PRINCESS THEATRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2396, 1 February 1900, Page 51

PRINCESS THEATRE.

BROUGH COMEDY COMPANY. -

Sydney Grundy's fine comedy, " Sowing the Wind," was the attraction provided by the JBrough Company at the Princess Theatre on Thursday night. Although a lengthy ■period has elapsed since the piece waj last played here, the lasting im■piespion it made on the minds of theatregoers was testified to by the size of the audience ■which assembled to witness its performance last evening. The comedy possesses all the «iements of success. Original m its conception, clothed in terse epigrammatic language, xeplete with telling situations working up to a powerful climax, the work must 1c olatsid amongst the more brilliant efforts of the playwright. " Sowing the Wind " in its mheieut characteristics contrasts sharply with the plays that the company has recently been producing, and, as such, an opportunity is afforded of estimating the versatility and skill of the principal performers. Mr Brough's Mr Brabazon is doubtlessly as indelibly fixed in the maid of playgoers as ther-eonipany's last representation of the piece. His study of the character must he inseparably as.sociaied with reminiscences of the performance. The very dissimilarity of the part from those m which we are accustomed to see Mr Brough rendered his forceful, impressive acting all the more effective. Possibly m 3io other character is his skill m depicting the most turbulent emotions which suige through the. human breast seen to such advantage. In the earlier stages of the play the widower, aged and infirm, is found in. his peaceful home spending the eve of his life in reproaching hi 3 conscience with having ruined a woman's life. The m his heart had become a part of his personality, and expressed itself in the gentle dignity which imbupd las manner. Si:Kspr,up)it v ■when he learns that the wife, whom he believed li3.d died many years ago, had passed away but , a few weeks agone, and that he possessed a daughter full of grace and beauty, who had laecome betrothed to his adopted son, the •paroxysm of feelings which - threatened to extinguish the feebly glittering lamp of his own .existence requiies no graphic pen to describe. The portrayal of such a character demands the delicate and firm touch of an artistic skill, and that it received such fiom Mr Brough last evening was unquestionably proved by the .spontaneous applause which his acting so frequently elicited. Mrs Brough has been seen in many paits, and her numerous qualities as an accomplished actress did not requtie to be vindicated by her repreaentation of Eosamund last

