PRINCESS THEATRE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11642, 27 January 1900, Page 8

PRINCESS THEATRE.

BROTJGH COMEDY COMPANY. The sad history of a woman's efforts to live down, in defiance of society, a shadowy , pact, and to assume the part of at least conventional [ respectability, forma the scheme of Pine'ro'a I remarkable work, " The Second Mrs Tan- ' queray." Very few comedies possess in such j a marked degree, the power of enlisting the at- ! tention of an-audience so absorbingly, and so. , unremittingly during the space of some two hours and a-half as doe 3 this—one of the most remarkable productions of modern dnuiiatic art. In giving us " The Second Mrs Tan- ; queray' Mr Pinerp, in his incisive, irresistibly convincing style, presents .a picture of tha harsh, cruel, inexorable laws within which society of tho present day lias entrenched itstjlf. Mrs Tanqueray committed the most unpiirdnn- ! able of all sins in the eyes of society—the sin I of '• being found out." After that all her efforts to clamber back to the plane of outward respectability were met with the covert aneei-3 and the shrugging shoulders of an • unfeeling ; world. Rarely are such exacting and persistent demands made upon any one performer as upon the actress to whom the impersonation o£ "The Second Mrs Tanqueray' is entrusted. At last evening's performance of the play by the : trough Company, Mrs. Brough in- the title role, may be said to have crowned her succession of artistic triumphs during the present season.. During the whole progress of the piece she may be said to have been on the stage, ana : from start to finish her whole acting comprised j a series of intensely emotional displays. AH ; the marvellous complexities, all the'wonderful contradictory phases which .go to make a, woman's character the despair of the students of human nature throughout all ages, seem to be amplified with tenfold force in thoperj sonahty of Pinero's female creation. The. i moving, changing colours of the kaleidoscope do not come.and go with such rapidity as the •phases m this woman's composition, and to give expression to all her ever-varying moods .. requires the skill and artistic ability which Mrs Brough possesses in an eminent degree. Her marvellous displays of forceful, effective acting kept the audience thrillingly interested and her study of the charcter must always remain deeply impressed in the minds of '-,11 IJiose who witnessed the performance. Mr Joseph Came, as Aubiey Tanqueray •»-tai"lv presented im ■ admirable study of a'niian v:ho had sacrificed the calm reason of his head to the dictates of his heart, and lived to pay an awful penalty for it. In tho strongly emotforml scenes his acting was characterised with intensity and consistency. Mr Brough as Cayley JJnimrolo was, as ever, effective and skilful and never missed a point. Miss G race Noble invested the part of Ellien with gnce i tenderness. Miss Temple was seen aVa n tageoußly as Lady Orreyed, while Mr W. T Irdale W convincing power as Captain occ^iorf'onfv B"°A UShv^ in "2™' for «»« occasion only, A \illage Priest." Mr Grundy s play enables Mr and Mrs Brough to moitst thJ b°7 Cl l Ti?m? h5 in chtracts™ questionable whether. .Mr Brough has evor produced one in Dunedin'that achieved a wid«i popularity. On.Monday next-the last nigTto he season-" Niobe".will be revived, and the touowing clay the Brcugh Comedy Company move north by the steamship Westralia