PRINCESS THEATRE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2403, 22 March 1900, Page 51

PRINCESS THEATRE.

THE BLAND HOLT COMPANY,

The Princess Theatre was reopened on Saturday evening by Mr Bland Holt, an old and fii 111 favounte with the theatre-going public of Dunedin, and as usual he is accompanied by his accomplished wife and a strong combination of dramatic favourites. It will be generally admitted that Mr Bland Holt does not presume upon his established reputation to do or to bring anything but the best, and this no doubt accounts for the fact that his dramatic seasons are not partially but wholly successful, commanding an extent of patronage that is frequently restricted by the holding capacity of the theatre. The gift of proi^hecj' is not needed to foietell a similar result on the present occasion, for the success which has marked the progress of his company throughout Jie cc lony is not likely to desert him here in his boyhood's home, or even to suffer the slightest diminution. The Bland Holt dramatic combination is, as we have stated, a strong one. No ferwei than 40 actors axe required to make up the cast of characters of the opening piece, and it is not in point of numbers alone that the company is strong, for throughout the X>iece the acting was careful, capable, and effective. Both Mr and Mrs Bland Holt were accorded a genuinely waim reception on Saturday evening,, and a very beautiful floral offering was handed to Mrs Bland Holt as soon as she made her appearance before the footlights.

The opening piece was Paul MeriU's sensational melodrama, " New Babylon," one of the earliest and best of what may be called the detective plays. Almost of necessity the plot is intricate, for the object ]s to introduce many sensational scenes and striking characters. There can be no question as to the tone of the drama; its basis is morality without " cant/ and the lesson is the one that is told

I so often on tho stage and in Teal life, that j " though the 'wicked go hand ir hand, yet shall they not go unpunished." II i^|i long time since " New Babylon '""was presented m Dunedin, but it was produced here, and with much ment, by the Bland Holt Company so far back as the year 18S2, on which occasion the double part of Eunice Graham and Belle Lorimer was sustained by Miss Jenny Watt-Tanner. When il had apparently run its course it was allowed to remain for a good time in the limbo oi forgotten dramas, but was revived by Mr Bland Holt and his capable company in Melbourne al Christmas time, and its success then snd subsequently ia this colony has been most pronounced. The drama is as it left its author's hands, with the exception of a little, by no means unacceptable oj unappropriatc, patriotic '"gag," which the principal character introduces, and there can be no doubt that " New Babylon " is quite up to the level of more rcceut sensational dramas. The play opens in the saloon of a British Atlantic liner, where a wealthy shipbuilder, Hiram Maltby, is represented as taking a strong fancy to a decent steerage lad, Jack Randall, and the latter quite naturally more than fancies Maltby' a ward, Eunice Graham, m fact he falls very desperately in love, and the sentiment is returned. A collision takes place, and llandall saves the life of the woman he loves well, but secretly. Everybody seems to be naved from the wreck, which is none the less realistic in its representation ; indeed, the tableaux, ' The Moonlight Atlantic," is probably the n.ost effective ever exhibited in the colony. I'andall declares his love, but is unsuccessful, as j owing to the scheming of an unnatural mother, and a deeply-dyed scoundrel, John Smith Ramirez, she believes herself lo be the wife of the aforesaid scoundrel, from whose clutches she has happily escaped. There are other members of the " long firm " who play > a part in the drama, but the most important* character is thai of the Yankee detective Fleck Flotsam. I who, of course, ultimately circumvents the J scoundrels, brings their schemes lo nought and themselves to the careful custody ot the prison authorities. Love and adventure are abundant in the play. Hiram Maltby' s daughter M»dge is in love with a misguided aristocrat, Vincent Vane, who is ruined by gambling, and infatuated with Belle Lorimer, a fast woman, who, in apwearnce, is tho double of Eunice Graham, but is rescued by tho faithful Madge and restored lo fortune and happiness. Ramirez and the members of his gang 10b and attempt to murder Maltby nuclei circumstance" that cast suspicions upon Randall, and Belle Lorimer has previously done het best to ruin Vane by inducing his jockey, who is in love with her, to lose the race. As woman's love saved Tane, just when all seemed lost, so man's duty cleverly donp by the detecti.-e brings about that happy issue of events, the desire for which no doubt arises fiom the common conviction ■ that injiistice and wrong ought not lo and cannot ultimately win success. The dramatic material is abundant and interesting; it is Tvcii used, snd " New Babylon " is interesting, exciting, and instructive. i The play was m all respects we'll produced, j "VTiUi some 40 characters iii the cast :t is quite impracticable to notice all that was meritorious m the peiformance. Mr Bland Holt is well suited to the leading character of Fleck Flotsam. He makes a capital Yankee, is perfectly at home, quaint, cool, self-possessed, snd cieates the idea, essential to the part, of being pieternaturally shrewd, sharp-sighted, and keen-scented. It is one of his best performances, and more than that need nol be said. Mis Bland Holt had not much to do as Dora Sparks, but what she had to do she did ad- i mirably. Miss Frances Ross filled the double ', part, appearing as Eunice Graham and Belle I Lorimer, and playing with much care and skill, ' lier^ ability being recognised from the first, and winning general applause in eveiy scene. The good-hearted, generous Hiram Maitby could . not have been more suitably presented than was done in the impersonation by Mr J. Montgomery, and Mr Arthur Stayn as the sheepish, but by no means doltish, Jeremiah. Lamb, was exceedingly funny, and seemed to make the utmost out of a part that required a &ood deal of car* and skill. Miss Harrie lieland was quits, charming as Madge Maltby, and Miss v Adp'a Kerr made the part of the poor outcast Aunt Crazy sufficiently realistic. Ramirez, the head of the " long firm," and the principal scoundrel of the gang, was strongly and very a.bly played by Mr Albert Norman, and the other members of the firm — a low-comedy Israelite (Ezra Lsrzereck) and a villainous but polite Frenchman (Pierre Desarte) — were well represented by Messrs Charles Brown and A. Harford respectively. Mr Harry Norman as the jockey, Tiny Spurts, filled the part with success, and Mr Max Maxwell was most amusing as the Celestial, Ah Luck. Of the nume- i rous other characters it is probably enough to [ say that all were creditabfy represented, and ; that each member of the company did some- ' thing to contribute towards the success of the • whele and the very entertaining production I of a really good sensational melodrama. The | way in which the piece is staged is most re- ! morkable. Everyone regarded it in this re- j spect as creditable before, bui. the old scenery ! will b-iar no kind of comparison with the new. There are no fewer than 12 fine tableaux, all effective and artistic, and Mr John Brunton, by whom they were designed and executed, well deserved the applause that greeted him, when he appeared in response to loud demands of the spectators.