evening. All that her performance did was to add one more to the many triumphs she has achieved on the stage. Her moving, intensely realistic acting in the third act, when, through the sins of her parents, she is to be torn away from the only object of her life, has but sel- , dom been approached here. The audience was ' j held enchained, and a feeling of relief per- j I vaded the assemblage when the falling curtain I I relieved the tension. Mr W. L. Lovell pre- j . sented an engaging picture of a lover whose fidelity to his betrothed lived through all op- | position, and, above all, through the evil of | cowardly men's tongues; Mr Reg. Dartrey's , impersonation of the old Bachelor Watkms ( must certainlly be referred to as one of the ■ more successful features of the play ; while Mr Percy Brough as Lord Cursitor, Mr Majeroni ' 1 as Lord Petworth, Miss Temple as the Hon. i Mrs Fretwell, Miss Noble as Maud Fretwell, did excellent service in their respective parts. "A VILLAGE PRIEST." Sydney Grundy's play "A Village Priest" was staged by the Brough Company at the i Princess Theatre on Saturday night. The 1 "house" was one of the largest of the season. "A Village Priest" is a popular piece, and, following out well-defined dramatic lines, it t afforded theatre-goers a relief from the tension i of the long, diawn-out emotional displays which j markedly characterise the so-called problem | plays. Although some lime nas elapsed since the" piece was last staged here, the story which is told therein will still be fresh in the minds of many. The character of the old abbe, who j for 20 years was weighed down with the awful ' secret imparted to him under the seal of confession, is a fascinating one. He goes thiough life knowing that an innocent man languishes in gaol for a crime he never committed— the crime of murder, — and that the real criminal j was the judge who had pronounced sentence against him. The idea of an innocent man suffering for the crime of another has often been exploited by dramatic writers, but in j ; this play the chief interest is attached to a > I man who is bound by everything that is holy i to bury deep down in his breast, and carry the , burden on to the end of his days, the dark mysteries of sin-laden penitents. No case has ' ever been known, it is claimed, where a priest t has broken his vow of secrecy, but in the piece under consideration the old abbe is made to do , this. Alone in his chamber, when the escape of the innocent man from prison opens anew the recess in his breast, where the awful secret i was interred, he prays, m a paioxysm of emotion, that heaven might by a miracle direct him how to act. At that moment the drifting clouds fade away from the facp oi the moon, the slanting silver rays coming' through the nmllioned windows fall across an open \ Bible, and suddenly a, page is turned over by i some invisible power. Stirred to the depths , ! of his heart by the miracle, the abbe approaches j the Bible, and in the lines which catch his ! eye he receives an inspiration, directing him to cleanse the innocent man of blood' by revealing the secret. As may well be imagined, there is ample opportunity afforded in such ' an incident for powerful, emotional acting, and , it must be conceded that Mr Carne's representation of the abbe was one of the most artistic , studies he has yet presei i+ <;d us with. He m- > vested the pait with gentle dignity. His suggestion of resigned mental suffering was very ,' fine indeed, and he rose to the occasion in the ' i sanctuary scene. Mr Biough acted with tell- ■ •, vng force and sustained power as the victim ot miscarried justice, and was frequently singled out for applause. Mrs Biough acted j with her customary skill as the Countess, and ' secured a full meed of the honours of the even- ( ing ; while Mr Lovell as Arrnand D'Arcay, Miss Noble as Marguerite, Miss Temple as Jeanne, and Miss Thompson f>s Madame D'Arcay all j capably filled their parts. J The season was, with " Niobs," brought jto a close on Monday night, and it is satisfactory to know that in spite of the numerous patriotic movements and ! unseasonable weather, it has proved, from a financial point of view, more successful than 1 any previous season of the company here. As _ to its artistic success nothing need be said, but playgoers generally will unite in the hope . that we will have another opportunity in the future of seeing the Broughs. | j "THE SECOND MRS TANQTJERAY." | 1 The sad history of a woman's efforts to live dowu, in defiance of society, v shadowy past, i and to assume the part of at least conventional ! respectability, forms the scheme of Pinero'sremarkable work, " The Second Mrs Tanqueray." Very few comedies possess in such i a marked degree, the power of enlisting the attention of an audi°nee so absorbingly and so unremittingly duung the space of some two hours and a-half as does this — one of the most • remarkable productions of modern dramatic ! art. In giving us " The Second Mrs Tan- ,' queray " Mr Pinero, in his incisive, iiresistibly | convincing style, presents a picture of the i harsh, cruel, inexorable laws within which I society of the present day has entrenched itself. ' Mrs Tanqueray committed the most unpardonable of all sms in the eyes oi society— the sin of " being found out." Aftei that all her efforts, i to qlamber back to the plane of outward re1 spectability were met with the covert sneers , and the shrugging shoulders of an unfeeling world. Rarely are such exacting and persistent , demands made upon any one perf miner as upon j the actress to whom the impersonation of " The ■ ! Second Ml-s Tanqueray " is entrusted. At FiiI day evening's i 3er f ol mance of the play by the . . Srough Company, Mrs Brough in ihe tit!e io]c, may be said to have eiowned her succession of artistic triumphs during the piesent season. During the whole piojresg of the pioce she may be said to have been on the stage, and fiom stait to finish her whole acting comprised o series of intensely emotional displays. AU : the marvellous complexities, all the Vvondeiful cc ntradictory phases which go to make a woman's character the despair of the students i of human nature throughout all ages, «eem to i be amplified with tenfold force m the personality of Pineio's female creation. The moving, changing colours of the kaleidoscope do not come and go with such rapidity a 5;a 5 ; the : phases in this woman's composition, and to giv.i expression to all her ever-vaiymg moods requires the skill and artistic ability which ; Mrs Brou<?h possesses in an eminent Je^vee. ■ Her marvellous displays of forceful, effective acting kept the audience tluilhnt;ly imeresteJ, and her study of the charcier must aivwys lemain deeply impressed in the minds of nil ' those who witnessed the perfoimancc. Mr , Joseph Came, as Aubrey Tanqueray, oeitairly j 1 presented an admirable study of a man vlio ] ' had sacrificed the calm reason of his head to the dictates of his heart, and lived to pay an awful r/enalty for it. In the strongly emotional ; i scenes his acting was characterised with in- ' tensity and consistency. Mr Biough as Cfiyley ' Drnmmle was, as ever, effective and' skilful, , and never missed a point. Mi°s Grace Noblp invej-ted the part of Ellien with giace arid ' tenderness. Miss Temple was soon ndvnnI tagcously as Lady Oireyed, while Mi- W. T. Lovell acted with convincing power as Ciptam ' Ardale.