PRINCESS THEATRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2289, 13 January 1898, Page 39

PRINCESS THEATRE.

"A ROYAL DIVORCE." r Historical accuracy is not a prominent feature of the late W. G. WillsV dram% "A RoyaL Divorce," which waa produced on the 4th by Messrs Williamson and Musgrove's dramatic company, but it is a strong, almost a great, acting play, aid it rtceived a representation at the hands of the artists engaged in its production that made impression upon a large ! audience. The historical incident which was i seized upon for the foundation of the play was ■ the deposition by the First Napoleon of the Empress Josephine, h's union with ber having produced no issue, and the death of hi-* nephew, tha son of Lqujs of Holland by Hortense ■ Beauharnaiß, haviDg shattered the hope he had ] cherished of finding in him a male successor, and the subsequent marriage of the Emperor with '. Mane Louise of Austria. The dramatist has : idealised the character of Josephine, whose name, however, was not wholly free from scandalous report, and he ha» represented her as not only meekly beating her cross in her desolation, but as being the guaidian angel of the Emperor who had discarded her, even going the length of makiog a perilous journey to Jenappes in order to apprise Napoleon on the eve of "Waterloo of treachery on the- part of one of his officers. The cold historical fact it that Josephine was dead a twelvemonth before Waterloo. The sacrifice here involved in the interests of d-amatic effect ia certainly unfortunate, but one can hardly exptct in a pl*y of this kind an absolutely taithful record of actual facts, and some latitude must be permitted to the author of lomance. The net result in this instance is that aiound one or two central incidents in Bonaparte's life a play has been -vyritten which will command the undivided attention and from various causes extort the unstinted admiration of those who witness its production. In a piece that had for its subject occurrences iv the reign of Nspoleoa it it inevitable that the dominating character should be lhat of the Corsican himself. In England when the drama was originally pre~entpd the firbt idea was to make the parb of Josephine the principal one of the pl*y, but that notion was found to be impracticable, and had to be abandoned. While, however, the part of Napoleon is that which dominates all others, it was obviously impos-sible that justice j'hould be rendered to the whole of the many sides of which tbe rbar.icter of the Emperor was composed, and thus we have it that in tha present production it is " the man of destiny" that i-J presented, and that it is in that one asnect that the chaia.ct.er of Napoleon is portrayed. Me Julius Kuight, who has had the advantage of playing lhe part in England, was on his first appearance of the evening greeted with prolonged applause, which was in tome measuie probably a tokeu of recognition onthep:\rt of the audience of the close study he had evidently made of the accepted prebentments of Konapaite, bothas to bis facial features and also as to his characteristic attitudes. And ths traditional Napoleon it was that was throughout the whole plp.y coutinuaUy keft by Mr Knight before lhe eye^ of bis audience. The relentless determination of the man of deatiny, and his utter selfish ne&9 eveu towards those whom he really loved, where the advancement of his own career was concerned, | were indicated with masterly skill ; and f-o if; was | that not only the image of Napoleon— the irupe- ' rious monarch with beetling brow and impassive face— but also the very nature of the man were represnrt<d by Mr Knight. The abrupt speech and tho melodramatic strut were repro- ' duced with close fidelity to the traditions of

