THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1959, 10 September 1891, Page 32

THEATRICAL & MUSICAL NOTES.

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Mr Bland Holt was announced to open on Wednesday night at the Princess Theatre in the new drama "Master and Man." A glance at the names shows the strength of the company. Miss Edith Blande makes her first appearance in NewJZealand, and we have Mrs Holt, always a favourite here ; Misses Vivienne and Mabel Russell, and Mrs May Buckley to support her. Messrs Walter Howe, A. Norman, Baker, Glover, Roberts, Russell, Plimmer, Seagrave, Annerson, Dale, and Harry Norman are among the aotors, while Mr Bland Holt will, as usual, be a host in himself.

The following is an outline of the plot of ** Master and Man " :— Hester Thornbury ia the schoolmistress of a village in a manufacturing district of Lancashire, and she is the particular admiration of three men. One of the suitorß for her hand is Jack Walton, a young engineer, and the inventor of certain patents. Another lover is Robert Carlton, an ironmaster, the ostensible owner of a large establishment. He only proposes marriage to the girl when he finds out that she is the legitimate heiress to the estate on which he lives. Hester's third lover is the deformed, misshapen, outwardly hard Humphrey Logan — familiarly called " Humpy * — who has set his heart on the sweet village schoolmistress. She is the only woman who can i turn his heart to gentleness. She can make of him what she will. Bat Hester tarns her attention to the engineer. It follows that "Humpy" Logan, being thwarted in his love, tarns to thoughts of revenge. He is the foreman of the Carlton works, and he is Robert Carlton's right hand. By a chain of circumstances, which is cleverly contrived, the attempted murder of Carlton is fixed on the innocent : Jack Walton, who is sent to the convict prison of Dartmouth. Humphrey Logan's evil nature having once gob the uppermost hold on him, his passions lead him blindfold en. Not content with hunting down Jack Walton and Hester (now Walton's wife), Logan has been mainly instrumental in locking out the workmen of the Carlton foundry. The men are starving for want of food and thirsting for revenge. The furnace fires are still in full blast, when on a bitterly cold night Logan is hounded out to meet destruction. The furnace door is open, the fierce fire is scorching in its heat, blinding in its intensity; the rabid men are about to hurl " Humpy " Logan to destruction, when Jack Walton appears and rescues him. It is a powerful and moving scene, worked op to admirably. The escaped convict has saved his enemy. It is only natural that Logan should shield the man who has been imprisoned on his false evidence. Logan is saved from the furnace; Walton is resetted from the police. The gathering together of the various threads which are necessary to the proper conclusion of the play is accomplished with much dexterity. A last act is usually weak, but the final act of M Maßter and Man " is decidedly interesting. The repentance and reparation of Humphrey Logan are perfectly natural. The downfall of the arch-villain, Robert Oarlton, is sure and complete, while the establishment of the virtue and prosperity of hero and heroine leaves nothing to be desired. A detailed notice of the piece will be given next week. The midgets General and Mrs Mite have attracted large audiences to their exhibition during their tour in the southern districts of Otago. They are at present at Milton, and after returning to Dunedin intend to visit the West Coast. The Dobson-Kennedy Dramatic Company are doing good business in the north with " Little Lord Fauntleroy." Alexander Middleton, a theatrical manager, has recovered £100 damages for assault from John F. Sheridan, of " Widow O'Brien "fame. "Prompter," ia the Canterbury Times, saya :— " The booking of dates for the Wellington Opera House gives a fair indication of dramatic proceedings in New Zealand for the next six months. The Juvenile Opera Company will play in the Opera House for a fortnight, commencing on September 4. Myra Kemble, with ( Dr Bill ' and * Jane,' has the refusal of the name house from September 28 to October 10. Bland Holt takes up the runing with ' Master and Man ' and other new London pieces from November 2 to November 19, and ha is succeeded by Mr J. S. Manning with his Englißh Variety Company, whd will occupy the Opera House from November 20 to December 5. Messrs MaoMahon will come along with either the ' Evangeline ' Opera Bouffe Company or J. L. Sullivan's Dramatic Troupe. The MaoMahonsJwill open on Boxing Night, and will play up to January 15, and on January 18 the Gerald Duff Dramatic Company will open for a season extending up to February 11. Amy Vaughan, with her Variety Troupe, opens on February 13 for a season of six nights, and on February 22 the brothers William, and George Rignold will commence a three weeks' season/

The following items ate from the Sydney Bulletin :—

Madame Marian Burton goes Home in the Australien, She received a oheque for 300gs from the Halleß for breaoh of contract.

Catherine Sinclair, widow of Edwin Forrest, died a few weeks ago in America, aged 76. She acted in Sydney and Melbourne 36 years ago with Henry Sedley in " Much Ado About Nothing "and other pieces. She waß a very beautiful woman. Forrest, who married her in England, falsely accused her, and she got a divorce with £300 allowance a year, but Forrest never paid it. She died poor as an actress. Mr B>. B._ Wißeman, a well-known man in theatrical circles, has now been pronounced incurably blind. He takes a benefit at Her Majesty's on September 2, when selections from " Lights o' London," " Old Guard," " Dr Bill," and "The Idler," will be p'.ayed by the companies of the four Sydney theatres now occupied. Musical and other items • will be contributed by unattaohed members of the profession.

Haddon Chambers says that the play he is now writing for Tom Thorne will set the seal on his fame. His fees for "The Idler " amount to £75 per week.

Madame Simonsen advertises " Martha " in preference to " Matta" It is, in trutb, absurd to Italianise the name of the heroine of an opera which includes such sternly Bugliah characters as Nanoy and Piunket. You can't make (them into Italians, nonow or anyway. If memory tells truly, " Martha " was Italianised in^the interests of Giugluini, the tenor of 30 years ago, Highflyer Higgins was dashed to daath in England, aeronaut Annie Harkass fell hard fromf a great height at Oincinatt (U.S.) and succumbed to the hardness of the ground, parachutist Pieroni divedjfrom a great altitude into the Adriatic and became food for fishes, and balloonist Buckingham found no footing on the watera of Laka Syracuse (U.S.) ; further, the foolhardy Fernandez, of Australia, having avoided death by drowning, was nearly grilled to death while entangled by the ropes of his burning balloon ia a Queensland ec-top Curiously enough, contemporaneously

with these disasters to air navigators, comes news of improvements to Maxim's flying machine— a Bteam-kite actually — which, propelled through the air b y a light sorew, can, it ia cabled, carry a weight of two tons at a speed of 90 miles an hour.