PRINCESS THEATRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 43

PRINCESS THEATRE.

"THE CASE OF REBELLIOUS SUSAN." The play under the above title, that was produced by the Brough - Boucicault Company on Wednesday night in the presence of an audience which crowded the building in all parts, and which received the performance with the most undoubted manifestations of approval, belongs to the cla«s of dramas dealing with sex problems with which the sta?e has for some time been flooded — to the class of "occasionally unedifying hospital lectures," as they have been called in which. " women have been analysed and "dissected, and all their feelings and motives laid . bare under the microscope." Ifc is an. admirably constructed piece, and it is written with great Bkill »nd delicacy. The general recognition of the ability with which Mr Henry Arthur Jone3 has constructed " The Case of Rebellious Susan will »ot bo regarded, however, as committing one to the opinion that it ia desirable that such problems as are treated in this piece should be discussed, with a view, if possible, to their solution, on the stage. .The public as a whole would, if their feelings on the Bubjeet could be ascertained, probably be found- expressing a strong opinion in the opposite direction, and already in Englaud the reaction has set in and the demand has arisen for a more wholesome class of plays, the index of the popular puke betas the ticket offlca. In this

colony we have seen but few of these plays, and those that have been presented heie have aa a rule been bo cleverly written aud so artistically and so delicately producod— and there is perhaps no dramatic company iv existence which is capable of producing such plays more artistically and delicately than the Brough-Boucicault company produces them — that their vogue may be said to still prevail. In " The Case of Rebellious Susan" there is uo character who has, like Paula Tanqueray, what is euphemistically called a "past " : but there is more than one who has in tbe past been guilty of indiscretions— to use a mild word,— and is, for the matter of that, guilty of them in the present. Jim Harabin has Dot only been so guilty, but he has also been found out. and a "little matrimonial upset" is what the curtain risea upon in the fir*t act. Lady Susan— the "rebellious Susan" whose "case" the dramatist diacubsea— not amenable t> reason from her aunt, Lady Darby, who3e is a "respectable average case," or from Mrs Quesnel, who is counted lucky in being a widow, impulsively determines to pay her husband back iv his own coin. " Lady Susan Harabin, whose health has been iv a very delicate state for some time past, has left for Egypt with Mis Quesuel. Mr James Harabin has gone to Yorkshire for a few weeks' shooting before joining- Lady Susan." Tbat is the disengemiously worded paragraph, penned by Lady Darby, which, in the "society" papers, screens from the knowledge of the general public the fact that there has been a separai ion— an opan rupture. " Lady Susan goes to Egypt aud has her romance"; Lucien Edensor, who v the other party to the romince. swears eternal devotion to her, and, being pent off to New Z-aLind to take up a Government appointment, forgets her in three weeks, and m 'Tries a fellow passenger ; and Lady Susan, after much show of stubbornness, and having gone so far aa to risk being declassde, makes it up with her husband, a common resolve to "let byegones be byegones" being declared. It takes three interesting acts to duclo3e the "case," but the above is the gist of it. Excellently produced the play w.is in all respects. Mrs Brougb, as the rebellious Susan, once more demonstrated her n-niarkable ability to get— to use the forceful if inelegant expression, employed by the French— inßiclo the .skin of a part and gave a highly artistic representation of the character. All thtough the piece her performance was deserving of the highest praise, and her portrayal of the rdle was complete in overy detail. Miss Faber played with great charm the part of the somewhat cynical widow and proved herself in some of the scenes to be »n engaging comedy actrets, and Miss Watt Tauner marie a cipir-ol r< pn-sentative of I.ady Darby. The piincipal character of the play t eallyisSir ßichard _Kato, abacht-lorbarrist-r, who, though unmarried, is, by virtue of 25years' experience in the Divorce Court, reas >nably regarded as an authority on matrimonial questions. Mariiage he declares, to be a peifeot itiJtitution worked by imp-rfecfc creatuies, at'd wbo shall deny his proposition ? Sir Rich-.rJ was himself 25 yeaiM old and he had had his illusions, but in the play we find him a man of 50, pali -n_t but firm, ktenly observant, courtly, something ot an autocrat, but wholly lovivble In this part, which is reckoned the laig-'st siiigle part ever written, the representative of it being on the stage almost throughout the play, Mr Titheiudge scored a very distinct success. One could not desire for a more complete impersonation of the character. Mr Oarey played acceptably as Sir Joseph Darby, the thinness of whose piofessions of fidelity to' his wife is only tco apparent ; Mr Dorrington made a Rood study of the part of James Harabin ; and Mr M'lntyre and Mr Hards filled small parts. Two characters—an ill-assorted pair— stand apart from the rest One of theee ia Elaine Shrimpton, a typical " new woman," who foumla a Boidictan Focietv ti i>-cu]c.itj a new mora'ity, the first blow for which is struck by the destruction of a post office, for "one must begin somewhere." The other character is lhart of a feeble di earner named Fn'gu'son Pybiiß, who is in want of an inspiration to enablehim to "stamp himself ui>">u the age " and who wants Elaine to create foi him a "lovely, lonely world to dwell in. so that-, he may bring his rowers to full fruition." These diameters weic adroi.ably played by Mias Temple and _Mr Boueic*ult respectively, who were responsible for great memmenl on the part of the audience, their quarrel in the second act evoking roars of laughter. An arcidant at the last moment prevented Mr Bindlo33 from playing the pirt of Lucien Edensor, and Mr liouc : cault was obliged to double that part with his own. "It will only be a read over," apologised Mr BoucieauU, but it was not only that for he played the part also, and the audience rocignising the merit of his pei f urmance insisted on a double recall on his account at the close of the second act, the prim ipals being recalled alsoaftfr the other acts. "The Case of Rebellious Susan" was repeated on Thursday evening.