PRINCESS THEATRE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 4163, 22 June 1875, Page 2

PRINCESS THEATRE.

" East and West "was produced at the Princess Theatre last evening. It is a drama wMcEI was written, apparently, with the intention o£ being thoroughly sensational. The plot of the ■-. piece may be shortly stated as follows:—Job Snarl, the chief villain of the play (it maybe remarked that he is a lawyer), has, some yeara previous to the time of the first scene, procured _ the conviction (on false evidence) and transportation of the heroine's father. Afterwards, Snarly by divers unlawful means, conceals from^the^ heroine the fact that she is an heiress, arid wants" to get her married to a second villain, in order to divide her fortune between them. The whole of the play hiiiges on; efforts' made by the pair - to take the life of the heroine's chosen lovers-':-? Charles Band, who seems to have as manylives a? are proverbially attributed to a domestic animaL The heroine, Ellen Tiernay (represented by Mrs Bates), who is ah heiress wrongfully kept out of her fortune, is _■*'_ mill hand. The hero, Charles Rand (Mr Stoneham), works, at the time the action of the play commences, in'the same establishment First, the villains attempt to destroy him by pitching him into the machinery of the mill; afterwards tberjr throw him under a battery of stampers ; next . ; they attempt to upset the train in which he is travelling, and make attempts too numerous to mention to shoot him, but he always escapes uninjured. Finally, the long-lost father turns up,theheroand heroine are joinedin matrimony^ and the villains are baulked ; crime is defeated," and virtue is triumphant, in the most approved ■" fashion. There are no less than three sensation scenes in the drama; also a scene showing the departure of a train, and pistols are produced. V: on numberless occasions. -The piece is one of the most disconnected description. The effort of the author seems to have been to have given, the concentrated essence of all pieces with train, scenes, drinking scenes, shooting scenes, stick-ing-up scenes—iv fact, a conglomeration of " After Dark," " Ten Nights in a Bar Eoom," ''Jack Sheppard," and other notable productions. We have said that the drama was evidently written with the intention of beirjj sensational, but the writer has overshot the mark, and what should have been sensational becomes merely a burlesque. Last night, through. . no fault of the performers, the "take-your- ? breath-away" scenes, instead of producingbreathless suspense caused hearty laughteii The only redeeming feature of the piece, in our opinion, is tße part of Hepsey, which was -, sustained by.Miss Stoneham,. with character-^ istic humour. But even in this part the lan.- J guage is not the most refined. There is also _t. small part—a stage Irish man —which Mr Steele filled very creditably. The language at the commencement of the play is bombastic, with, much high-flown sentiment, and, as we have shown, the piece subsequently degenerates from, the sensational to the ridiculous. We do not^ as may be inferred from our remarks, consider "East and West" to have been a judicious selection. At the same time, however, having been placed on the boards.'it will no doubt have a run of a few nights. • ■ . - s