy, and Lady Rowena lis thoroughly satisfied that the Knights of Old cannot be compared with toe more modern ones. The comedy nevei};, flags m interest and fun, and Mr Thornr ton is responsible fer most of toe merriment. The curtain-raiser is a one-act play entitled, "That Brute Simmons. w "When Knights Were Bold" will he nro>duce'd to-night and next Monday ©venihg. ■On Tuesday the evergreen "Cbarlie r fe. i-Anint" will be staged.