PRINCESS THEATRE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10444, 21 August 1895, Page 3

PRINCESS THEATRE.

"THE LAND OF THE MOA." '

A large audience last night witnessed the first peiformance in Dunedin of "The Land of the Moa/' the 'drama'-;whioh';' under the direcf tion of Mr George Leitch, was- recently performed with greaVsuc.eess in Weiiingtah,; w^hera i it enjoyed a run of unusual duration for a New j Zealand .theatre. It is. as a spectacular—or i perhaps moro correctly as a; pictorial— -prMuc- ' tion that "The Land of the'Moa" has principal ! claims for public support. "The scenic artiat ! triumphs in the production, the latter and greater half of the piece consisting mainly of a series of effective views' irithe Hot Lakes'district. ! Someofthe "sets "ara extremely good; this being" ! the- case , where... the-, now-destroyed P.nk -lerrac.es are thown. The represetitadon of these departed glories, with the ' famous ! baths of ths Rotorua district—the priests' bath, Madame :=P.schael's hath, and the others— j 'bubbling up in the foreground, with th|. sieam ridiug from them, was exceedingly realistic, and evoked general applause, which was long'pro.The p-et. representing Sulphur Island ,and theßlack Grater was also remarkably effcjc- i tive and distinctly impressive ; aud: the scenes depicting Lake Rotomahana an'd f :L_ke R'oto-ua were also exceedingly creditable Rsalisba on ,the stage has' not yefc been carried to such an extent as to enable tha eruption at Tarawera to he adequately reproduced, but the audience was perfectly content! with the representation which wasgiyea of. that awful catastrophe, and ib was iuiieed an admirable effsct that was achieved by the mechanists, the tableau which depicted the eruption being jsuttably employed as the culminating scene m tbe drama. The majority df tbe canvases presented views in'the thermal swings country, but there was a view, also of Waitemata Harbour and the, adjacent islands, and, the.first act; being laid in Danedin, the ciothused for it presented _ highly imaginative view of, this city. The latter , soeoe, despite obvious , defects,'; was received with-loud ! applause. \ Yet another effective "set ''represented the; burning of -a" yacht which had been run .on the rocks "and then fired. 'In the wealth of ecentry, upoh which -the j eyes of the audience are leasted, one is I apt to ■ lose the thread (if there is one) of the story told in ;the drama. Tt seems, however, to be!, quite a commoupiaeo story .of -lovs and' revenge—the latter; being,,long; deferred, but. su-hjiently, thrilling .when it co_ies„ Captain Clarks, wbo, amang3totber aliases, isknown as the Black Angel, has, it would appear, betrayed and deserted.'.» Maori «irl n&med Kura, belonging to the Ngapuhi tribf, acd hes bi-en attracted bythe beauty of an English girl named Marvis Noble.: Mar?is has come out to: , New Zealand to join her uncle, whoin'sjie too .lato discovers to ba a worthle.js old. cre-ture, snd she. returns; the love entertained for her by a young artist named Jack Featherstone. The effort?,of the Black, Angel to separate Marvis from her lover' and to himself frustrate the Ngapuhi in the determination which, as he -nows, possesses tbem to be avenged' for his act of ;treacbery towards one of their numher' constitute the main interest in the story. The. Black Acgel gets iuto one or two very tight places, but somehow: or other succeeds -in getting out of thera again, the object of the delay iv his being brought to josr.iee evidently being iv the interest-: of the pictorial side of the production, aud it: is so well done by Mr , Arthur Clint and his ai-sisfrahts that the failure ; to earlier punish the betrayer is readily forgiven. Taft story does not suffer: at the hands of the' performers, oil of whom give very satisfactory representations of their various parts, the production being, from the histrionic point of ■view,-- a singularly and pleasingly even one. The principal members of the oompany haver almost without exception, appeared in Dunedin | on former occasions. . Miss Gladys Leigh made a very cngsging Marvis, sctii.g the part of tbe heroine with a good deal of judgment and with considerable mccess. The deep melancholy of Eui-a was capitally-expressed by Miss Fitzmaurice Gill, and much dramatic power was e-hibited by Miss Polly Emery in hw -repre--' j s<=.ntation of -Wangirita, one of the Ngapuhi, in j «h«m tbe desire for utu is very marked. Mr I George Leitch appeared as Samson Nobleoi, a bibulous aud eccentric pilot, with a fund of tall yarn?, and a habit of repeating himself, whicii only tho acfor's'metfcod prevented from becoming ttdions, audhe afforded abuudance of amusement} to tbe house. MrF.W Lcoaard gave a thoroughly good account of himself in the part of^the Black Angel, and; gained the compliment of. vigorous hooting from thn occupants of the pit. Mr Percy Brough acted in a bright and brcrzv manner as Jack Featbeistone, the artist, aud Mr Harold Carr did capital service as Kareld Walkdea, an author and Featherstone's f risnd. Mr James' Cathoart, to whom,: the 'veteran in the company, a warm reception wos acooreed, M.wu a dignified impersoxiiaion of Rewi. 'Mr Cyril Keijihtley had not a heavy apsakiog part in that of Roto, a native who followed the occupation of ahadowing the Black Angel, aad his poi-formance was wholly commendable ; but Mr Philip Walsh, wbo appeared as the captain of a gunboat, made the mistake of speakine with a rapidity of utterance that made it difficult to f", i!°? him in what he said. Miss Minna Phillips appeared iri the small part of Sophia, ■a guide, but was not made up in such a way as fc? suggest the original Sophia of Rotorua— I there may have been no such suggestion m'-wndiid. About a score of other pxrts were suitably sastaiued. Ssvt'.ral real Maoris, whose presence imparted tho reel local colour to the P'«-y, were included among thf. performers, and tbey gave some war dances, which were ioim<;cpps*;ly appreciated find loudly applauded. x_a general verdict concerning tbe play was one of satisfaction and approval. Tha principal ™em"CTB of the company were called before tho curtain at the closo of the third and fourth acts and tbe aapUwse curing the performance was frequ«nt and hsaity. The only drawback to last night's production -was tbe extreme length of noroß 0 f t ho interval, bat the managerurn!; ore confident that there will, en noo^berevtning during the teieon, bo room tor oompUint ou that score, and that to-night's P< e rm orl? ance wUI De concluded bef.-re 11 o'clock. Iho Land of tha Moa " will be rraeated this evening.

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