the character. Mr Knight's acting of the jnrfc furnished a striking exhibition of self-repression, and its high histrionic value was recognised in the warmest possible manner. "Whither in the first act in which, working dead sgainat the sympathies of the audience, he represented the heartless selfishness of the Emperor, bent upon the saciifice of his devoted spouse to the satisfaction of his ambition, or in the final act, in which Napoleon, sentenced to exile on the rock of St. Helena, takes a pathetic farewell of Josephine and of his greatness, Mr Knight alike gave a very able rendering of the character. Miss Feriar's assumption of the part of Josephine — a very heavy part; in the play— was also decidedly successful. The painful tension of the first act, wherein Josephine, after at fiivt refusing consent to the deed of divorce from her husband, for his sake and thaf of France recedes from her decision and signs her approval ot the step, was largely ascribable to Miss Ferrar's powerful suggestion of the mental toiture suffered by the first Empress, and in the latter acts the character was presented with admirable effect, this being especially the case in the purely apocryphal scene between the two Empresses at Malmaison. The remaining characters in the piece are necessarily more or less sketchy. Miss Elliott Page made good u--e of somewhat scanty opportunities as Marie Louise, being effectively exultant in the scene iv which " the Austrian " vulgarly tiunt-s the woman she had supplanted with the fact that the joy-bolls ware ricging for tbe christening of the heir of France. Mr W. F. Hawtrey gave a clever Study of the part of the diplomatic Talleyrand, Mr Gaston Mervale was effective as the Margins de Beaumont, Mr TI. J. Oaryill was distinctly successful as the boasting Angereau, and Mur&t and the faithful Ney— both characters the merest scraps— were represented by Messrs R. Stewart and 11. Hill respectively. Mr J. B. Atholwood's representation of a bibulous innkeeper was a laughable example of_ low comedy, and Miss Linda Raymond furai-hed some capital l'ghfc comedy by her bright and acceptable impersonation of Stephanie JVlissf-s Murtyue, Vaughan, andMuvet wore a picturesque U\o of attet.dauts upon Josephine, and Miss Ma<lge T fen ick appeArerl &3 the preceptor of the little King of Roiie, this latter part being played with considerable intelligence by Miss Ethel M'Donald. Among other characters in the play, that .of a soldier was playe.d by ftlr Grainger, who sang " r J he little corporal," while a •pas de quatr6 by Miase3 Brown, Casseiiis, Ascoli, and Lucie Wits received with so much favour that a repetition was demanded. Four tableaux were fine features .of the performance. The first of these, represented Napoleon's disastrous retreat from. .Moscow, when his legions were piled like dead locusts on the snow-covered Russian plain* ; then camts a couple of stirring table%ux at Waterloo, one representing the final desperate charge of the old Guard and the other depicting the rout of the French after the direction "Sauve gui peut"; while the fourth — a most impres»ive spectacle— represents Napoleon on the reck of St. Helena looking wistfully scross the fc, with downcast head and folded arras, whili the sill sinkts in the west. The tableaux were effectively sho«rn and were received with enthusiasm, a second and third view^-qf them being granted in response to the plaudits they evoked. Tho play generally was mounted with that attention to detail that inaiksall the productions of Messrs Williamson and Musgrove.

"THE PRISONER. OF ZEND A." An entirely delightful production of the romantic play ' The Prisouer of Zanda" was given on Satuulay night by M>ssr<i Williamson and Musgrove's powerful " dramatic company. Anthony Hope's novel on which lhe play is based id as popular as it i<t well known, and tha dramatic version of it is ths work of Mr Ed wai d Rose, an English dramatist of reputation and experience. In America the play has achieved an immense success, whilß in Great Britain it vas hirdly le^3 profitable, and in Australia the ptoduction of tbe play by th'S company now in Dunedin. was described as a glo wiug success. Tho Australian experience should certainly be lepeatedin Nfew Zealand. No one in Satu 'day night's audience .could fail to have been charmed as well as interested ia the romantic *stoiy, to which, a aatting of great picturesqueutss was given, and the piece iva* greeted with the most demoir-iira-tive expressions of approval. Knrprise was genei'ally expressed among those present that such ati exceedingly attractive production had been reserved for the last two nights of the season, and the verdict was freely pronounced that the piece should prove in this colony equally as successful as either of the two billes that preceded it in the Dunedin sea?on.

The dramatic version of Anthony JL>pe'd ingenious tale is contained in a prologue a?jd four acts. What in the novel ?s explained iv its fiv»t chanter re-p^cting the relationship between Ruritania and Burloadon, between the palace at Stretlau or the castle of Zeuda and Number 305 lark lane, W., is_ in the dramatic version of the story represented in the prologue, which serves to sbow how the Prince Rudolph of 17.33- or Rudolf as Lhe Dame is spelt iv the novel— had an intrifiue with the L.tdy Kasscndyll of that peri- d »tul how the discovery of that Jed to a i! at 1 between the husband and the lover, while the intrigue gave origin to a striking facial and personal rc-sam-blance which was afterwards noticed between Rudolph Kassendyl!, a young English aentleman and great grandsou of the aforesaid Lady R-issendyll, airl IMnce Rudolph the Fifth, whose coronation a? Kit-g of Buritaim was to talc-, place at Sfcreslau shortly after tho tima at which the story opens. In the four acts of th-s play proper the incidents of the novel are reproduced wi'h uncommon fidelity. r ibe chance vhit of Rassendyll to Ruritania X rts in the book, employed to foil the plo's of Black- Michael, the Duke of Stres'au. agaiost bis brother, the Red Elphberg, on the occasion of the latter's coronation. Through his fondness for the wine cup, added to the cunning of the Duke Michael, the king is drugged co that ou the morning of his intended coronation he is unfit to attend the ceremony, aud, political reasons placing the _ postponement of the ceremony out of the question, the young Englishman is persuaded by the king's immediate attendants to personate the l?ed Elphbeig for toe day. As in th>- story, so in the play, the counterfeit king is accepted by the populace as the genuine article, but when th& ceremoDy is over it is 'discovered that the Black Michael has seized the ieal king and made him "the prisoner of Zenda," the upshot being that Rassendj'll is lequired to continue his personation until tuch time as ths king shall be recovered. The steps that are taken to bring about tbe rescue of the Red Mphberg need not he here recounted. Neither is it desirable to anticipate the pleasure of the intending patron of the drama by lifting the curtain upon the love scene 3 between the im poster and the Princess Flavia, who givs-s her heart to the false king in the belief that hs is the real one giowu in-- re sober, more seclate, alrr.o^ careworn, and thinner, and lelinquishes him ir the end out of fidelity to her country and bei Uouse ; nor would it serve any good end in thi.* notice to reveal the part taken in the play by Antoinette de Mauban beyond spying that she alternates between ai>istin<{ the Black Michael i\ his pimp, and out of jealousy disclosing tho < plans to his enemies. The compression of litincidents narrated in th."} book into a form s.' table for diam^tic representation has 1 en accompliahed with sympathetic skill, althoi h on one or two points those who^c acquaiu ance with the novel had whetted their Appetite for the play might be disposed to cavil a' the arrangement of the stage vetsion. On the other hand, it is questionable from the dramatic point of view whether a better effect would not be produced by the division into scenes of the second act, which, as it stand I*,1 *, is overcrowded with incident ; and there can be no room for doubt that it would be possible lo strengthen the fourth act— at any rate in the matter tf spectacular effect. Taking the play as it i*, however, it is as delightful as the book and even nioie fascinating, inasmuch as it is staged with v magmiicence that in the coronttion scene it almost dazzling. In that scene ihc costumes thut are worn by the characters with whom the stage id filled— nobilities of Ruritania and foreigu ambasaadois and their ladies— are costly in th>* ex'reme, and the tout ensemble that is presented is such as for brilliance has never been surpassed in the local theatie.

Mr Julius Knight, who played the triplicated part of Princß Budolph (in the prologue), King

Rudolph V and Rudolph RassendyllO'n the play), completely mystified the audience. He was absolutely not recognised, save by a fe^v, when he appeared firs!; wearing the red hair and red moustache of the young Englishman ; and there were many who did not recoguise him on his appearance a few minutes later as the king with the red hair and shaven face, but the very cleverly-executed trick by which, when the drugged king was lifted up by Oolonel Sapt and Fritz yon Tarlenheim towards the door of the hunting lodge, and a dull, inert macs of humanity fell back in their arms and on to the ground, a "double" was substituted for Mr Knight, making the actor to reappear almost immediately in his original guise of "the young Englishman, utterly perplexed the "house." Mr Knight merged his personality completely in the charactei s he assumed, and his rendering of them was a distinct dramatic treat, not the least enjoyable feature of it being the delicious vsia of comedy developed by him in the lighter passages, which are numerous in the piece. Charming in her attachment for the pretender and pathetic in her parting from him Miss Ada Ferrar made an admirable Princess Flavia, and Miss Elliott Page, who was cast as Antoinette de Mauban, played with considerable power in the scene in which the Black Michael betrays his design to wed Flavia, and waa generally a quite satisfactory jreoreseutative of the character, although she was somewhat unimpressive in the forest scene. Mr Meivals, as Wolfgang in the prologue and Duke Michael in the play, acted with conspicuous judgment ; and Mr Carvill was to the life the dashing and insolent l<upert Heotzau. Mr Hawtrey filled the important part of Colouel Sapt, the chief adviser of (he substitute king, but the character of the book was hardly realised in him, being made, indeed, rather com.monpla.co, and Mr Grant was not a happy-Fritz yon Tarlenheim. Mr Hill made his points very well as Bertram Bertram], a comedy character that narrowly escapes becoming stupid ; Mr Athohvood gave a neat little study as the English ambassador, wbo~e senility ia a libel on the diplomatic service ; Mr Stewart was effective as Datchard, and Mr Glassford, MiGates, and Mr Foster fUltd other characters suitably. Miss Mortyne wai not a very suoresaful countess in the prologue ; Mrs Maesmore-Morris was an imposing Frau IVppich ; and Misses Muret, Vaughan, Herrick, and Russell were the piincipal quartet among the richly apparelled ladies of rank at the coronation ceremony. The play was admirably mounted, and the scene depicting the forest near Zenda wjs a splendid example of the Messrs Gordon's skill. Tho in-cideD.tf-1 music was very effectively given, the requiem mass for the sjuls of those killed in the stnugle at Zeada forming a very impressive accompaniment to the final scene. " The Prisoner of Zenda" was repsated on Monday night, when the company's season closed.